Analysis Of Facebook’s Benefits And Shortcomings In Regard To Users

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that digital media and its impacts have been imposed upon every facet of our lives. Its essence lies in the construct of our society, which features power and exploitation of all sorts.

Facebook is a world renowned social networking platform, that was launched by Mark Zuckerberg on February 4, 2004. Zuckerberg was a proficient computer programmer, with plenty of experience, where he established sites the likes of Coursematch, which enables users to interact with fellow users who share the same degree. Or even face mash, where one can rate the attractiveness of other individuals. Facebook was launched as a profiling site, where countless students from Harvard and various other Ivy league schools registered from its very first days. Till this, day Facebook profits from its advertising, that is the product of algorithmic mechanisms. Bolter and Grusin suggest that contemporary media platforms are outgrowths of technological techniques and practices of the past. Remediation is readily evident, as Facebook is said to be the product of letter writing, phone calls, and the sharing of photographs. Consequently, Richard Gusin asserts that popular media anticipates future events especially in the political realm as a method, in order to suppress any potential repercussions from materializing. This reiterates the fact that society is constantly seeking to exploit the population, in order to fulfill their objectives. This can be achieved through the use of algorithmic data that is offered by Facebook. This paper seeks to analyze Facebook’s benefits as well as its shortcomings.

Facebook’s success is rooted in its consistent modifications that keep its News Feed interactive. Studies indicate that Facebook’s newsfeed is driven by nine factors, “including, friend relationships, explicitly expressed user interests, prior user engagement, implicitly expressed user preferences, post age, platform priorities, page relationships, negatively expressed preferences, and content quality”. Facebook’s core Algorithmic values feature surveillance and data collection. Consequently, it has been become a personalized algorithmic data collector, that is constantly updating its outputs based on one’s preferences, the behavior of people one is connected with, as well as the behavior of the group of users the system judges one to belong to. This lack of privacy has readily become an ordinary aspect on Facebook. A study that analyzes personal stories of Facebook users affirms its profiling as one of its many controversial components. For instance, Kayla, a 23-year-old from New York, utilizes her Newsfeed regularly and observes how Facebook makes a connection through algorithmic reconfiguration.

Facebook begins to anticipate what ads and apps Kayla may be interested in. Consequently, various ads perceiving overweight and low budget lifestyles are thrust upon her regularly. This lowers her morale and imposes a negative mindset, ultimately damaging her self-esteem, alongside countless members of the community. Moreover, Facebook ruins friendships as it filters those who are suggested in one’s friends list as well as their appearance on the Newsfeed. This makes users neglect one another subconsciously, thus hindering relationships. One can readily observe the 6 dimensions suggested by Tarleton Gillespie. The presence of pattern inclusion, which includes and excludes data is prevalent on one’s feed, as Facebook filters preferences. The cycle of anticipation is also utilized in order to assume the user’s identity, in order to know what to display or where to categorize them. In addition, the evolution of relevance can be observed as algorithms categorize one through surveillance. The promise of Algorithmic objectivity as well as Entanglement with practice shape the use of algorithms and how they are utilized to purposely impose certain ideas.

Finally, the production of calculated publics can be observed, as Facebook benefits from the knowledge of the public in order to be deceitful and promote and dispel various aspects in society. For instance, it suggests that algorithms are safe and should be accepted. Another negative impact of Algorithms is Automation, as it eliminates jobs and positions, consequently, affecting job security. Moreover, Algorithmic surveillance and identity, is exploited by companies in order to interact with the customers. However, it may impact workers negatively, due to the lack of confidentiality. For instance, Uber drivers are judged by their algorithmic rates and are treated in a very disposable manner, where they do not interact with any superiors. This monitoring of workers leaves them uncomfortable and unwilling to cooperate at times. It also, eliminates countless positions as they are judged based on their media profiles at times.

Finally, the lack of confidentiality, has proven time and time again to be very impactful. Hacking has become commonplace at this time and age, where users are constantly harassed and blackmailed at times. One may interact with an individual who is only seeking to gather sensitive information about their personalities and location. Despite all the negative impacts that Facebook imposes, there are various components that can be utilized in order to yield a profound effect upon society or business. Another study prudently observes the impact of advertising on social media platforms and its ability to captivate customers, and create brand loyalty, through the use of Facebook. An experiment is conducted, where large amount of data the included 106, 316 Facebook messages, that were attached to over 782 companies. The study utilized the Amazon Mechanical Turk and other algorithms in order to gather such data. Essentially, it aims to analyze marketing on media platforms and what factors come into play. The study resorts to likes, comments, shares as well as clickthroughs. Consequently, when brand personality or emotion was invoked, customer engagement was very high. However, informative messages have observed very low customer interest, except those that featured promotions, where Click through was invoked. Results suggest that businesses can benefit from brand and emotional marketing, where a fundamental problem or fantasy in society is demonstrated. The advantage of Facebook lies in its connection which benefits customers as well as businesses as a whole.

In conclusion, Facebook seeks to exploit users, where their information is commercialized through various mechanisms. The lack of privacy has proven to be very impactful as users are vulnerable to hackers and scammers. Nevertheless, Facebook has proven to be a very useful tool for businesses and customers, as they can connect and observe promotions and comment form other customers. Ideally, one can take the good from Facebook’s services and discard the bad, through the understanding of its mechanisms and how it relays information about one’s life and identity.