Facebook has been in the news lately for a dust-up about privacy and the (ab)use of customer data. Apparently they have been playing too fast and loose with our “private” data.
I put “private” in quotes because, well, on Facebook, nothing is private. You are kidding yourself if you think that anything — anything — you put on Facebook is private. I assume that everything I type into the Internet, whether it be an email, a blog post, or anything at all on Facebook, could end up on the front page of the Minneapolis StarTribune. Every click, every comment, everything. I treat it that way because that is an accurate way to treat it.
Sure, Facebook has all sorts of privacy settings, but those setting control what can be seen by other users, not Facebook. Facebook sees everything. It’s been said — and it’s been said because it is the truth — that if you aren’t paying for it on the Internet, then you are the product.
— Timothy Aeppel (@TimAeppel) March 22, 2018
Well, that’d definitely true for Facebook. They make money selling ads based on what they know about you. They show you ads and content — including paid content — that they think you will want to see. Its effective, because obviously advertisers want to put their ads in front of people more likely to respond to them.
And I for one actually like this. I know that free content needs to generate revenue, and I know that ads are the way that revenue is generated. I don’t mind ads — some people do and use ad-blockers — but I don’t mind ads. And if I am going to see ads, I want them to be relevant to me. So I’m perfectly fine with Facebook mining my information and tailoring what they show me based on that knowledge.
And I’m not foolish — I know that my information will be used, sold, folded, spindled, and mutilated by Facebook and anyone Facebook gives access to it. Armed with this knowledge, I don’t put anything out on the Internet that I don’t want to end up in a database run by folks like Cambridge Analytica.
Bottom Line: If you don’t want your information to be used in such a manner, don’t put it out online. And don’t get mad when what you do put online is used in such a matter.