Facebook - The beginning of the end...

[Tisme]

When advanced AI kicks into gear, there's no stopping it. 'They' (the owners of big data) will know everything. The manipulator's main tool is fear. If you know that, you can to some extent be free of their control tactics.

Sales of 1984 have been steadily rising.

I suppose one could argue that 1984 was in itself a prediction model and subsequent manipulation tool.

Are sales increasing because of the salient big brother warning messages of profligacy or because of "know your (free thinking) enemy"?

Even when I screen and post here, F.B Purity and other software walls I run throw up dozens of trackers that are trying to profile me.

If you want to know how clever Googel, Farcebook and Twatter are ... setup a FBook account on someone else's computer, with fake gender, fake name, fake email, fake location, polarised posts to your own actual stance, etc and see how long it takes for that user to be suggested as a possible "friend" . I did that five years ago and my sepia double found me within months!

 

[Gringotts Bank]

I did that five years ago and my sepia double found me within months!

I can imagine that.

Months will contract to minutes at some point. How will it feel when one day your computer speaks to you through your own speakers, suggesting you upgrade your iPhone... and you can't turn it off. So then you go searching for help on the internet and find all the top search results get you more deeply embedded in their web (because Google has made them look like real links from real people having the same problem)? Or what about the day when you turn on the TV and you just can't tell if it's real or fake. Did the President actually say that or was it an avatar? Is that the real newsreader or an animation? Has the whole TV network been hacked and we don't even realize it?

Presumably all these things will happen at some point. Easy to see how fear could get the upper hand in such a world. Know thyself.

 

[Smurf1976]

As an example of the dangers of Facebook, I'm in a group photo with a large number of complete strangers taken in a city I don't live in. Photo was taken at a public event.

I've confirmed that yes, using Facebook and Google I can very easily find out who most of those people are, where they work, who their partners are, if they have children and if so their names, where they live and lots more.

That's rather dangerous to say the least. Thankfully my intentions were entirely honest, I was just proving a point to myself, but the potential for danger is obvious.

 

[bellenuit]

If you want to know how clever Googel, Farcebook and Twatter are ... setup a FBook account on someone else's computer, with fake gender, fake name, fake email, fake location, polarised posts to your own actual stance, etc and see how long it takes for that user to be suggested as a possible "friend" . I did that five years ago and my sepia double found me within months!

I've been meaning to do that but not for the reason you suggested. I would like to actually make that additional user a friend of my genuine account, so I can see what gets posted from my genuine account that I am not aware of.

It seems many FB pages that you click LIKE to have embedded in their Ts & Cs that by pressing LIKE you are authorising that liked FB account to post to FB on your behalf. Some of my friends are posting the same stuff over and over from certain FB accounts and when I asked them about it they were completely unaware. These sites were usually of the innocuous dogs singing type stuff, but that doesn't mean there aren't sites out there that are more sinister. From what I can tell, these posts appear on other people's view of your timeline, but you do not see them yourself, so you are completely unawares of what you may be endorsing.

 

[SirRumpole]

Faceache is a complete waste of time as is Twatter. People should get a life if Facebook consumes more than 10% of their time.

 

[Bill M]

I tried facebook a couple of years ago and got rid of it after about 3 Months. Like Smurf said I really hate the fact someone can "tag" you in a photo and then the whole world knows who you are and which city you live in. The other reason I quit was that I was sick at tired of the RUBBISH that flowed onto my pages, like photos of peoples food, photos of other peoples babies that I don't know, cats and dog photos. That has got to be the most boring thing to post. Like I haven't seen fish and chips before, honestly get a life.

Glad I quit and I don't miss it a bit. If someone really wants to contact me, just send an email, so much better without all that other rubbish.

 

[CanOz]

Faceache is a complete waste of time as is Twatter. People should get a life if Facebook consumes more than 10% of their time.

Twitter is actually the best all in one news feed on the planet. If you don’t agree and cannot supply a superior free alternative, you will bare your complete ignorance of the platform.

Facebook is the best way for families and friends separated by international boundaries to keep in touch. If there is something better, convert me, I want to delete Facebook...

 

[Joules MM1]

Twitter is actually the best all in one news feed on the planet. If you don’t agree and cannot supply a superior free alternative, you will bare your complete ignorance of the platform.

Facebook is the best way for families and friends separated by international boundaries to keep in touch. If there is something better, convert me, I want to delete Facebook...

yeah you should check out a local haunt...been going for a while now ..run by a top bloke

lots doshy talk about politics and shares n social shtick but you'll find it handy

hang on....got the addy here ....somewhere

ah. here ya go:

https://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/

 

[bellenuit]

Twitter is actually the best all in one news feed on the planet. If you don’t agree and cannot supply a superior free alternative, you will bare your complete ignorance of the platform.

Facebook is the best way for families and friends separated by international boundaries to keep in touch. If there is something better, convert me, I want to delete Facebook...

Yes, I agree Twitter is very powerful. I don't use it as a medium to communicate with friends, but simply as a means to follow certain organisations and (famous) people. If you follow news media like the BBC, CNN etc., you will often get breaking news minutes after it happens.

People often say that Twitter is useless as you cannot convey much info in 140 characters or whatever it is. But the 140 characters is mainly used to provide links back to the breaking story that will be on that news organisation's web site. If you follow people like Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins etc., often it will be a link to a new YouTube video in which they are debating something or other.

Coming from Ireland, FB is a great way to stay in touch, not so much with family with whom I would Skype regularly, but with acquaintances from my younger days that I wouldn't normally be in touch with on a one to one basis but still would like to know how they are doing.

 

[pixel]

Perhaps this Facebook scandal will get more people back on forums, the original social media. I think people are just beginning to realise how much Facebook knows about them and how much of their personal information is being leaked and compromised.

You don't even need to use your real name to participate on a forum, and while I can't speak for all forums, I can say with absolute certainty that the very small amount of personal information that ASF has access to (i.e. registration info and IP address) has never been shared with anyone and never will. Not on my watch anyway.

I totally agree, Joe; and I do hope that our Forum becomes increasingly attractive again for discussions many may have moved over to FB for. And that in spite of Google and others knowing what I posted here and anywhere else. Many contributions pop up high on the list of answers to specific Google searches - in case anyone thought that a closed forum is closed: Think again.

... but if you sync your devices, e.g. via a Google or M'$oft cloud, they'll know more than enough about you as well. In that context trust Google just as far as FB, not at all, that is.
That's why I don't have a FB account, and if I see any benefit in subscribing to any news or particular website, I do so with an individual registration and, if required, an individual email address. Never would I allow another party to know my FB, Google, or M$ login.
Problem is, I can't avoid Google's search engine, nor can I keep them out of my Android mobile. But I don't have to sync through them nor do they need to know what other non-gmail accounts I maintain.

So, I'm aware that they keep my searches, in spite of my having Firefox options set to restrict cookies and Do NOT Follow me. I also maintain Ad and Popup Blockers, disabling those restrictions only for websites like Aussie that finance themselves through Ads.

 

[noirua]

I do have a Facebook Account but made sure all the details provided are false or at least a bit wrong. Putting down my date of birth on Xmas day and being born at the top of the Eiffel Tower. Adds to amusement and confusion and could catch on.

 

[SirRumpole]

Facebook is the best way for families and friends separated by international boundaries to keep in touch. If there is something better, convert me, I want to delete Facebook...

Email, Skype, the telephone ?

 

[Joe Blow]

I totally agree, Joe; and I do hope that our Forum becomes increasingly attractive again for discussions many may have moved over to FB for. And that in spite of Google and others knowing what I posted here and anywhere else. Many contributions pop up high on the list of answers to specific Google searches - in case anyone thought that a closed forum is closed: Think again.

Facebook would love it if all the forums died out and everyone moved over there. That's part of their goal to be the one-stop-shop for everything. Facebook Groups, Facebook Marketplace, these things are just the beginning. Facebook want you to be able to do everything you need to do from Facebook so you never have to leave the website. It's like joining a club to meet people with common interests only to realise after a while that it's become a cult and you're being controlled and manipulated.

But people have choice. They are free to choose whether to join Facebook and if they do, how much time they spend there and what they do there. They are also free to join forums like ASF and post there as little or as often as they like. It's no secret that things are a bit quiet here at ASF at the moment. But that can change overnight if people choose to post more and participate in discussions more, especially in threads that relate to stocks and the stock market. Every visit to or post on Facebook is a vote for Facebook, every visit to or post on ASF is a vote for ASF. Ultimately, the free market will decide how this all pans out.

For obvious reasons, I'm hoping people choose to vote for ASF, and if there's anything I can do to make this place better, or more useful, I'll try my best to make it happen. Just let me know.

 

[gav]

I suppose one could argue that 1984 was in itself a prediction model and subsequent manipulation tool

I think Huxley's "Brave New World" does a better job of describing (predicting?) Facebook and other forms of media than 1984

 

[wayneL]

By Jove, gav. Your are bang on the money there.

 

[bellenuit]

Email, Skype, the telephone ?

They are all one to one communications and are obviously the best to use for close family members or very close friends. But as I mentioned in my post, FB is excellent for keeping in touch with 2nd tier "friends" that you would like to know what they are up to but don't particularly want to have a one on one conversation.

 

[moXJO]

Ahh facebook and Twitter .... Head nodders heaven.

Don't like opposing points of view?
Then surround yourself only with like minded thinkers and give yourself whiplash as you all circle nod your morally superior position.

Made a $hit decision?
Then explain it away with a emotional rant blaming everyone but yourself, followed by lots of tears to absolve your sins.

Want people to know just how well you made that piece of toast?

We now include video to tell the world just how important your life is to the advancement of the human race.


19-year-old Zuckerberg to a friend just after he started his company, then called The Facebook, back in 2004.

“Yea so if you ever need info about anyone at harvard ... just ask ... I have over 4000 emails, pictures, addresses, sns” Zuckerberg wrote.

“What!? how’d you manage that one?” they asked.

“People just submitted it ... I don’t know why ... they ‘trust me’ ... dumb f**ks” Zuckerberg replied.

 

[CanOz]

I loath social media and I'd love it if my family and friends could move to an ad free, safe, private platform where we can openly share our families best moments together. Email phone and Skype don't cut it.

Twitter is 90% newsfeed and 10% other traders or economists that I follow, again...how to find that in one place?

 

[bellenuit]

Ahh facebook and Twitter .... Head nodders heaven.

Don't like opposing points of view?
Then surround yourself only with like minded thinkers and give yourself whiplash as you all circle nod your morally superior position.

Made a $hit decision?
Then explain it away with a emotional rant blaming everyone but yourself, followed by lots of tears to absolve your sins.

Want people to know just how well you made that piece of toast?

We now include video to tell the world just how important your life is to the advancement of the human race.


19-year-old Zuckerberg to a friend just after he started his company, then called The Facebook, back in 2004.

“Yea so if you ever need info about anyone at harvard ... just ask ... I have over 4000 emails, pictures, addresses, sns” Zuckerberg wrote.

“What!? how’d you manage that one?” they asked.

“People just submitted it ... I don’t know why ... they ‘trust me’ ... dumb f**ks” Zuckerberg replied.

FB has enough controls that you can make it work for you without being subject to the downsides you listed.

 

[SirRumpole]

I loath social media and I'd love it if my family and friends could move to an ad free, safe, private platform where we can openly share our families best moments together. Email phone and Skype don't cut it.

Twitter is 90% newsfeed and 10% other traders or economists that I follow, again...how to find that in one place?

It's all personal preference isn't it ?

If it's good for you, use it.

I find the constant barrage from Twitter wasteful and the privacy elements of FB intrusive. I don't have a Facebook site personally, and only occasionally look in on other's sites.

Maybe there is a business opportunity to create a "safe" Facebook that doesn't sell your data to outsiders.