Facebook is an enormously powerful corporation, harnessing both the self-disclosed and gleaned personal data of almost 2 billion people. Its user-base is larger than the population of any country. The company is all pervasive online, tracking and profiling users and non-users alike. Cracking the Code looks at the insides of this giant machine and how Facebook turns your thoughts and behaviours into profits—whether you like it or not. And it’s not just a one-way transaction either. Cracking the Code also explains how Facebook uses vast troves of web data to manipulate the way you think and feel, as well as act—all in the sole interests of Facebook, masquerading as “community.” What are the social implications of this—when one company basically controls the insights and experiences of the entire online world, with extremely personalised and targeted social and behavioural engineering on a scale never before seen?
scyth2233 on April 30th, 2017 at 15:18 UTC »
Facebook has gone through this weird cycle over the years back in 2005-2008 facebook was the best thing ever. Suddently, all these old friends I hadnt seen in years started popping up and it was great to see what people were doing with their lives. Fast forward to 2017 and my opinion is very different. I've had people on it for 10+ years. I know everything about them, their familys/ their friends/ their gfs/bfs and vice versa yet strangely if I was to message them it would be awkard. Yet if I hadnt seen them for 10 years I'd think I'd be able to message them no problem. Another weird thing about fb is when you meet new people in real life. For exanple I went to a sporting event with some people id never met yet I knew everything about them from fb because theyd pop up every now and again being mutual friends with other friends. Its a strange thing. Fb also brings out a very different side to people. You have the passive aggressive people, the people who are always trying to brag/boast on fb. The ones who have strong opinions on things, and the ones who just come across as plain dumb but just dont realize it.
JungleTheBand on April 30th, 2017 at 13:17 UTC »
Anyone notice how much of a pain it is actually to fully delete your account? Unless they changed the method. I had to deactivate it for 30 days then I had to get back on the website's support after that to fully delete the profile. I realized I was addicted to Facebook when it took me multiple times of deactivating my account and reactivating it before I could actually leave it alone for the 30 day period to be deleted.
captkunt on April 30th, 2017 at 09:55 UTC »
All bullshit aside. I haven't had a Facebook account for 7 years. The most impacting thing I have noticed on myself is, I actually have to contact my friends, family, and peers on a personal level via call, text, or meeting face to face. I don't see what they're doing on the daily or comparing my life to theirs every time I pick up my cell phone/computer. I think that is great... for me at least.