As I have said before Facebook is what you make of it.

[gibraltar72]

Last edited Wed Nov 16, 2022, 10:29 AM - Edit history (1)

I have posted rebuttals to many who post about the evils of FB. Recently posted how my Hillsdale County Mi group had started helping homeless in Hillsdale. Just issued a matching challenge to my group for donations to Reverend Warnock. after only one $10 donation I upped the ante and said I'd give twice as much. I set my total limit at beginning, which I was gonna give anyways. Just a modest effort but raised $95 dollars that wouldn't otherwise have been gained. I am extremely pleased with my FB group. This is how to use FB for good.

[Mike Nelson]

1. I know...

... many peopled here despise FB. Interesting, to me, is how it's seen in right-wing world... they think FB is in the "deep state" tank for Democrats. The blow up when one of their fake posts are removed - and many leave in a huff.

[liberal N proud]

2. Politics on FB draws the MAGA trolls

[patricia92243]

3. FB and DU are what you make them. Many, many ways to block, etc. on both.

[Johnny2X2X]

4. If you are on Facebook, you're being manipulated

No one is immune.

You've got a super computer targeting your brain that probably knows thousands of things about you that you don't even know about yourself.

Doesn't mean positives can't happen from FB groups and interactions. Just means you should have your eyes open that being on FB means you're subjecting yourself to be part of the largest mind control experiment in human history.

And saying, well, I only use FB for this or that, and I don't follow anyone I don't know, is missing the point. FB builds as detailed a psychological profile of you as has ever existed or will ever exist, and they can do it partly just based on the profiles of the people you interact with there. FB also follows you wherever you go on your browser, they know your complete browsing history and their AIs incorporate that into their psychological profile of you.

[mopinko]

7. i disagree. i see zero bullshit on fb.

i dont friend assholes. i report bs ads. i have never, ever seen a magat talking point in my feed.
i dont even get 'natural medicine' ads.

[Johnny2X2X]

11. You're missing the point

Facebook exists as a means to gather and sell information about you. And the manipulation is just on another level. You could see 0 RW talking points, but you could see Leftwing talking points in such an order as it gets you outraged, and when you're outraged, the AI knows you're ripe to make a purchase, and by your browsing history they know you're interest in a pair of hiking shoes from Amazon, then you see those hiking shoes on sale at the moment FB's AIs knows you're most likely to buy.

And it's not a left vs right thing. We saw the manipulation of Democrats in the 2016 primaries, even to this day there are DU posters who believe falsehoods about the Democratic primaries. And it's anything and everything in between buying shoes and politics.

Did you know Facebook now creates ads (which might not even appear to you on Facebook) using digitally created actors in those ads that resemble friends of yours on Facebook? Yes, they figured out that you're more likely to read an ad if the picture of the person on it looks a lot like people you might know. I've actually seen ads I've clicked on because the person on the front looked exactly like someone I know and I wondered if it was actually them recommending a product to me. And that's not even in the top 50 outrageous tactics FB employs to keep eyes on it. There are fake headlines that aren't even clickable, but it's priming you for something you might see weeks from now.

It's not something human beings have any natural defenses against. Intelligence and BS meters have little to do with it. It's a form of mind control.

[mopinko]

13. well, the alternative of abandoning the public square seems a lot more dangerous to me.

natural defenses? no. acquired immunity? i have quite an education and have been on the web since it was darpa. so, no, i do not fear the algorithm.

retreat if u will. it's not a word in my vocabulary. but understand that this is about the pov from inside the arena v outside.

[Orrex]

18. I hate to break it to you, but...

You’re being manipulated whether or not you’re on Facebook.

[mopinko]

24. that too.

manipulated to fear the tech 'other', yet.
i will not other, i will not be othered.
i will accept no shade for being in the arena, no matter how foul, from the sidelines.

i aint no snowflake.

[ismnotwasm]

19. I see mostly rescue dogs and bad memes from rapidly aging friends

[USALiberal]

23. I really don't know if you believe what you're saying!

[lildDemz]

22. My experience as well

We are not easily fooled. Many are.

[sanatanadharma]

5. Facebook refuses to call a lie a lie during the electoral season

Facebook chooses the side of deception and destruction. Thus Trump and Russians and Lake and supporters can freely lie America into Fascist oblivion.
Every Facebook user is complicit.

[Joinfortmill]

16. I support folks with serious medical conditions. So, no.

[Island Blue]

6. I have a very carefully curated Friend group on FB.

If someone is an overt Trumper (even if I’m related to them), they don’t make the cut. I generally don’t post anything political on my homepage - I reserve that for a couple of private progressive groups I’m a part of. I mainly use FB to keep up with events that are happening in my area, because its helpful in my job.

[gibraltar72]

10. I have done similar.

Originally I joined to keep track of details on Son in laws band. I decided early on I would not seek friends. When I got requests I used a simple test Do I know them, would I be comfortable asking them for a loan? Conversely would I loan them money. I have loosened my standards slightly. If they are friends with someone on my list they make the cut, I have been delighted with results. My friend list is short I imagine in the 20s I turn down a lot of requests. I get all the data mining stuff, but I like the positives. My newsfeed is helpful and I learn things every day I would not have known.

[doc03]

8. You are right. I use it to keep track of my friends and family. I never respond to any political

posts from either side. I have only seen a couple right wing posts that were shared by my friends, I silence
the original shared post. I have one friend that goes to extremes and posts everything he does on Facebook.
If anyone wants to break into their house, you can check Facebook and know where they are at any given time.
I think that is just stupid.

[mopinko]

9. i agree w u, and add twitter.

i'm not backing out of the public square just because there's some pigeons shitting on the statues.
i'm sure someone will argue that it isnt the public square, but it's the public square we have.
do i spend most of my time preaching to the choir? yes. yes i do. you know why? cuz that's how you build a choir.

i've been posting tweets of my puppy. it's the photo site i have now. i swear i'd be getting a lot more reaction if they werent tweets.
we need to not do their work for them.

[Orrex]

12. Surely you could have achieved the same with a letter-writing & fax campaign!

Last edited Wed Nov 16, 2022, 12:12 PM - Edit history (1)

Did you even once consider carrier pigeons before embracing evil?!?

[Joinfortmill]

14. Yup. Me too. Use it for good.

[ShepKat]

15. agree 100%

I block what I don't want and contribute to the good things.
My page is filled with friend's posts and inspiration

[ancianita]

17. 100% agree. If president Biden & our elected Democratic leaders use FB, it's good enough for me.

Today's Artemis launch appeared on my FB feed. Along with posts by Free Press, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Mother Jones, Jacobin mag, The Humanity Project, Tom Dispatch, Root, Wonkette, Techdirt, NOVA, Frontline, etc, etc.

While law enforcement has used FB mostly for investigations and could be abused for surveillance, there is a lot of positive activity that FB encourages.

https://www.techdirt.com/2011/05/05/info-law-enforcement-gets-when-they-subpoena-facebook/

I train my AI to not send me ads, and to send me lots of green, political & tech sites.

[forgotmylogin]

20. Facebook is actually a great social *platform*.

I thought it was pretty cool the way it hooks you up with your immediate and distant family and school friends and workplace friends and gives you a way to communicate with them.

What I didn't like is them making money off my personal information - most people on Facebook are "themselves" and not an alias and the whole point is you give it that information - where you've worked, your schools, your family relations - so they can build a profile around you and monetize that data. It was scary how fast it seemed to determine that I had at one time mentioned to someone I needed a phone case and then immediately began serving ads with phone cases.

...and the fact that usually those connections generally hooked you up with the crazies in your family who took the opportunity that they hadn't seen you in 23 years to comment on your politics, or the friends of friends were the type you didn't want to see anything from. In some ways it encouraged people to stalk each other.

Oh, and Farmville and similar games. They were fun at first but quickly became a job, and I had people get mad at me that I wasn't participating daily.

[NullTuples]

21. The evil is in FB using your data* and eyes for political means.

*please don't forget that FB colluded with Cambridge Analytica & the GOP to influence elections and has shown no sign of stopping. None of your data on the site - or on your phone - is guaranteed safe from them. In short, the corporation is not to be trusted, they've shown that over and over again.