4 ms·

> It is always important to keep in mind that Facebook (et al) does not sell your personal information, the sell access to a generalized profile. I don't know

> It is always important to keep in mind that Facebook (et al) does not sell your personal information, the sell access to a generalized profile. I don't know if they reversed this policy, but last I heard, if I "liked" Coke on Facebook, they would use my name and photograph when advertising Coke to my friends. That's not directly selling data to advertisers, but for me, it's just as objectionable. "Liking" a page and endorsing usage of my name for advertising that page to my friends or publicly are two very different things.

amirmc 12y ago
As most things on FB, there's been a slow march about what certain actions mean. In the case of 'likes' it's something on the order of: "I think this is cool" -> "+ please subscribe me to your updates" -> "+ please tell everyone I know, repeatedly, that I unreservedly endorse this product/company/whatever - while not paying me anything." You can probably detect my cynicism in the above.
- josephlord 12y ago
  You missed the part where you stop getting most of the updates from the liked company unless they pay Facebook.
  - donutello 12y ago
    Which is a natural function of an increase in the number of pages you like and the number of friends you have, an in crease in the number of pieces of content they produce and your non-increasing attention span. You will see less of content from any one source as a function of time. The source can work around this by producing more interesting content that the algorithm decides you're more likely to want to see or by paying to have their content shown to you.
    - ryguytilidie 12y ago
      The fact that people think this is reasonable really worries me.
    - josephlord 12y ago
      If you got them all you would be aware of what you had liked but was sending you too much uninteresting stuff and you would unlike them or you could organise them to either 'get everything' or 'highlights only'. FB's non-optional control and filtering of the feed is to benefit them and give them a monetization option, it isn't a service to you.
      - ZenPro 12y ago
        I could not actually say this better. +1 EdgeRank is an extortion for businesses.
GregorStocks 12y ago
You can disable that specific behavior at https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads&section=social https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads&section=social, for what it's worth.
the_watcher 12y ago
It used to be they could basically pin that to the top of a persons News Feed. They removed that ad unit, now, when you pay for an ad, you just get the social context of who likes that product. Since you are using Facebook, a platform with an explicit goal of connecting the world through sharing, it shouldn't be surprising that what you do on it will be seen by others. This social context will only show to your friends, by the way, since people who don't know me are probably not that interested in the fact that I like Topo Chico.

amirmc 12y ago

As most things on FB, there's been a slow march about what certain actions mean. In the case of 'likes' it's something on the order of: "I think this is cool" -> "+ please subscribe me to your updates" -> "+ please tell everyone I know, repeatedly, that I unreservedly endorse this product/company/whatever - while not paying me anything." You can probably detect my cynicism in the above.

josephlord 12y ago
You missed the part where you stop getting most of the updates from the liked company unless they pay Facebook.
- donutello 12y ago
  Which is a natural function of an increase in the number of pages you like and the number of friends you have, an in crease in the number of pieces of content they produce and your non-increasing attention span. You will see less of content from any one source as a function of time. The source can work around this by producing more interesting content that the algorithm decides you're more likely to want to see or by paying to have their content shown to you.
  - ryguytilidie 12y ago
    The fact that people think this is reasonable really worries me.
  - josephlord 12y ago
    If you got them all you would be aware of what you had liked but was sending you too much uninteresting stuff and you would unlike them or you could organise them to either 'get everything' or 'highlights only'. FB's non-optional control and filtering of the feed is to benefit them and give them a monetization option, it isn't a service to you.
    - ZenPro 12y ago
      I could not actually say this better. +1 EdgeRank is an extortion for businesses.

GregorStocks 12y ago

You can disable that specific behavior at https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads&section=social https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads&section=social, for what it's worth.

the_watcher 12y ago

It used to be they could basically pin that to the top of a persons News Feed. They removed that ad unit, now, when you pay for an ad, you just get the social context of who likes that product. Since you are using Facebook, a platform with an explicit goal of connecting the world through sharing, it shouldn't be surprising that what you do on it will be seen by others. This social context will only show to your friends, by the way, since people who don't know me are probably not that interested in the fact that I like Topo Chico.