Influence
I find I am interested in Facebook much less than in the past. I tune in occasionally to find out what’s up with friends and family. But I wondered recently who is trying to influence me through postings. I went on to look at my timeline of recent posts.
It’s revealing. Facebook itself starts by asking if I want to buy a print book of my photos. I then hear from the World Health organization twice - with some facts about Covid-19. I also have a message from the Canadian Mental Health organization. These can be justified in the same way as notices in my building’s elevators and other bulletin boards. There is also a post that I can’t read – in Spanish. That could be accounted for by one bilingual “friend” on my list. I have no clue re the contents.
I decided to look at the next 24 items. These consisted of twelve posts from people on my list of over 200 “friends” every one of which I can recognize if I met them face to face and would be happy to do so. What they had to say varied in importance or relevance for me. Of these eight posted messages about their thoughts, opinions and events in their lives. Five acted as curators and posted links to articles of personal interest.
These had a wide range. One was an article from the Guardian. One was an article about birds. I have a friend who frequently posts pictures of birds, so the assumption there is that I am also interested. One was about Messiness Chic – which I guess applies to me in some way. One was an article from the Pontifical Academy - a bit of a connection but not a great one. One was from a show that somebody liked on Netflix, which I no longer have. One was from a software program; I act as an administrator using it and have sometimes responded to a query, so I regarded that as legitimate.
All the rest were advertisements with no attribution. One represented Celtic sweaters. Two were from the Toronto Star. I had a brief subscription but cancelled it. One thought I should be interested in an article on NPR – I might have been, but not about Britney Spears. One was for The Economist. One was from Facebook with pictures of people I might know. I didn’t. One was about cat food. I don’t have a cat. One was from the bee protectors. I don’t have any bees either.
My guess is that some of the 200 friends “liked” these things. Sometimes the ads tell me so. We can do one another a favour. Get off Facebook and pick up the phone or send a note to a friend. If you care about causes, tell them so and send them some money. At very least, stop “liking” things. We’re allowing our personal information to be hijacked every time we do so - and foisting it on others. Facebook is laughing all the way to the bank.