Facebook says it’s changing. Time will tell. In the meantime, privacy is under threat, news and journalism are suffering, and the algorithms employed by digital platforms are worryingly opaque.
Are you annoyed at Facebook? You’re not alone – and momentum is growing across the world to use regulation and the law to rein in the behaviours of this and other digital platforms.
Every device that you use, every company you do business with, every online account you create – they all collect data about you and analyze it to figure out minute details of your life.
Trying to figure out if Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam or other would-be penitents are sincere? A scholar who analyzed dozens of recent apologies offers a user’s guide.
Algorithms used by social media networks expose users to divisive content separating them into bubbles. But the ways in which they are trained amplifies the effects of the filter bubble.
Parents have engaged in forms of ‘sharenting’ for generations. The digital age has complicated things, but while critics make some valid points, they’re not seeing the forest for the trees.
Consuming too much social media when users end up comparing their lives to others more glamorous can leave one with bad feelings say researchers. But pretending or fantasizing is not all bad either.
After 15 years of Facebook, the ways brands use it for marketing and advertising have changed – right alongside the way people make decisions as they scroll through a never-ending feed of information.
Facebook has been acting irresponsibly and selfishly, and promising to do better without actually improving. But that’s not the whole story: The company has some positive qualities, too.
Facebook users no longer see the site as a confidant. They’re struggling with how to deal with a messy codependence – and whether to just break up and move on with healthier friends.