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Should you delete your Facebook Account

Image Credit: Facebook.com

Wait what? Did I read that headline correctly?

…But Wayne how will I keep in touch with all of my Facebook friends? How will I find out how perfect people’s lives are and all the cool things they are getting up to? How will the local politician’s be able to inform me of what they’ve been doing? All First World dilemma’s. But still, concerns many people have right about now.

If you live on this planet you’ll have heard it on the news, seen someone share a link to an article or perhaps seen the hashtag trending across social media #deletefacebook.

The Story so far..

The Facebook/Cambridge Analytica/Data story broke as a result of an undercover investigation by Channel 4 News which revealed Cambridge Analytica executives being secretly recording taking credit for winning campaigns, notably Trumps’ in elections across the world. Facebook came under fire after it emerged analytics company Cambridge Analytica accessed the data of more than 50 million users – mainly in the US, without their permission, for the purpose of campaign influencing.

Since this unfolded many people have begun questioning if, in fact, they should delete their Facebook account. This I feel personally is something people need to be asking or perhaps considering. Think about it. Facebook’s most valuable asset is how well it knows it’s users. Let’s break it down.

Every:

• Post you share
• Comment you make
• Page you like
• What you buy
• Causes you follow/support
• Hobbies and Activities
• Places you have visiting/went on holiday

..are known by Facebook. This is only a small part of an even bigger list which helps Facebook paint a picture of who you are, how you think, how you feel and importantly – what you buy and who you’ll vote for. Businesses, Brands, organisations and even political parties who advertise on Facebook, pay to access these insights to ensure their advertising and essentially fake news and propaganda messages reach the right people.

So what can people do? Should you Delete your Facebook Account

Firstly, I don’t believe even with this scandal breaking we will see millions of people closing down their Facebook accounts. This won’t happen. As a society we have become too reliant on Facebook and other social media platforms, so much so that many of us don’t even think about the amount of data we share on social media, who has access to it or how it’s being used.

As one of the millions of Facebook users you have already shared information with the company relating to your behaviour, views and habits over the time you’ve been using it’s platform.

For most of us that’s 10+ years. A lot of data right?

How can I check my Advertisement Preferences on Facebook? Follow these steps in the images below;

Image Credit: Facebook.com

Image Credit: Facebook.com

Image Credit: Facebook.com

Image Credit: Facebook.com

What is perhaps also concerning, is the number of 3rd party apps which we’ve ‘granted permission’ to access our data.

It’s actually very straightforward. Jump over to your Facebook page. Scroll to right-hand side as you did above this time following these steps;

Image Credit: Facebook.com

Image Credit: Facebook.com

The reality of ‘Free’ Facebook.
‘Facebook isn’t really a social network…It’s a data analytics firm’
(The Guardian, 21 March 2018).

True. And True. We know we pay Facebook, and Amazon and Google for that matter, for their services with our data. But we don’t like to think about it too much.

‘The Guardian expands on Facebook’s core business as an analytics firm ‘which manages to use its position as the middleman for a vast proportion of all human communication to find out everything there is to know about its users’. In response to Zuckerberg’s press pieces about ‘improving systems and privacy’, Parry Aptaf says ‘When data is the product, the system cannot change’.

Something to think about a little bit more, before we hit ‘I agree’ to the T’s & C’s on all the smartphone apps Facebook grants permission from to gather your personal information.

Take care online

Wayne

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Wayne Denner shares his knowledge & expertise on leading tech industry blog.

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