7: Facebook Flashcards
Brief timeline of Facebook:
Launched February 2004
Limited to university students till 2006
Went public in 2012, valued at $104 billion, a new record, and a fiasco according to the Wall Street Journal
1.37 billion daily active users and 2.07 billion active monthly users as of September 2017
US$17 billion in revenue in 2015
A rapid growth of FB means its come to define what is social networking.
What is FB’s ideology of sharing?
Facebook aims to create a more open and connected Internet
Hence an emphasis on sharing
But this sharing can be divided into two kinds
Sharing between users
Sharing between users and third parties
And the terms this sharing takes have been under negotiation since 2004
Who is allowed to share what data and to what ends?
What is Beacon, FB’s first real attempt to engineer deeper sharing practices?
Beacon (late 2007): Facebook first real attempt to engineer deeper sharing practices
Beacon took purchase data from partnered e-commerce sites and sent announcements of these purchases to the FB friends of the buyers
Users were enrolled by default, with no opt-out option
50,000 users protested against Beacon and it was shut down in 2009
By identifying the e-commerce firms it partnered with, FB seemed to taking their side against their other users
It was easy for users to see that broadcasting their purchase decisions could be troublesome or problematic for them
Not allowing an opt-out decision was problematic because social media was in its infancy and the norms of sharing not well developed
What were FB’s more subtle attempts in legitimate sharing? (Facebook Platform in 2007, OpenGraph API in2010)
Since the Beacon, FB has become more subtle in its attempts to expand the concept of legitimate sharing
Facebook Platform in 2007 gave developers a set of APIs that connected FB to the outside virtual world; expanding the domain sharing could take place in.
OpenGraph API was introduced in 2010
Allows external websites to take FB user data to create personalized experiences on their own websites
The external website “like” button also introduced in 2010
When clicked data collected on the external site is sent to FB
Any user browsing on that site has their IP address sent to FB (includes those not logged into facebook and even those without a FB account)
How does the like button blur the two kind of FB sharing?
The “like” button blurs the two kinds of FB sharing
On the surface, it appears to users that they are merely sharing amongst their friends
But deeper down, algorithms are at work convert this data into publicly available data
And the ubiquity of the “like” button has meant that the web of data is much more tightly weaved around the user
Furthermore, few people really understand how these algorithms work
And FB has in the years following become deeply entrenched in people (especially young people’s lives)
How does the social role of FB motivate users to share information with FB?
The social role of FB
FB has replaced email and phone in the lives of many users
It allows for the creation of an online social identity; a means to craft a self-image by sharing information about oneself
And a means to generate social capital through the creation of networks of friends
All this generates powerful motivations to share information with FB
How did FB make motivations stronger by switching to a narrative timeline in 2011?
Facebook has also moved to make these motivations stronger by switching from a database interface to a timeline, narrative interface (Timeline) in 2011
Typically, the switch was accompanied by all user data being set to a default public setting
Users given only seven days to decide on what to do with each piece of information in terms of accessibility!
Humans are natural story-tellers, hence the narrative form is very appealing as an organizational structure
It also allows for emotional appeals (anniversaries of friendships, your year in facebook)
What are the resistance against FB?
There is some resistance
Users with technical skills have created scripts to dismantle the “like” button, remove ads and log files (ie. UnFuck Facebook)
Journalists have also publicized how FB tracks users (ie. Byron Acohido, USA Today)
Others have abandoned the site – Quit Facebook Day, May 31, 2010 (but deleting accounts is not straightforward)
Why is there resistance against FB’s TOR?
Much resistance centres around Facebook’s TOR
Frequently changes, but users are never explicitly told what those changes are.
Consists of five levels: principles, statement of rights and responsibilities, privacy policy, data use policy, and platform policy
The principles are the bedrock – they encode sharing as the central FB value
Sharing is limited only by law, technology and “evolving social norms” (which FB sets)
The second principle gives people the right to withhold data from other users
But the third principle declares it impossible for FB to know what third parties do with the data they collect (contradicting the second principle)
2010 legal action taken by EPIC and ALA in USA
Canada’s Privacy Commissioner recommendation to the GOC
German state of Schleswerg-Holstein forbids government agencies from using the “like” button on their sites as it violates national privacy laws
How does capitalism reach into the realms of culture and social r/s. How do FB users engage in immaterial labor?
Scholars studying capitalism as a socio-economic phenomena argue that capitalism needs to constantly grow and in growing it spreads to other areas both geographically and socially
Initially capitalism operated only within the realm of material productions, but currently capitalism extends its reach far into the realms of culture and social relationships.
Facebook is an example of this kind of capitalist endeavour and its users engage in immaterial labour
What is immaterial labour?
Facebook users can be seen as engaging in a special kind of labour
Immaterial labour:
This is labour that produces knowledge, ideas, images, relationships, and emotions
Can be divided into intellectual immaterial labour and affective immaterial labour
What are the 3 characteristics of immaterial labour?
Mobile and flexible
- Facebook work can be done anywhere there is an Internet connection (including traditional work time)
Networked
- Facebook is essentially a large network that is maintained through disciplined labour
- Users of FB produce social skills and prosocial behaviour by managing profile appearances and friendships in order to make themselves and their friends feel important and loved
Subjectivity producing
- Socio-cultural realm
- Economic realm
- Slacktivist
Elaborate on how immaterial labour produces subjectivities:
- Socio-cultural realm
- Economic realm
- Slacktivist nature
Socio-cultural realm –
Users’ social life informs FB which, through its algorithms and advertisers influences the future social life of the users
Users communicate with one another, building connections and disseminating information about popular trends. By surveilling friends’ pages and reading the FB news page, users learn how to act in society and to be an acceptable member. Users learn what is acceptable to discuss and what is taboo, and are disciplined by others when they step out of line through ‘unliking’ status updates or ‘defriending’
Economic realm –
User purchases inform marketers who use FB to “inform” users about what to buy
Users are cyclically resold the ‘hottest new cool thing’ that they have produced through their free labour on FB … These messages come in the form of FB ads or from friends who have already consumed goods and bragged about features through a status update
FB is producing a new kind of political subject, “slacktivists” who see political action as essentially a matter of clicking a button
Button-clicking or liking takes the place of critical thought and action in the service of a cause
While allowing the “slacktivist” a sense of contributing to society or doing his/her civil duty
