Insultingly, Facebook continues to try to convince users that privacy-violating targeted a...
Somewhere along the line, Facebook moved from being the preposterously insecure social media service, into a corporation whose people seem pretty insecure -- which has been further demonstrated by the company on Thursday trying its latest attempt to convince people how privacy-breaking targeted advertisements are actually good for consumers.
Credit: Facebook
On Thursday, we are yet again seeing a Facebook blogging tirade where the company wants to be seen as our lone champion against -- well, anything it can grab on to. If you can't be bothered to read this latest diatribe, the short version is that the company appears to believe that we need our online habits tracked in order to provide us with more ads, and we should be thankful that Facebook gives us that.
The even shorter version is that there's no difference from the last tirade -- except that the new blog has an accompanying ad campaign. It doesn't matter - Facebook knows you won't read it anyway.
You, specifically you, the reader of this piece, will not do anything more than glance at this nonsense from Facebook and you will not be fooled by what is patently false -- but you're not the audience for these missives.
Facebook has written off the audience that understands what it's doing, or which is interested enough to find out. It's probably right to figure out that we're all going to carry on using the service, but just in case, it is aiming very squarely at the audience who does not want to think about it.
Hence the previous newspaper ads, read only by people who are involved in regulation. Hence the mutterings about taking Apple to court, believed only by people who hate Apple.
Hence, too, Facebook's loud attack which comes over as deeply insecure defense. The fact is that if you know one single thing about privacy, you are not going to be supporting Facebook.
But there is plenty of room to tell everybody else that this is really a very simple story of good versus evil, and Facebook is somehow maintaining that it is the good guy with a straight face. Facebook will not shut up about how it is the sole champion of all small businesses, even as that is not true, because everybody cares about small business owners.
Facebook will not even whisper about the only absolutely true thing in its entire campaign, that it's afraid for its own profits.
We all support the idea of people building a business out of nothing but then once they've done it, few worry too much about its bottom line. Facebook just makes it harder than ever to care about its income when it is quite plain that it does not care about us.
Right back at the very start, when Mark Zuckerberg started "The Facebook" in Harvard, he described all users as being "dumb f***s." He's since said he regrets it, but if he ever genuinely changed his mind about us, the new tirades suggest he's changed it right back.
In its quest to look like the good guy, Facebook is repeating statistics that have been disproven. But, it doesn't care because if it keeps saying them, enough people will believe.
That does not include the tech savvy, but it does include the kind of America that doesn't live in technology, that doesn't follow its every move. That audience is the one most likely to stay with Facebook, so long as Facebook can persuade enough of them that it's a good guy.
Facebook's privacy notice in the App Store
Facebook has always regarded its users with some level of disdain, but now it's vastly more blatant about it than ever. The tirades against Apple's privacy seem panicked, like a politician knowing he's about to be caught doing something incredibly stupid, and tries diverting attention.
The fact that Facebook now so very loudly does not want you thinking about what it does, is making more people think about it. And you cannot think about Facebook's business model for one instant without being uncomfortable about it.
So there's Facebook, forever disdaining us, now making us uncomfortable. And there's Facebook, blackmailing Australia and showing the rest of the world that it's ready to put charities in jeopardy unless it gets its way.
And then there's Apple. While we admit this is part of Apple's entire marketing schtick, Tim Cook and Apple keeps telling us about privacy and giving us an informed choice of what we do or don't want to accept as it pertains to our habits, our information, and what we do on the internet.
Apple is using privacy to sell its devices, and Facebook is using its total absence of privacy to sell us to advertisers. And to line its own pockets. Even Google has a better privacy record than Facebook does.
Yet it truly does seem as if companies have personalities. Apple is an adult, and puts that foot forward, whether you agree with what it does or not. Facebook has the temperament of a child, whatever it does -- and most particularly when it gets caught with its hand in the cookie jar.
Or perhaps it's a teenager. After all, as huge as it is now, it's acting as fragile and petulant as the student who created it 17 years ago.
Credit: Facebook
On Thursday, we are yet again seeing a Facebook blogging tirade where the company wants to be seen as our lone champion against -- well, anything it can grab on to. If you can't be bothered to read this latest diatribe, the short version is that the company appears to believe that we need our online habits tracked in order to provide us with more ads, and we should be thankful that Facebook gives us that.
The even shorter version is that there's no difference from the last tirade -- except that the new blog has an accompanying ad campaign. It doesn't matter - Facebook knows you won't read it anyway.
You, specifically you, the reader of this piece, will not do anything more than glance at this nonsense from Facebook and you will not be fooled by what is patently false -- but you're not the audience for these missives.
Facebook has written off the audience that understands what it's doing, or which is interested enough to find out. It's probably right to figure out that we're all going to carry on using the service, but just in case, it is aiming very squarely at the audience who does not want to think about it.
Hence the previous newspaper ads, read only by people who are involved in regulation. Hence the mutterings about taking Apple to court, believed only by people who hate Apple.
Hence, too, Facebook's loud attack which comes over as deeply insecure defense. The fact is that if you know one single thing about privacy, you are not going to be supporting Facebook.
It's not about the technology facts
Facebook knows it has lost the generally tech-savvy on privacy grounds. There's no putting the genie back in the bottle, there's no convincing you that they are for our good.But there is plenty of room to tell everybody else that this is really a very simple story of good versus evil, and Facebook is somehow maintaining that it is the good guy with a straight face. Facebook will not shut up about how it is the sole champion of all small businesses, even as that is not true, because everybody cares about small business owners.
Facebook will not even whisper about the only absolutely true thing in its entire campaign, that it's afraid for its own profits.
We all support the idea of people building a business out of nothing but then once they've done it, few worry too much about its bottom line. Facebook just makes it harder than ever to care about its income when it is quite plain that it does not care about us.
Right back at the very start, when Mark Zuckerberg started "The Facebook" in Harvard, he described all users as being "dumb f***s." He's since said he regrets it, but if he ever genuinely changed his mind about us, the new tirades suggest he's changed it right back.
In its quest to look like the good guy, Facebook is repeating statistics that have been disproven. But, it doesn't care because if it keeps saying them, enough people will believe.
That does not include the tech savvy, but it does include the kind of America that doesn't live in technology, that doesn't follow its every move. That audience is the one most likely to stay with Facebook, so long as Facebook can persuade enough of them that it's a good guy.
Facebook's privacy notice in the App Store
Facebook has always regarded its users with some level of disdain, but now it's vastly more blatant about it than ever. The tirades against Apple's privacy seem panicked, like a politician knowing he's about to be caught doing something incredibly stupid, and tries diverting attention.
The fact that Facebook now so very loudly does not want you thinking about what it does, is making more people think about it. And you cannot think about Facebook's business model for one instant without being uncomfortable about it.
So there's Facebook, forever disdaining us, now making us uncomfortable. And there's Facebook, blackmailing Australia and showing the rest of the world that it's ready to put charities in jeopardy unless it gets its way.
And then there's Apple. While we admit this is part of Apple's entire marketing schtick, Tim Cook and Apple keeps telling us about privacy and giving us an informed choice of what we do or don't want to accept as it pertains to our habits, our information, and what we do on the internet.
Apple is using privacy to sell its devices, and Facebook is using its total absence of privacy to sell us to advertisers. And to line its own pockets. Even Google has a better privacy record than Facebook does.
Yet it truly does seem as if companies have personalities. Apple is an adult, and puts that foot forward, whether you agree with what it does or not. Facebook has the temperament of a child, whatever it does -- and most particularly when it gets caught with its hand in the cookie jar.
Or perhaps it's a teenager. After all, as huge as it is now, it's acting as fragile and petulant as the student who created it 17 years ago.
Comments
I personally know people who've had their business DESTROYED because they were suckered / forced into going full-on into Facebook to find clients and perform marketing because EVERYONE is getting suckered into the promise of FREE, and suddenly they booted them off the system WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE of ANY KIND, and didn't even allow a dispute / appeal, thereby killing the business; one such SMB's owner had to declare bankruptcy.
So FUCK FACEBOOK, FUCK ZUCKERBURG, and I sincerely hope his "empire" burns to the ground and fades into the midsts of history as the greatest failed mind-control experiment of all time!
Propaganda is the advertising industry (aka "public relations"), as per Edward Bernays himself and his book from more than 100 years ago, it's an enlightening (and short) read, highly recommend it.
But, Zuckerburg needs to suck it up. People advertised before Facebook was a thing. It was a little more of a blunt process, but it worked fine. It's just a dialogue box asking if you're ok with apps tracking you. How can you be against that? What's wrong with giving people a simple choice? Is it worth spending millions of dollars trying to bash Apple and spread terrible narratives about them? Because they give people a choice of whether to share data?
The reason Apple is doing this now... I personally think, Apple is doing this because it's right for their users. And I think there are other reasons, on top of that. I think Facebook is dipping their toes in the water of making their own operating system with Oculus. I think they've awoken the dragon by working on a pair of AR glasses, which I think Apple is doing, too. Apple has a little experience with their developers creating their own operating systems. It always seems like a small deal at first.. Microsoft was just another dev. Google was just a search engine and powered a YouTube app. But, I think they learned their lesson. And I don't think they want to personally fund their entire AR division. So, it's about taking some of the wind out of their sales.
Also, I think Apple is planning on selling high level data. Not giving companies access to your name or address, or any personal info about you, but info about anonymous users. Like... somebody wants to get their product in front of X people with X characteristics. Apple gives them some ability to do that. They already do this a little with the App Store. This is just something I've heard. I don't know much about it. But, by cutting off Facebook, they're also making their own data offering more attractive. Maybe making it a pay to access sort of a thing.
Not sure, but either way, this is a good thing for users. Whatever Apple's motivations are, purely money or purely altruistic, I don't want Facebook to have any more of my data. I don't like that they can be installed on my phone once, and then buy more info about me through their advertiser network and connect it to my name... making it far more valuable. I don't like that any app can do that. I don't think many people even realize the apps on their phone can do that. And getting rid of that functionality is all we need to have some privacy again.
iLife with bells on.
That was recommended viewing according to Facebook.
I contacted Facebook to report it. Facebook said they "wouldn't take the video down because it might be a video that a charity is using to show why they need to fundraise."
Well, it wasn't from a charity; it was posted onto the little f**kers' own pages.
That was all I needed to know about Facebook, and I have never used any of their services or apps since. They are blocked in my etc/hosts file, and I couldn't be happier.
Please delete your Facebook accounts. Zuckerberg doesn't care about anything but making money off other peoples' misery.
Google is becoming ever more aggressive on YouTube with ads and the search function has been gamed into irrelevance. They are essentially trying to force users into patting them $10 a month for “ad free” by very aggressive and content disruptive ad placement.
Someone should tell advertisers that such ads make me far less likely to use your product or service.
That opens a couple of opportunities, Apple might stop playing around in TV/Video and offer a highly relevant search product worth paying for that respects privacy and is not essentially advertising.