Black Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre: Is social media the future of car insurance?
A multinational company with thousands of employees and a turnover of more than £2 billion in 2015 requests access to young customers’ private social media history to predict their likely future behavior.
While this might sound like the basis for an episode of Charlie Brooker’s dystopian TV series Black Mirror, it’s actually a real plan formulated by insurance provider Admiral to create more accurate quotes for young drivers. The initiative, aptly named firstcarquote, was intended to examine a user’s Facebook presence -- including the pages they like and the content they post -- to identify key personality traits. These traits, in turn, would be used to predict the prospective customer’s driving style.
How will Facebook fight the fake news phenomenon? Poorly... and stupid, lazy users don't help
Facebook has many problems, but the most recent and prominent of them has been the issue of fake news. So serious is the problem, that some have blamed fake news stories on Facebook as being the reason Donald Trump is now president elect.
Mark Zuckerberg has made it fairly clear he doesn't subscribe to this particular idea, but he is certainly aware that fake news is a problem. Under pressure to do something about it -- bearing in mind that for a worrying percentage of people, Facebook is their only source of news -- Zuckerberg wants to not only make it clear that "we take misinformation seriously", but also that there are plans to tackle the problem. But they're not very good.
Facebook fake news guru Paul Horner credits himself with getting Donald Trump elected
Fake news stories are on the rise, spreading across the internet via social media. They spread at a quickening rate thanks, in large part, to well-known people sharing them. Now some services are cracking down on these stories, but is it too late?
Just recently we learned that both Google and Facebook are clamping down on the spread of fake news stories, with Google withholding ads that appear on sites it deems to contain misleading content.
Facebook's Social Good Forum aims to improve the world with donations in live video and Community Help
Facebook just held its first Social Good Forum and used it to unveil a number of new tools and options focused around raising money to help out those in need. It also announced the expansion of the existing Safety Check feature.
The social network has faced criticism in the past for triggering Safety Check -- which lets Facebook users tells friends and family they are OK in the event of a disaster or crisis -- for some major events, but not others. Now Facebook is taking a hands-off approach: it can be triggered by the community. Another new feature announced is the arrival of Donate buttons in Live videos and posts.
Why Facebook Workplace has no future
On October 10, Facebook debuted its long-incubated and much-anticipated platform for business: Workplace. But within days it was already clear that it wasn't going to live up to the hype. In fact, there's no way it could have.
This is not meant as a snub of Facebook. It makes perfect sense that Mark Zuckerberg would want his platform to become as popular for work as it is for fun. It has even made some initial converts. Hootsuite CEO Ryan Holmes defended Workplace -- which he has implemented at his offices -- in a Fast Company article because it represents "part of a broader wave of the consumerization of IT".
Facebook's privacy-invading WhatsApp user data dipping ends in Europe
Facebook has stopped using data collected from WhatsApp users to customize ads in Europe. The move comes after the practice was banned in Germany, and after the UK's Information Commissioner announced an investigation.
The social networking giant had already agreed to stop using WhatsApp data from users in the UK, but this has now been extended on a Europe-wide basis. Last month Facebook was on the receiving end of criticism from the Article 29 Working Party who complained about the invasion of users' privacy.
Could alt-right account bans spell the end of Twitter?
Abuse and trolling has been a serious problem for Twitter for some time and continues to be so. Various measures have been introduced to help with the issues, but now the site is going down a more drastic route, banning prominent alt-right accounts.
This is not something that is entirely new; earlier in the year Breitbart's Milo Yiannopoulos (also known as @Nero) was permanently banned from Twitter. In the wake of Donald Trump's astonishing rise to presidency, the alt-right movement has enjoyed a major boost. The question is, does Twitter risk cutting off too many of its users if it continues its alt-right cull?
Mark Zuckerberg denies Facebook influenced the US election, and vows to tackle fake news
In the wake of the election of Donald Trump as Barack Obama's successor as president of America, Mark Zuckerberg has spoken out to deny claims that Facebook in any way influenced the result of the US election.
Criticism of Facebook has taken various forms. One of the key complaints is that its news algorithms serve to create an echo chamber, exaggerating the already-present confirmation bias effect. But there are also concerns that fake news is a serious problem on the platform.
Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg is dead... maybe you are too
A "terrible error" has been blamed for the accidental virtual killing of a number of Facebook users, including none other than Mark Zuckerberg. Thousands of users of the social network logged into their accounts to find out they were dead after Facebook experienced a strange bug.
The accounts of many people were memorialized as friends were invited to "remember and celebrate" the lives of the "deceased". The mistake led to Facebook users having to reassure friends and family that they were OK and remained alive and kicking.
Facebook Messenger is now able to pump ads into your eyeballs
Facebook, like Google, is all about the ads. Not content with filling newsfeeds with advertising, Facebook Messenger -- already something of a privacy nightmare -- is about to become home to 'sponsored messages'. Ads by another name.
The new ad formats follow on from newsfeed data designed to direct Facebook users to Messenger, and from there the idea is to drive brand awareness and increase sales. But as with other advertising on Facebook, ads are targeted, meaning there is more than a slight degree of concern when it comes to privacy.
Facebook forced to stop using WhatsApp data to deliver targeted ads to users
Threatened with legal action if it failed to do so, Facebook has agreed to stop harvesting data from WhatsApp users and using that data to deliver targeted ads. The move comes weeks after the UK's Information Commissioner announced an investigation into the actions of the social network.
Facebook had already been blocked from doing this in Germany, and now the same restrictions are in place in the UK. With so much public interest in privacy, it is likely that other countries will follow suit in clamping down on Facebook's data collecting activities.
Admiral Insurance to use algorithms to set insurance prices based on customers' Facebook posts
Facebook, it is said -- much like Big Brother -- is watching you. Privacy groups have long warned about the potential for information shared on the social network to be misused, and now an insurance company is planning to make use of the status updates customers post to determine the type of drivers they are.
The controversial move finds Admiral Insurance using an algorithm to analyze the posts of new drivers in a bid to determine the type of people they are. By linking 'likes', writing style and other factors, Admiral believes the system -- called firstcarquote -- can be used to accurately assess how safe a driver someone is.
Facebook wants you to vote online for your favorite US election candidate
There is just over a week to go until the most important US election in living memory is over. On 8 November voters will hit booths to indicate their preference for Trump, Clinton, or one of the various independents. Facebook is getting in on the action, looking to let users know about the candidates and to encourage voting.
While the new Facebook feature lets you vote for candidates by favoriting them on the new site, the social network is quick to point out that this is not online voting -- votes placed on the site will not count towards the election proper. So what’s the point?
Facebook denies its targeted advertising is racist
Earlier today we reported about allegations from ProPublica that Facebook is engaged in what appears to be racist ad targeting by excluding based on 'ethnic affinity'. Facebook, predictably, refutes these claims.
Firing up full-on defensive mode, Facebook says that its users benefit from targeted content that is more relevant to them. To use the company's marketing spiel, this is "especially critical for people who choose to affiliate with ethnic communities". Far from being racist, this exclusion targeting technique is actually used to avoid causing offense, says Facebook.
Facebook accused of using racist 'ethnic affinity' ad targeting
Advertisers on Facebook are being given the opportunity to exclude people of certain ethnicities from seeing their ads. This is the accusation made in a new report by ProPublica, and it's a feature that -- if true -- would be both racist and illegal.
Just as for Google, advertising is big business for Facebook, and the social networking giant is keen to give advertisers all of the tools they need to ensure the maximum return on their investments. But the revelation that the audience for ads can be targeted by excluding those with a particular 'ethnic affinity' is more than a little disturbing.
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