In 2014, I began warning that Facebook’s user numbers were false, and I also began saying that at some point, the site would boast more people than there were online users on Earth. (In fact, I said this very thing again earlier this week, ironically on a friend’s Facebook, above.) I couldn’t see how […]
Read More… from After years, the tech press catches on about Facebook’s inflated user numbers
Facebook sent me a survey as one of our businesses has bought advertising with them. I’ve detailed my responses below, with a few notes. I’ve included Instagram in this, since their own advertising platform allows us to reach that. What is the most important thing that Facebook can do to improve your advertising experience? Some […]
I have long maintained that Facebook’s databases are dying (hence their need to force people to download malware) and tonight’s discovery is a case of ‘What more proof do you need?’ Tonight, I can edit a verified (blue-ticked) Facebook page with a fan base in the high five figures that is not mine. I […]
Read More… from Facebook lets me have full access on someone’s public page—but I’m not an admin
My friend Richard MacManus commemorated the 14th anniversary of ReadWrite, an online publication he founded as a blog (then called ReadWriteWeb) in 2003, by examining blogging and how the open web has suffered with the rise of Facebook and others. It’s worth a read, and earlier tonight I fed in the following comment. I […]
Read More… from There’s still a place for blogging—in fact, it might be needed more than ever
That’s a nice conclusion. Since my previous blog post, Dr Libby Weaver’s people got back to me within 24 hours. Although no notes from her seminar were available, we decided that I should get a Dr Libby book, which duly arrived. Here ’tis: Good on @drlibby's team for being so on the ball and keeping […]
Paul Clarke/CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37435469 Above: Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web. Earlier this month, Sir Tim Berners-Lee wrote an open letter expressing his concerns about the evolution of his invention, the World Wide Web. (Interestingly, he writes the term all in lowercase.) It wasn’t just about ‘fake news’, which […]
From Prof Heather Richardson, a professor of political history, and republished with her permission. We have social media, we can gather together. It’ll be important for people in the US, whether they are Republican, Democrat or have another political leaning, to show that they’re not going to get suckered in by what’s happening in their […]
A week ago, Avon found an inventive way to get its brand noticed in peak-hour traffic. I could make this about how people don’t know how to drive these days, or about the media fascination with Asian drivers when the reality does not bear this out, but let’s make it all about Avon—since they […]
Instagram, on announcing their cancellation, said that not many people used its maps, which is a shame—looks like I was one of the few who did. For those seeking an alternative, the Data Pack has a map that you can use here. It’s not bad, though being on another site, it’s less handy to get […]
As of today, I’ve sent off my evidence to the US Better Business Bureau so they can continue their investigation of Facebook. The DAA was too gutless to investigate but the BBB, by contrast, gives a damn. Let me note here that I have nothing against Facebook making a buck. I just ask that […]
Read More… from Facebook’s ad targeting: evidence now filed with the Better Business Bureau