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Israeli Minister Slams Facebook For Hateful Content

July 5, 2016 By Clayton Meason

Israel thinks Facebook is not doing enough to filter violent or hateful content.

BEACON TRANSCRIPT – Israel thinks Facebook is not doing enough to filter violent or hateful content, directed at the state. Gilad Erdan, Public Security Minister has described Facebook as “a monster”, during a televised interview on Saturday.

Facebook defended its policies of moderating comments, releasing a statement pointing out that it works closely with Israel to curb abusive or hateful content. The company did not directly answer Erdan’s comments.

Israel has been the scene of many street attacks with Palestinian authors in recent months. Since October, thirty-four Israelis and two Americans have lost their lives in Palestinian attacks. Israeli forces have killed at least 201 attackers.

The government of Israel believes that much of the violence was encouraged indirectly by Facebook, and has called the site to act more proactively on hateful content. A 19 year-old Palestinian, killer of an Israeli girl, praised terrorists using social media, before the attack , expressing his wish to die as a martyr, Haaretz reports.

Speaking for Channel 2 of Israel, Erdan accused Facebook of “sabotage”. He felt Facebook wasn’t helping police to curb violence in the West Bank, and that Facebook has too high of a bar for removing offensive or hateful posts or comments.

The minister went on to say that while Facebook brought a great revolution to the world, now the social media network has become a “monster”, “ever since the rise of Daesh”. He called on Israelis to boycott Facebook with demands for more extensive monitoring.

In a press release to Reuters, Facebook encouraged people to report violent content that breeches standards, so each case can be examined thoroughly.

Israeli politicians want companies to remove posts which incite to terrorism, without users having to flag each post individually. Facebook and other major companies were put under pressure by EU and US Governments to crack down on terrorist propaganda, following recent attacks in Europe and the US.

Jillian York, director for freedom of expression said that companies shouldn’t be pressured to act as censors. She went on to say that such companies don’t have the authority to decide who is or isn’t involved with hateful content and terrorism.

It was only last month that a father of a Paris attack victim sued Facebook because it allowed terrorists to recruit using the social media platform.

Image Source – Wikipedia

Facebook Plans to Expand Ad Reach to Users outside its Social Network

May 28, 2016 By Helen Bradford

Facebook has plans to expand its ad reach to non-users.

BEACON TRANSCRIPT – Facebook announced May 26 that it will start posting ads on sites and apps that are outside its social network but they are members of its extended ad network called the Audience Network.

Until recently, the social media giant only displayed advertisements within its social network. Although the change may not seem much, Facebook could turn into a major player in the online advertising business. It could even start to rival Google when helping marketeers to place their ads across the Internet.

Facebook’s Andrew Bosworth noted that the company is aware that there are ‘some users’ who do not have or don’t use a Facebook account. For instance of the 3.17 billion Internet users across the globe, just 1.65 billion are caught in the Facebook network.

Facebook’s Audience Network, on the other hand, can reach both Facebook users and non-users. Within the social network, it is easier to place an ad as the site has troves of data on its users’ behaviors and preferences.

But now, the social networking giant could start harvest user data across the Internet through ‘likes,’ site cookies, and other tools at its hands. This info will be later used to match non-Facebook users’ interests with advertisements just like Google does now.

Mr. Bosworth explained that ‘like’ buttons and pluggins will play a crucial role in harvesting user data on third-party sites. The information will help the company better understand how to move the elusive non-Facebook audience.

For example, if a non-Facebook member clicks a sportswear site, Facebook may conclude that the user is interested in this type of clothing so it will target that person with sportswear-related ads.

As of now, the most popular technology to find out what users really like are website cookies, or pieces of codes with specific information that are stored on the users’ devices. Third-party sites can access these cookies and learn a lot about a user’s behavior across the Internet.

Though this method of tracking may seem disturbing to users concerned over their privacy, most advertising networks use it. Yet, Facebook believes it can do a better job than its competitors since it has so much info on its own users.

The social media site can use artificial intelligence bots to detect patterns in user behavior and estimate what a non-user of Facebook may like to buy. The strategy is dubbed ‘lookalike’ targeting by advertising experts.

Image Source: Wikimedia

Facebook: No Political Bias on Our Side of the Fence

May 24, 2016 By Gary Wymore

In a 12-page report, Facebook dismissed allegations that it has favored leftist and liberal viewpoints in its Trending Topics feature.

Facebook recently revealed that an internal investigation found no signs of political favoritism in the site’s ‘Trending Topics’ feature. The social media giant has been accused of promoting liberal topics and blocking the conservative ones.

Nevertheless, Facebook pledged to revamp the algorithm that powers the ‘Trending’ section to prevent all individual biases.

In a report addressed to U.S. Sen. John Thune, the tech company wrote that right-wing and life-wing views were present in the Trending tool at “virtually identical rates.” The site noted that the most popular topics since early last year were those linked to Donald Trump and the GOP debate.

But Facebook acknowledged that ‘unintentional bias’ may have been slipped in the Trending section by human employees in charge with the selection. The company put the blame for possible biases on ‘human judgment’ and vowed to reduce the risks.

Additionally, Facebook moderators who select topics will no longer be required to make a decision by looking at what’s important on external news outlets. The social media company added that it would boost oversight to Trending curators as well.

The controversy started when an independent tech site found that human moderators of the feature tend to suppress right-wing views in Trending Topics by blocking conservative news outlets and topics.

The website initially said there was no intentional bias, but admitted that humans play a much larger role in the selection of topics than it had previously said. In the wake of the report, Sen. Thune addressed a letter to Mark Zuckerberg asking for comments on the issue.

On Wednesday, 16 right-wing representatives met the founder of Facebook at the company’s headquarters, while Sen. Thune had a private conversation with the company’s general counsel Colin Stretch.

Sen. Thune praised Facebook for its seriousness in dealing with the latest accusations after he received the 12-page-long letter. The senator added that he is eagerly waiting for the company to match its actions with its ‘public rhetoric.’

Brent Bozell, one of the lead conservatives that met Zuckerberg last Wednesday, noted that Facebook had embraced mostly liberal and leftists viewpoints in its Trending feature. But if it manages to change that, it is possible to return to “its neutral roots.”

Other conservatives, however, were unimpressed. They pledged to continue the fight to push Facebook into adopting a fair treatment towards conservatives. The American Conservative Union noted that the issue remains unresolved despite Facebook’s investigative work.

Image Source: Flickr

Let’s Instagram Your Business

May 5, 2016 By Clayton Meason

Social media is great when it comes to promoting your products and services.

BEACON TRANSCRIPT – Facebook might soon become old news. A new player is in town. Let’s Instagram your business, shall we? If you’re the big boss of a company, you surely have a business Facebook account. Social media is great when it comes to promoting your products and services. Instagram intends to catch up on that trend.

Instagram accounts are not currently business-friendly, but this will soon change. The photo-sharing company wants to widen its horizons by addressing to a larger audience. Its main goal is to make business profiles more Facebook-looking.

Three features have been developed, and they are of great importance to any of you business owners. Customers will be able to find information like email address and location easily. An added “Contact” button does the trick, situated next to the “Follow” button on the upper part.

The “Contact” button opens up two options. First, we have the email address access button. This keeps your email address private from spammers while providing the necessary info to your customers. Facebook does have a plus on this one, as potential clients can message the page owners directly. It is not known if Instagram will ever set up this feature.

Secondly, when people click the ”Location” button, a map of your place of business will appear, which makes it easier for clients to get ahold of you. Some users do write their location in the bio section of Instagram, but we can all agree that a map is more useful.

And thirdly, you can even categorize your business profile. This is the way in which you will be set apart from the regular people profiles. This makes it easier for potential clients to find out a little about your services before engaging in a conversation.

These three features come as a way of freeing the space in your bio section. You will now have extra space to provide other useful information to customers. The profile description cannot hold more than 150 characters.

Of course, these new features are in the testing yet and are not available to everyone. It is not even known if the company will choose to stick with them. But Instagram is set on improving itself, like providing better analytics for posts and ways to purchase ads. We hope it does and will continue to develop more ways through which marketers can promote businesses. So let’s Instagram your business.

IMAGE SOURCE: Pexels

Police Fine Driver after Viewing Facebook Video

March 17, 2016 By Helen Bradford

A driver got fined for running the stop sign after taping and posting his stunt on Facebook.

BEACON TRANSCRIPT – On the subject “how worse can it get?” we bring you the story of a man who managed to get fined after posting a clip on Facebook. A car driver from Woodland Park received a house call from the local police department saying that they have a ticket with his name written all over it.

A couple of months ago, another video posted on Facebook and YouTube was viral. Everybody, of course, remembers the ever popular “pass that joint, bro” video and the clip where two dudes stoned out of their mind got out of a car filled with pot smoke.

Well, this one isn’t about marijuana, it’s about what not do when you’re breaking the law. Michael Dalton, a car driver from Woodland Park, wanted to get home that day much earlier than usual. As a law-abiding citizen, after seeing that the cars in front of him moved like Davy Jones’s lazy eye, the man decided to take a little detour through the nearby residential complex.

The fact itself is no biggie, considering the fact that most car drivers will try to find alternative routes in order to bypass busy junctions. As Mister Dalton, thwarted through the hood, the driver seems like a good idea to tape himself while running a stop sign.

Of course, the deed wouldn’t have been complete without Dalton posting the clip depicting his daredevilish act on his Facebook account.

A week later, Michel Dalton, as he was casually surfing on the web, probably checking his Facebook account in the process to see how many likes and comments he received, he heard a knocking on the door.

To his surprise, a police officer was standing in front of the door holding a pink ticket. When the man inquired about the ticket, the police officer responded that the whole squad saw Dalton’s performance of Facebook.

And, had the man did not receive so many likes and comments, the police wouldn’t have discovered his stunt.

Naturally, Dalton, getting more enraged, said that that Facebook clips cannot be used as evidence for a traffic violation. He then asked the police office if this is a new police thing, and if the police can do that to anyone.

Without frowning or angering himself, the police officer answered that according to the First Amendment, Mister Dalton has a right to post anything he wants on Facebook, but breaking the law is always punishable, no matter the circumstances.

In the end, all that Dalton has is many Facebook like and comments a lighter wallet.

Photo credits:wikipedia

Chick-Fil-A Appointed a No Phone Policy

March 4, 2016 By Clayton Meason

Everyone who sticks to the “no cell phone during dinner time” rule will receive a free ice-cream.

BEACON TRANSCRIPT – To avoid situations where people would come to have a family dinner just to end up looking at their smartphones, Chick-Fil-A decided to make some changes. Chick-Fil-A appointed a no phone policy in their diners, thus wanting to make sure that people spend more time talking to each other than head buried in their cellphones.

Chick-Fil-A, the famous fast-food restaurant recently joined the “talk to each other more” campaign. As of today, those who put their phones away during dinner time will be rewarded with a free cone of delicious, “home-made ice-cream”.

The restaurant said that this move was necessary because most of the customers were spending far too much timer posting stuff on Facebook or Twitter, rather than enjoying some quality time with their friends.

And it’s very quaint to plan a get-together with your friends or your family if all you’re going to do during the escapade is to fidget your phone. Chick-Fil-A and others saw that the best way to talk customers out of putting their phones away during dinner is to offer small rewards like free ice-cream.

In fact, there were some pubs, in England, I believe, who would hang out a little plaque writing something like: “we don’t have any Wi-Fi. Try talking to each other.” Of course, this attitude also gave birth to a long series of Internet memes. There’s one in particular which is mildly amusing and sad at the same time. A group of girls are sitting at the table with an elderly person. All of them were looking at the phones. Meanwhile, the senior citizen had to sit there, quietly, waiting for his dinner.

There are many examples such as this one, and all of them point towards an elementary fact: we have gradually lost the ability to interact with other human beings without an intermediary.

Well, it would seem that Chick-Fil-A was made aware of this aspect, and decided to do something positive. And so, the diner’s management went ahead and introduced the No cell phone policy.

So, after you place your order, you will receive a box. To receive the free ice-cream, all that you’ll have to do is to put your phone inside the magic box and leave it there until dinner is over.

Brad Williams, Chick-Fil-A’s operator, said that this new policy is starting to sprout wings. Not only do the clients began to abide by it in hope they will receive a free ice-cream, but some of them have requested to take the phone box home.

Chick-Fil-A appointed a no phone policy and according to the chain’s operator, the method has gained some popularity.

Photo credits:wikipedia

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