The scourge of Facebook

Technology, computers, internet, websites, mobiles, cameras, audio and video.
SPONSORS: Hua Hin Web Design
Post Reply
User avatar
STEVE G
Hero
Hero
Posts: 12821
Joined: Mon Apr 03, 2006 3:50 am
Location: HUA HIN/EUROPE

Re: The scourge of Facebook

Post by STEVE G »

. If a news organization such as CNN had a reporter who saw it and cameraman who recorded it, is it fake news to not broadcast it and question her health?
CNN did broadcast it and also questioned her health:
http://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/ ... rly-rs.cnn
Homer
Rock Star
Rock Star
Posts: 3336
Joined: Sun Mar 21, 2010 3:11 pm

Re: The scourge of Facebook

Post by Homer »

STEVE G wrote:CNN did broadcast it and also questioned her health:
I described a hypothetical situation that resembled several actual ones. My question still stands:
Homer wrote:If a news organization such as CNN had a reporter who saw it and cameraman who recorded it, is it fake news to not broadcast it and question her health? Most not on the left side of the political spectrum would say yes.
Care to answer it?
User avatar
buksida
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 22525
Joined: Tue Dec 31, 2002 12:25 pm
Location: south of sanity

Re: The scourge of Facebook

Post by buksida »

Video footage is hard to dispute, but with today's software it is easy to create fakes along with a fake website or fake Facebook page and get it viewed by millions because Facebook has no editors or quality control and appears to be above the law, it is essentially the internet's form of pollution. CNN and news websites are controlled and part of the editors job is to fact check and verify the legality and authenticity of the story before it is run (whatever their political allegiance), or else they'd all end up getting sued.
Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed? - Hunter S Thompson
User avatar
buksida
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 22525
Joined: Tue Dec 31, 2002 12:25 pm
Location: south of sanity

Re: The scourge of Facebook

Post by buksida »

More crap from Farcebook who are now fabricating their own web traffic figures. We know how easy it is for people to buy fake 'likes' for their pages (you can see plenty who have done so in Hua Hin), the whole system is farcical, why would anyone running a local business want to pay for 'likes' from click farms in Bangladesh just to make it appear that they're popular ...

Facebook says it erred measuring audience reach
Facebook on Wednesday said that it is working to fix flaws in its metrics calculations that led to the audience being overestimated at times.

It was the second time in months that Facebook acknowledged problems with assessing the reach of content at the leading online social network, a key factor in luring crucial advertising.

In September, Facebook said it had overestimated the average amount of time spent watching videos over the course of the previous two years.

Facebook said a software bug went live in May that let repeat visits to online pages of companies or brands be counted as though someone new was taking a look each time.

The software did not "de-duplicate" visits as intended, causing calculated averages for visits during seven- or 28-day periods to be inflated by 33% and 55%, respectively, according to Facebook

The social network also said that since August it has been overestimating by about seven percent the time spent on news stories published using its Instant Articles tool.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/tech/world-u ... ence-reach
Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed? - Hunter S Thompson
User avatar
Big Boy
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 45038
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2005 7:36 pm
Location: Bon Kai

Re: The scourge of Facebook

Post by Big Boy »

Does any of this bother the average user? Probably not. How many take up the offer to reach X number of extra people for X Baht? Just a few unscrupulous businesses, and I know 1 genuine business use it.

Yes, they are conning money out of a few, but I would guess this doesn't affect 95% of users. It's like anything, personal choice whether to believe it or not. Personally, if I see something of interest, it is usually from a source I trust. Otherwise, I will copy and paste the first couple of lines into Google. That will usually bring up a genuine source, and give a good feeling of credibility.

Basically, you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.

I primarily use Facebook to keep in touch with friends and family all over the world, and it's brilliant for that. I couldn't imagine being so settled here without it. And for me, it's totally free. Everything else is a by-product.
Championship Plymouth Argyle 0 - 1 Preston NE :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

Points 41; Position 18
User avatar
buksida
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 22525
Joined: Tue Dec 31, 2002 12:25 pm
Location: south of sanity

Re: The scourge of Facebook

Post by buksida »

Big Boy wrote: Basically, you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.
Does that apply to the majority of the American public who just voted ... possibly fueled by swathes of disinformation disseminated on farcebook ... :duck:

Viral Fake Election News Outperformed Real News On Facebook In Final Months Of The US Election
https://www.buzzfeed.com/craigsilverman ... n-facebook
Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed? - Hunter S Thompson
User avatar
Big Boy
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 45038
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2005 7:36 pm
Location: Bon Kai

Re: The scourge of Facebook

Post by Big Boy »

Maybe, and maybe that's what happened with Brexit. If people are gullible enough, then why not.

Personally, I closed my ears to the Brexit crap, and voted with my gut - some may say I was wrong. I'll probably be dead before the true effects of Brexit are known - whatever the result, there was always going to be a lot of squabbling.

I guess if people are too dumb to think for themselves, but are willing to sell their soul to Facebook, it just goes to show what a sad place the world is becoming.
Championship Plymouth Argyle 0 - 1 Preston NE :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

Points 41; Position 18
Homer
Rock Star
Rock Star
Posts: 3336
Joined: Sun Mar 21, 2010 3:11 pm

Re: The scourge of Facebook

Post by Homer »

buksida wrote:CNN and news websites are controlled and part of the editors job is to fact check and verify the legality and authenticity of the story before it is run (whatever their political allegiance), or else they'd all end up getting sued.
LOL! The majority of Americans don't trust the press because we know when we're being lied to, where 'lying' includes not covering something, covering part of what happened, covering it by talking only to observers who agree with the news outlet's politics, using weasel words and dancing along both the edges of so-called journalistic ethics and the edge of libel, and more. CNN isn't called the Clinton News Network for nothing.

The news media doesn't fact check, they trust their reporters unless something is totally beyond the pale. For example a TV news reader during a live broadcast was handed a bulletin. He said something like 'I'm not reading this. Verify it'. Turned out to be false. When they do 'fact check' it's sometimes no more valid then saying we heard the rumor from 3 different sources, none of whom agreed to be named.

Some magazines (remember them?) verify each fact and quote in a story. The New Yorker is well known for it because authors being published there for the first time are amazed at how detailed it is, even after hearing the stories. Other magazines such as Rolling Stone, publish spew that fits their politics if the author says it's true. A judge ordered Rolling Stone to pay 3 million USD after recently losing a defamation case.

Sure, sometimes news media are sued. It's rare. Why? Because even if one has enough money to endure and win the legal battle, they still lose. Why? An old saying from the days of print went something like 'Never pick a fight with an organization the buys ink by the barrel and paper by the ton.' Peter Thiel, a billionaire, funded Hulk Hogan's suit against Gawker and won, but how many people can fund a 10 Million USD lawsuit?
Homer
Rock Star
Rock Star
Posts: 3336
Joined: Sun Mar 21, 2010 3:11 pm

Re: The scourge of Facebook

Post by Homer »

Easy question for y'all, this time based on a real example. The left partisan media, AKD main stream media, covered one aspect the same way of campaign speeches by both hillary and President-elect of the United States of America, Donald Trump. They used a camera shot centered on the candidate, wide enough to show a few people in the audience located behind the candidate. Fair and equal, right? What they didn't show was audience size. Trump was filling arenas with 10,000+, hillary was attracting a few hundred. The disparity in audience size was news. So, the question is, by not showing and mentioning the disparity were the left partisan media making fake news?
User avatar
STEVE G
Hero
Hero
Posts: 12821
Joined: Mon Apr 03, 2006 3:50 am
Location: HUA HIN/EUROPE

Re: The scourge of Facebook

Post by STEVE G »

'Post-truth' named word of the year by Oxford Dictionaries
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/ ... ctionaries
User avatar
STEVE G
Hero
Hero
Posts: 12821
Joined: Mon Apr 03, 2006 3:50 am
Location: HUA HIN/EUROPE

Re: The scourge of Facebook

Post by STEVE G »

Homer wrote:Easy question for y'all, this time based on a real example. The left partisan media, AKD main stream media, covered one aspect the same way of campaign speeches by both hillary and President-elect of the United States of America, Donald Trump. They used a camera shot centered on the candidate, wide enough to show a few people in the audience located behind the candidate. Fair and equal, right? What they didn't show was audience size. Trump was filling arenas with 10,000+, hillary was attracting a few hundred. The disparity in audience size was news. So, the question is, by not showing and mentioning the disparity were the left partisan media making fake news?
By some definitions, yes but partisan reporting has gone on since the beginning of the news industry, and it's not confined to one side. What is happening now is that the majority of people are apparently not using main stream media, they're getting their news through Facebook's algorithms.
Deep Blue
Specialist
Specialist
Posts: 155
Joined: Tue Jun 23, 2015 1:05 pm

Re: The scourge of Facebook

Post by Deep Blue »

buksida wrote:Video footage is hard to dispute, but with today's software it is easy to create fakes along with a fake website or fake Facebook page and get it viewed by millions because Facebook has no editors or quality control and appears to be above the law, it is essentially the internet's form of pollution. CNN and news websites are controlled and part of the editors job is to fact check and verify the legality and authenticity of the story before it is run (whatever their political allegiance), or else they'd all end up getting sued.
Well I can tell you're not an American or you're being sarcastic - CNN is a propaganda front for the democratic party and almost nothing they report is factual. In the US to sue a media source like CNN would require in court to show evidence of actual malice by clear and convincing evidence. Extremely difficult to prove. So Trump is a racist because he said some Mexicans are rapists and criminals, yes, part of the reason I'm here is because I'm from California. A piss hole now.
Deep Blue
Specialist
Specialist
Posts: 155
Joined: Tue Jun 23, 2015 1:05 pm

Re: The scourge of Facebook

Post by Deep Blue »

MajorBloodnok wrote:G'day mates,

Admitted - Facebook has its flaws.
With so many customers they don't have to give a damn
about customer satisfaction.

My first FB account was hacked, and I could no longer access it.
Fortunately all my photo albums were public, so I could still visit my
account as a stranger.

I even wrote a registered letter to their main office. Went into the
waster paper basket or shredder, I suppose.

It's definitely politically biased - pro-muslim & anti-Jewish, anti-Israel.

Still it provides for incorrigible loners like me a unique opportunity to
connect with the people, causes and institutions I care for.

MB aka 'Mike the Fritz'

P.S. And your FB friends are not put off by bad breath or body odour either. Lol
Are you British? "odour" I'm guessing yes - "pro-Muslim" LOL, I'd like so very much to tell you what I think of that.
User avatar
buksida
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 22525
Joined: Tue Dec 31, 2002 12:25 pm
Location: south of sanity

Re: The scourge of Facebook

Post by buksida »

Its quite evident that I aint a septic y'all. :wink:

While I realise that some mainstream media (in the UK as well as the US) is well slanted to one side, I would rather take my news from a balanced selection of news websites and form my own opinions based on them than be spoon fed a fake stream of diatribe on Feckbook and take that as being the truth because some muppet with many "likes/friends" posted it.
Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed? - Hunter S Thompson
oakdale160
Rock Star
Rock Star
Posts: 4657
Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2013 9:51 pm

Re: The scourge of Facebook

Post by oakdale160 »

When FB started it was very 'cozy' You selecteda group of friends or people whose opinion you respected and had yur own little group. Now, most and I mean most of the postsare from people or orgs tat you did not invite. Another flaw is that quite decent people who feel that they must place on the site every post that theyei, so that you get pics of a birthday party fora child that you have never heard of.ina country far far away
Post Reply