Greg's Corner

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  Geebo 10:02 am on July 6, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Facebook, News ( 7 )   

  Facebook changes its newsfeed again: How to keep Geebo on yours 

  

  In today’s digitized society almost all of us have to use Facebook. We have to use it because that’s where most of our friends and family are and how we stay in touch with them. Because of that publishers, businesses and content creators are almost beholden to Facebook since that’s where a great deal of their traffic comes from. That made Facebook a destination for multitudes of people looking for the latest news by liking the Facebook pages of their favorite news outlets, blogs and brands. This would allow the news that users would be looking for to be mixed in with the posts from their friends and family on their newsfeed. That all changed recently.

  Not too long ago Facebook made announcements that it would not only be changing the newsfeed feature once again, as it has done so many times in the past, but that it will now focus more on friends and family than publishers and the like. I’m sure many people will enjoy this new feature but what about the people who use Facebook for their news and consumer information? Major publishers are claiming that their numbers are down, bloggers that I’ve talked to have told me that they’re numbers are down, and sadly even the numbers for the Geebo Facebook page are somewhat down.

  For those of you who want to keep the news, and Geebo, in your newsfeed there is a solution. Many news organizations have posted detailed instructions on how to keep your favorite Facebook page in your news feed. For example you can check out this one from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune here. You can use their guide not only to get your favorite news pages back in your newsfeed but hopefully you’ll use it to get Geebo’s back in as well.

  Thank you for your continued support and patronage of Geebo.com, the safer community classifieds.

   

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  Geebo 10:01 am on June 21, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg ( 7 ), Peter Thiel ( 13 ), Press ( 7 )   

  What does Facebook’s shareholder vote say about a free press? 

  

  Peter Thiel demonstrates how he choked the life out of Gawker.

  In a follow-up to yesterday’s post about Facebook’s shareholder meeting, Peter Thiel was reelected to the Facebook board of directors amid the Gawker and Donald Trump controversies. The vote itself really wasn’t much of one since, as TheStreet points out, Mark Zuckerberg controls 60% of Facebook stock which pretty much makes him the benevolent dictator of the Facebook board.

  With Zuckerberg basically giving Thiel a vote of confidence what does that say about Facebook’s stance towards a free press? As BuzzFeed points out, one of Facebook’s mission statements is “to make the world more open and connected.” With Thiel’s reelection it gives the appearance that Facebook wants the open and connected world to be only made in their own image.

  With Facebook being the primary source of news for many people, they wield a mighty big stick when it comes to determining what news people see. With Thiel’s reelection it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Facebook could start limiting exposure to news outlets that are critical of them.

   
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  Geebo 9:15 am on June 20, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Donald Trump ( 12 ), Facebook, Peter Thiel ( 13 ), Press ( 7 )   

  Will Peter Thiel be ousted from Facebook? 

  

  Later today the board of directors of Facebook will meet for the annual shareholder’s meeting. One of the items said to be on the agenda is whether or not venture capitalist and Gawker lawsuit backer Peter Thiel will remain on the board.

  According to TheWrap The Writers Guild of America East sent a petition to Facebook stating that Peter Thiel’s presence on the board is too much of a threat to freedom of the press.

  “Facebook is the portal through which so much news, particularly online news, is accessed and even sent out now,” WGAE executive director Lowell Peterson added. “[News outlets] depend on social media like Facebook for their survival, for getting their message out, for getting their stories and videos out.”

  Another point of controversy is that Thiel is a delegate for Donald Trump. This kind of explains why Thiel’s attack lawyers are threatening Gawker with legal action over Donald Trump’s alleged hairpiece. However, could it also mean that with Thiel in Trump’s camp will this start a campaign where media outlets critical of Trump are threatened with legal action?

  So will Facebook take a stand in defense of the press or will they continue to support a legitimate threat to journalism?

  What does Facebook’s shareholder vote say about a free press? | Greg's Corner is discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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  Geebo 10:37 am on June 16, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Facebook, healthcare ( 43 ), mental health ( 3 ), suicide prevention   

  Are Facebook’s new suicide prevention tools susceptible to abuse? 

  

  Recently, Facebook announced that they will be adding new suicide prevention tools to the ever burgeoning social network. Some of these tools will include being able to flag a friend’s post if you think they may be in danger of harming themselves. According to Tech Crunch this could result in a number of options…

  Facebook gives them several options. For example, a list of resources, including numbers for suicide prevention organizations, can be shared anonymously, or a message of support can be sent (Facebook suggests wording).

  The post may also be reviewed by Facebook’s global community operations team, which may then “reach out to this person with information that might be helpful to them,”

  However, with this being the internet every tool that’s designed to help can also be used to hurt, or as the saying goes ‘this is why we can’t have nice things.’ While Facebook should be applauded for adding this feature there is also a potential for abuse, especially when it comes to younger users who may be cyberbullied.

  It’s almost inevitable that group of trolls or bullies will hammer someone’s Facebook posts with this ‘suicide flag’, for lack of a better term, as either a threatening message (e.g., the ‘kill yourself’ type of harassment) or just as a way to interfere with their Facebook experience.

  Mental health is still a tricky topic even in today’s society and is still somewhat stigmatized. In that case Facebook should be commended for helping to try to bring the topic to the forefront however, they need to be careful that this feature isn’t used to even further stigmatize though who may be in need of mental healthcare by allowing this new tool of theirs to be abused.

  Engadget is reporting that Facebook does have a team in place to monitor for potential abuse. Hopefully they’ll be able to curtail abuse so resources for those who need it can be effectively put to use.

   
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  Geebo 9:45 am on June 3, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Facebook, real estate ( 139 ), salt lake city   

  Off Topic Friday: Like us on Facebook or be evicted 

  

  An apartment complex in Salt Lake City recently found themselves in hot water after giving notices to their tenants that they were required to like their Facebook page or possibly face eviction. As should have been expected, the tenants did not care for this and fired back at the apartment complex. Not only did they rate the apartment complex badly on their Facebook page but they also took to the media which in turn made this into a national story. The apartment complex has since revoked this requirement and has said they were doing this to make sure that pictures from a community pool party would be allowed to be posted on their Facebook page.

  Have Facebook likes become the new metric when it comes to business? Have they become more important than actual customers? Instead of focusing on Facebook likes maybe companies should focus on better products or services then the likes will follow. Trying to generate false or forced likes tends to make you look like a corporation of phonies.

   
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  Geebo 10:15 am on June 2, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Facebook, Gawker ( 8 ), Peter Thiel ( 13 )   

  Thiel to remain on Facebook board amid free speech concerns 

  

  In a follow-up to yesterday’s post about Peter Thiel and the Gawker lawsuit, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg has said that Thiel can and will remain on the board of Facebook. Thiel has been a long time member of the Facebook board and there were some concerns about his standing after it was made public that Thiel was personally funding his alleged vendetta against Gawker. Not only is Gawker a media partner with Facebook but Facebook has had their own issues with supposedly manipulating featured news stories.

  At the Code Conference, held in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, Ms. Sandberg stated that since Mr. Thiel did not use Facebook resources in his fight with Gawker It’s not a Facebook issue, but isn’t it? What if Facebook all of a sudden decides that Gawker is no longer a featured media partner? How could that not be seen as anything but a conflict of interest? If anything it feels like Facebook is not only condoning what Thiel is doing to Gawker but protecting him as well.

   
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  Geebo 9:52 am on May 27, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Candace Payne, Facebook, star wars ( 2 ), viral video   

  Off Topic Friday: Mom in Star Wars mask breaks the internet 

  

  You can never predict what goes viral on the internet. This past week Texas mother of two Candace Payne took the internet by storm after she livestreamed herself on Facebook Live trying on a Chewbacca mask from the Star Wars franchise of movies. This video is as follows…

  Candace’s video shortly became the most watched video on Facebook exceeding 134 million views. The lighthearted four-minute video led to a star-studded whirlwind tour in Ms. Payne’s life. Not only did she get a tour of the Facebook HQ in Menlo Park, California but she also received a tour of Lucasfilm Studios and got to meet new Star Wars head JJ Abrams and Peter Mayhew who portrays Chewbacca in the movies.

  What do you think of the ‘Wookie Mom’? Are you happy for her, totally jealous or both? Please leave your comments below and have a great and safe Memorial Day Weekend.

   
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  Geebo 9:34 am on May 13, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Facebook, politics ( 16 )   

  Off topic Friday: Is Facebook censoring conservative news stories? 

  

  DISCLAIMER: This blog post is not endorsing one political party or candidate over another. It is merely discussing a topic where politics is involved.

  Earlier this week an anonymous former Facebook employee claimed to the media that Facebook purposely tries to keep conservative news topics out if its trending news subjects. It’s gotten so much attention in some conservative circles that US Senator John Thune from South Dakota has called upon Facebook to provide information to Congress about the allegations. Some have said that Congress should not be getting involved in how Facebook conducts their business however studies have shown that 30 percent of Americans get their news from Facebook.

  Then there’s the argument that if Facebook is secretly promoting progressive news stories is that really censorship? The concept of censorship can only be really carried out by an agent of the state, i.e. the government. Facebook is a private tech entity and legally could exercise any kind of political leaning it wished. However one would think it would be a bad business decision to alienate possibly half of their userbase.

  What do you think? Is Facebook purposely squelching conservative leaning stories or is it just paranoia among some politicos?

   
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  Geebo 8:49 am on May 6, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Facebook, hacking ( 32 ), Instagram ( 17 )   

  Off topic Friday: 10-year-old gets $10K from Facebook for hacking Instagram 

  

  Apparently this kid knows his code.

  A 10-year-old boy from Finland has become the youngest person to receive payment from Facebook’s bug bounty program. The program rewards individuals who can find vulnerabilities in Facebook without causing malice. The young man, known only as Jani, was able to find a flaw in the Facebook-owned Instagram where he was able to delete anyone’s comments without having an Instagram account. Facebook set up a test account for him to alter and he was able to do so with ease. In turn Facebook rewarded the boy with $19,000 for ethically showing them the flaw in Instagram. They say this particular reward was higher than normal since the flaw could have affected everyone on the photo sharing network.

  What were you doing when you were 10? Were you this advanced? When this blogger was ten the closest he got to a computer was his Atari game console. Or were you more of a 90’s kid obsessed with Pokemon? Or were you already on your way, like Jani, to being a computer whiz?

   
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  Geebo 8:17 am on May 4, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: customer support ( 25 ), Facebook, Gmail ( 3 ), Scams ( 1,605 )   

  Don’t fall for fake customer support numbers 

  

  Having problems with your Facebook account? How about your GMail or Office 365? Surely giant corporations like Facebook, Google and Microsoft have customer service numbers that you can call. Actually, they don’t. Gone are the days when you could call just about any company up on the phone to try to get them to resolve your problem, especially tech companies. Behemoths like Facebook and Google have become such large global corporations offering free services that it is financially unfeasible for them to offer phone assistance. That hasn’t stopped some from trying to take advantage of that situation.

  If you were to go to your search engine of choice looking for these numbers you would definitely find some. However in many instances they are not legitimate numbers. Instead they are scam artists posing as these companies in order to take something valuable from you. They could be trying to access your GMail or Facebook accounts in order to steal personal information or they could be falsely charging you money to ‘fix’ whatever issue it is that you have.

  For the record, Geebo is very approachable and you can even Tweet at our CEO.