6 ms·

This is pretty simple: just don't "Like" anything. Seriously. It didn't take an oracle to figure out that "Likes" were always going to be a gateway to direct ad

by cletus 14y ago

This is pretty simple: just don't "Like" anything. Seriously. It didn't take an oracle to figure out that "Likes" were always going to be a gateway to direct advertising. And for things you "need" to "Like" (eg to enter a contest or get access to something) then just use a dummy account like many do for playing Facebook games, for much the same reason: (almost) no one wants to spam their friends with "I milked a cow!" messages. This is Facebook's (and Twitter's for that matter) biggest problem: their apparent monetization paths are at direct odds with the user experience.

bluetidepro 14y ago
> "just don't "Like" anything. Seriously." I completely disagree with the idea of never "Liking" anything. There is plenty of benefits of "Liking" a Facebook page. I, personally, enjoy seeing update posts from bands, products, etc. about new content, products, promos, etc. I think music artists is a great example to use here. I love tons of bands. A lot of those bands do not have websites other than using Facebook. I'm not going to check their Facebook pages multiple times a day, going through the 100's of artists that I "Like", just to see if they post an update of some sort. I understand that this not a universal example, and some pages are not worth "Liking" (pages that are a joke meme and not a product, company, artist, etc.), but I think it's ridiculous to say never "Like" anything.
- aw3c2 14y ago
  You can subscribe to their posts without liking.
  - saurik 14y ago
    You can also like a Page without getting messages from it: click the Liked button and uncheck "Show in News Feed".
    - bluetidepro 14y ago
      That defeats the purpose of what I'm saying, though. I'm saying to get any sort of updates from a page, you have to "Like" it. There is no way around it, currently. There is plenty of brands I do want updates from, so I have to "Like" their page to get those updates.
      - saurik 14y ago
        I was actually not responding to you: I was expanding on what aw3c2 said to mention that the opposite was also explicitly true (and to show how to set it), as this information also helps the person you responded to (who specifically was bothered that they were getting spammed). That said, unlike with the direction I was indicating, it does seem like what aw3c2 is only of limited applicability: while Facebook supports subscriptions to Pages, it seems like it might be something that Pages have to activate (not 100% certain about what causes it to appear). It is not a property of every Page, however. If you do a search, though, on Google, for 'subscribe to a page without liking it' you will get numerous hits talking about such users, with screenshots of the buttons on some Pages, and discussing the rollout and announcement of the new feature.
  - bluetidepro 14y ago
    That is not true. I think subscribing only works for people accounts, not pages. Or at least, you are in a special A/B test that has that ability. Currently, I have no way of subscribing to a page to get updates. I can only "Like" the page. Example of a page I have "Liked": http://bluetide.pro/me1r http://bluetide.pro/me1r Example of the same page if I "UnLike" it: http://bluetide.pro/878h http://bluetide.pro/878h There is no way to subscribe and get updates without "Liking" it.
    - meatpeople 14y ago
      I have no problem subscribing to Pages without Liking them. (Little drop down to the right of Like and Message buttons on a page; click on Add to Interest Lists...) As per the grandparent post of this thread, I don't "Like" anything on twitter, and follow things in interested with Interest Lists.
  - patrickaljord 14y ago
    You think they don't use subscriptions to show you ads?
    - gtirloni 14y ago
      It's highly possible. But even if they didn't I just hate this concept where FB/Zynga try to trick users into doing something they expect will yield X when in fact they have changed it to do Y. For instance, I once used my PayPal account to authorize a in-game payment in FB (Zynga game) for my wife. Go figure why she likes to play that stupid game but she does. In my mind I was thinking "I am authorizing THIS payment NOW" but what they did in fact? Paypal added FB as an authorized company allowed to charge me anything. So then when my wife clicked something curious in the game thinking she would just see something, the game actually charge my account for that. I never agreed to it charging my account once again and a third time. But that's what it did. I know, it's probably all very well explained in the those small grey letters but I didn't bother to read. My wife won't read them. My grandma won't either. Nobody will... and they know it. PayPal was a whole experience in itself. I had to dig down into 4-5 levels of options until I found the list of authorized companies and FB was there. I know this can all be explained with "users are dumb and deserve it" but really? Do they have to resort to such tactics? Well, they probably have otherwise their stock will keep falling more and more... sad situation. A few weeks ago I deleted my FB account because it was fed up with all the things mentioned here and it was a great distraction. It's impressive how little impact it had, except I have more mental space for other (let's hope so) more useful things.
jetti 14y ago
The problem with this is that at the time, to my knowledge, Facebook wasn't doing the "Social ads show an advertiser’s message alongside actions you have taken, such as liking a Page" kind of thing. Since they keep all of this data, anything you do today could be used to promote something in the future without your knowledge. Hell, even visiting a group/business may pop something up "jetti came and saw [insert business here]...shouldn't you?". If they are changing the rules but applying them retroactively, it becomes a situation where you either stop using facebook, log in and do nothing or get them to stop using past and current actions to promote ads.
- majormajor 14y ago
  Yeah, what FB does with information you give it is subject to change at any time. I "like" some things that I never clicked a Like button for because at some point between 2005 and now they converted the plain text lists of "favorite movies" and such into "Likes" for pages for those movies and all. I'd never bothered to go unlike them, but now I'm concerned that they may be spamming my friends... though, from what I see in my own feed, it's really only brands/politicians/stores that do more aggressive to-friends-of-fans advertising (a 10 year old movie has less to gain from doing that, I guess).
- saurik 14y ago
  You can disable this functionality: they allow you to explicitly set whether your actions are allowed to be used together with advertisements to your friends; they call this "social ads". To control this, go to "Account Settings", "Facebook Ads", "Ads and friends"/"Edit social ads setting", and tell it to "Pair my social actions with ads for" "No one" and click "Save Changes". https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads&section=social https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads&section=social
  - jetti 14y ago
    That was in the article. This shouldn't have to be disabled, this should have to be enabled. If you are going to enable it by default, how is it ok to show history? There is no possible way you couldn't opted out to a feature that didn't exist when something was liked 3 years ago.
saurik 14y ago
When you connect to that game, one of the options on that very first screen Facebook shows you to authorize the future accesses is "who do you want to show stuff related to this app to"; I always choose "Just Me". If you don't want to spam your friends with "I milked a cow!", then don't tell Facebook you want your friends to see that content: problem solved, and much easier than using a dummy account.
dkarl 14y ago
Facebook is going to spam your friends regardless of whether you "Like" anything. My policy right now is to "Like" things that I think are worthy of attention, and which I'm not embarrassed to be associated with. Not that Facebook will suggest them to anyone without getting paid, but I might as well help some good people get value for their advertising dollar. It really does suck that Facebook is spamming our friends in our name, though. Perhaps you're right, and it's best not to "Like" anything, so my friends don't associate my name with the annoying intrusion of commercial messages into their news feed.
- genwin 14y ago
  If you don't "Like" anything, what would they spam your friends about, in your name? (Maybe it's obvious from my question that I don't use Facebook.)
  - dkarl 14y ago
    Nothing, which is why you might want to avoid the "Like" button. You can choose between not "Like"-ing anything, to avoid your name showing up on spam, or you can "Like" worthwhile, interesting things, so your friends' spam is marginally more interesting.
driverdan 14y ago
A year or so ago I came to this same realization and removed all but a handful of likes. There's no point in most of the things people like. Yes, liking can be used for signaling but beyond that it's pointless.
lttlrck 14y ago
That stops me spamming my friends but it doesn't stop my friends spamming me.
grandalf 14y ago
Facebook's approach is desperate and ham-handed. It shows me nearly every day on the mobile app that the same three people I went to high school with like Target, BestBuy and some other major corporation. I have visited the profiles of those people no more than once and have no real interest in what they like whatsoever. Facebook must be desperate for ad impressions. I too unliked nearly everything and experience a tinges of irritation every time the mobile app "so and so likes this major corporation" stuff shows up in the mobile feed. In comparison, Twitter's ad platform is subtle, engaging, and visually beautiful.
bhntr3 14y ago
I advocate a hipster approach to Facebook. Don't like anything unless it's so obscure no one has ever heard of it. Then stop liking it once it becomes popular.
- reeses 14y ago
  I'd upvote this but not for a sellout.
  - nathan_long 14y ago
    Tough words from someone who named themselves after a peanut butter cup. ;)
readme 14y ago
I like this.
doorty 14y ago
Seems pretty simple to me. Put one of those info banners at the top of everyone's Facebook feed (like they did to say "I voted" during the election) that gives you the option of either opting-in to ads (and ads to friends) or paying a fee to use Facebook.
alphang 14y ago
...for now. They can possibly scan your posts/shared urls, like "Galaxy S3 rocks" or whatever, and put that as a sponsored story instead.

by cletus 14y ago

bluetidepro 14y ago

> "just don't "Like" anything. Seriously." I completely disagree with the idea of never "Liking" anything. There is plenty of benefits of "Liking" a Facebook page. I, personally, enjoy seeing update posts from bands, products, etc. about new content, products, promos, etc. I think music artists is a great example to use here. I love tons of bands. A lot of those bands do not have websites other than using Facebook. I'm not going to check their Facebook pages multiple times a day, going through the 100's of artists that I "Like", just to see if they post an update of some sort. I understand that this not a universal example, and some pages are not worth "Liking" (pages that are a joke meme and not a product, company, artist, etc.), but I think it's ridiculous to say never "Like" anything.

aw3c2 14y ago
You can subscribe to their posts without liking.
- saurik 14y ago
  You can also like a Page without getting messages from it: click the Liked button and uncheck "Show in News Feed".
  - bluetidepro 14y ago
    That defeats the purpose of what I'm saying, though. I'm saying to get any sort of updates from a page, you have to "Like" it. There is no way around it, currently. There is plenty of brands I do want updates from, so I have to "Like" their page to get those updates.
    - saurik 14y ago
      I was actually not responding to you: I was expanding on what aw3c2 said to mention that the opposite was also explicitly true (and to show how to set it), as this information also helps the person you responded to (who specifically was bothered that they were getting spammed). That said, unlike with the direction I was indicating, it does seem like what aw3c2 is only of limited applicability: while Facebook supports subscriptions to Pages, it seems like it might be something that Pages have to activate (not 100% certain about what causes it to appear). It is not a property of every Page, however. If you do a search, though, on Google, for 'subscribe to a page without liking it' you will get numerous hits talking about such users, with screenshots of the buttons on some Pages, and discussing the rollout and announcement of the new feature.
- bluetidepro 14y ago
  That is not true. I think subscribing only works for people accounts, not pages. Or at least, you are in a special A/B test that has that ability. Currently, I have no way of subscribing to a page to get updates. I can only "Like" the page. Example of a page I have "Liked": http://bluetide.pro/me1r http://bluetide.pro/me1r Example of the same page if I "UnLike" it: http://bluetide.pro/878h http://bluetide.pro/878h There is no way to subscribe and get updates without "Liking" it.
  - meatpeople 14y ago
    I have no problem subscribing to Pages without Liking them. (Little drop down to the right of Like and Message buttons on a page; click on Add to Interest Lists...) As per the grandparent post of this thread, I don't "Like" anything on twitter, and follow things in interested with Interest Lists.
- patrickaljord 14y ago
  You think they don't use subscriptions to show you ads?
  - gtirloni 14y ago
    It's highly possible. But even if they didn't I just hate this concept where FB/Zynga try to trick users into doing something they expect will yield X when in fact they have changed it to do Y. For instance, I once used my PayPal account to authorize a in-game payment in FB (Zynga game) for my wife. Go figure why she likes to play that stupid game but she does. In my mind I was thinking "I am authorizing THIS payment NOW" but what they did in fact? Paypal added FB as an authorized company allowed to charge me anything. So then when my wife clicked something curious in the game thinking she would just see something, the game actually charge my account for that. I never agreed to it charging my account once again and a third time. But that's what it did. I know, it's probably all very well explained in the those small grey letters but I didn't bother to read. My wife won't read them. My grandma won't either. Nobody will... and they know it. PayPal was a whole experience in itself. I had to dig down into 4-5 levels of options until I found the list of authorized companies and FB was there. I know this can all be explained with "users are dumb and deserve it" but really? Do they have to resort to such tactics? Well, they probably have otherwise their stock will keep falling more and more... sad situation. A few weeks ago I deleted my FB account because it was fed up with all the things mentioned here and it was a great distraction. It's impressive how little impact it had, except I have more mental space for other (let's hope so) more useful things.

jetti 14y ago

The problem with this is that at the time, to my knowledge, Facebook wasn't doing the "Social ads show an advertiser’s message alongside actions you have taken, such as liking a Page" kind of thing. Since they keep all of this data, anything you do today could be used to promote something in the future without your knowledge. Hell, even visiting a group/business may pop something up "jetti came and saw [insert business here]...shouldn't you?". If they are changing the rules but applying them retroactively, it becomes a situation where you either stop using facebook, log in and do nothing or get them to stop using past and current actions to promote ads.

majormajor 14y ago
Yeah, what FB does with information you give it is subject to change at any time. I "like" some things that I never clicked a Like button for because at some point between 2005 and now they converted the plain text lists of "favorite movies" and such into "Likes" for pages for those movies and all. I'd never bothered to go unlike them, but now I'm concerned that they may be spamming my friends... though, from what I see in my own feed, it's really only brands/politicians/stores that do more aggressive to-friends-of-fans advertising (a 10 year old movie has less to gain from doing that, I guess).
saurik 14y ago
You can disable this functionality: they allow you to explicitly set whether your actions are allowed to be used together with advertisements to your friends; they call this "social ads". To control this, go to "Account Settings", "Facebook Ads", "Ads and friends"/"Edit social ads setting", and tell it to "Pair my social actions with ads for" "No one" and click "Save Changes". https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads&section=social https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads&section=social
- jetti 14y ago
  That was in the article. This shouldn't have to be disabled, this should have to be enabled. If you are going to enable it by default, how is it ok to show history? There is no possible way you couldn't opted out to a feature that didn't exist when something was liked 3 years ago.

saurik 14y ago

When you connect to that game, one of the options on that very first screen Facebook shows you to authorize the future accesses is "who do you want to show stuff related to this app to"; I always choose "Just Me". If you don't want to spam your friends with "I milked a cow!", then don't tell Facebook you want your friends to see that content: problem solved, and much easier than using a dummy account.

dkarl 14y ago

Facebook is going to spam your friends regardless of whether you "Like" anything. My policy right now is to "Like" things that I think are worthy of attention, and which I'm not embarrassed to be associated with. Not that Facebook will suggest them to anyone without getting paid, but I might as well help some good people get value for their advertising dollar. It really does suck that Facebook is spamming our friends in our name, though. Perhaps you're right, and it's best not to "Like" anything, so my friends don't associate my name with the annoying intrusion of commercial messages into their news feed.

genwin 14y ago
If you don't "Like" anything, what would they spam your friends about, in your name? (Maybe it's obvious from my question that I don't use Facebook.)
- dkarl 14y ago
  Nothing, which is why you might want to avoid the "Like" button. You can choose between not "Like"-ing anything, to avoid your name showing up on spam, or you can "Like" worthwhile, interesting things, so your friends' spam is marginally more interesting.

driverdan 14y ago

A year or so ago I came to this same realization and removed all but a handful of likes. There's no point in most of the things people like. Yes, liking can be used for signaling but beyond that it's pointless.

lttlrck 14y ago

That stops me spamming my friends but it doesn't stop my friends spamming me.

grandalf 14y ago

Facebook's approach is desperate and ham-handed. It shows me nearly every day on the mobile app that the same three people I went to high school with like Target, BestBuy and some other major corporation. I have visited the profiles of those people no more than once and have no real interest in what they like whatsoever. Facebook must be desperate for ad impressions. I too unliked nearly everything and experience a tinges of irritation every time the mobile app "so and so likes this major corporation" stuff shows up in the mobile feed. In comparison, Twitter's ad platform is subtle, engaging, and visually beautiful.

bhntr3 14y ago

I advocate a hipster approach to Facebook. Don't like anything unless it's so obscure no one has ever heard of it. Then stop liking it once it becomes popular.

reeses 14y ago
I'd upvote this but not for a sellout.
- nathan_long 14y ago
  Tough words from someone who named themselves after a peanut butter cup. ;)

readme 14y ago

I like this.

doorty 14y ago

Seems pretty simple to me. Put one of those info banners at the top of everyone's Facebook feed (like they did to say "I voted" during the election) that gives you the option of either opting-in to ads (and ads to friends) or paying a fee to use Facebook.

alphang 14y ago

...for now. They can possibly scan your posts/shared urls, like "Galaxy S3 rocks" or whatever, and put that as a sponsored story instead.