SUMMARY: Facebook continues to treat users like garbage. From prying money from teens for games to possibly lying about the number of users it’s like their company has a Teflon coating. when will users say enough is enough and start ditching the platform?
According to Pew Internet, “about half of Facebook users say they are not comfortable when they see how the platform categorizes them, and 27% maintain the site’s classifications do not accurately represent them” But does it matter? Based on the number of people who have remained with the social site the answer would be a resounding “no”.
The Pew research also found “when directed to the “ad preferences” page, the large majority of Facebook users (88%) found that the site had generated some material for them. A majority of users (59%) say these categories reflect their real-life interests, while 27% say they are not very or not at all accurate in describing them. And once shown how the platform classifies their interests, roughly half of Facebook users (51%) say they are not comfortable that the company created such a list”.
Again another bitch slap to users but wait, it gets worse.
Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook users want tailored ads. According to research, that’s not true.
In a recent Wall Street Journal commentary, Mark Zuckerberg claimed that Facebook users want to see ads tailored to their interests. But the data show the opposite is true. With the help of major polling firms, we conducted two large national telephone surveys of Americans in 2012 and 2009. When we asked people whether they wanted websites they visit to show them commercial ads, news or political ads “tailored to your interests,” a substantial majority said no. Around half did say they wanted discounts tailored to their interests. But that too changed after we told them how companies gathered the information that enables tailoring, such as following you on a website. Bottom line: If Facebook’s users in the United States are similar to most Americans (and studies suggest they are), large majorities don’t want personalized ads — and when they learn how companies find out information about them, even greater percentages don’t want them.
Sixty-one percent of respondents said no, they did not want tailored ads for products and services, 56 percent said no to tailored news, 86 percent said no to tailored political ads, and 46 percent said no to tailored discounts
But in only gets worse (slap)
As many as half of Facebook’s two billion accounts are fake or duplicates, according to a new report from a former classmate of CEO Mark Zuckerberg. He has highlighted how the fakes defraud users, advertisers and investors alike.
In a report, published by his legal data nonprofit PlainSite, Greenspan alleges that Facebook “has been lying to the public about the scale of its problem with fake accounts, which likely exceed 50 percent of its network.”
Then there is this..
Facebook orchestrated a multiyear effort that duped children and their parents out of money, in some cases hundreds or even thousands of dollars, and then often refused to give the money back, according to court documents unsealed tonight in response to a Reveal legal action.
The more than 135 pages of unsealed documents, which include internal Facebook memos, secret strategies, and employee emails, paint a troubling picture of how the social media giant conducted business.
And how has Facebook responded? Ms. Sandberg goes to Davos and recites a “canned” speech about privacy and what Facebook is doing while people in the audience say “she sounded overly rehearsed”.
In the meantime. users and advertisers don’t want to hold Facebook accountable. Money is still flowing into Facebook as people say “hit me harder”.
What do you expect from a company that uses stack performance reviews? Obviously not much,
