Facebook OR FAKEbook
Facebook deletes 580 million users
Over the first three months of 2018 Facebook has reportedly deleted 580 million fake accounts from its social network platform. The full details were released in the companies Community Standards Enforcement Report, which can be found here if you are interested in some light reading. This begs the question are you interacting with real or fake people on the platform?
The social network disabled about 583 million fake accounts during the first three months of this year -- the majority of which, it said, were blocked within minutes of registration. That's an average of over 6.5 million attempts to create a fake account every day from Jan. 1 to March 31. - Alfred NG
Potential Implications
Newsflash, some of those "likes" you received on that selfie you posted sitting by the pool while drinking a margarita didn't come from real human users. Bots have invaded social platforms and some studies believe they already account for more activity than we do. For most users this may only represent a small hit to their ego once they learn not all of their followers truly like their homemade meatloaf recipe. However, larger ramifications do exist.
This represents a sizable problem for businesses who are paying millions of dollars to advertise on Facebook. With the rabid invasion of fake users across the internet how can companies be confident that they are advertising to people who can purchase their product? I'm not sure companies can continue to blindly entrust the algorithms in place that are designed to help increase their bottom line. Facebook has potentially benefited to the tune of millions of dollars as the fake accounts increase the monthly active user numbers that set the price for ad space on the platform.
The biggest issue of all is arguably the social impact of these fake accounts. Democracy is being challenged by the information warfare taking place over the internet. These bots can control what information users are exposed to by targeting certain subgroups of people effectively managing their perception.
Perception precedes reality. - Andy Warhol
I wonder what additional steps will be taken to try and corral the fake account abuse across the internet. Based on Facebook's enforcement numbers they would lead you to believe they are winning the battle, but isn't it in their best interest to do so? We may have to come to terms that we are in a holding pattern waiting for technology like artificial intelligence to improve to the point where we regain control of the content and perception being presented to users. Until that day it is our duty to stay diligent and filter out the misinformation ourselves.
On Facebook I only friend people whom I know personally (and decide I want to hear from).
On Steemit I only follow people after examining their blogs and seeing a lot of original content. (If I could get any results at all by using Steemit "promote" vs what I get from bots then I'd gladly use that but I don't put work into posting to have it immediately lost in the swarm of other posts so I feel investing SBD in your work expresses your own belief in your message)
So I guess I feel that the biggest fault in social media isn't superevil bots and insidious platforms but lazy users with a lot of vanity and gullibility.
I take similar approaches on both platforms as well. I also like the perspective you introduced that a user is showing confidence in their work when they invest SBD into themselves via bots. I've only been active with my account for about 3 weeks now so I'm still figuring out where my opinion lives in regards to a lot of the contentious ideals here on steemit.
Welcome to Steemit... I've only been around since last August but I can vouch for there being some definite battle lines in difference of opinions drawn across this platform.
I found you in the veteran Discord channel though so I think you are in pretty damn fine company for starting out.
Looking forward to getting to know you better.
This is fascinating. My grandmother would have said "they asked for it", referring to those users who seem to depend on someone else's approval to feel well with themselves.
I have been forced by different circumstances to stay away from facebook and other social media and when i see the melodrama and the problems some people get into because of those, i feel i have not missed much.
I think that there's a lot of potential in the steemit concept, with some modifications, of course, to substitute other outlets.
That being said, we know about the big problems steemit is presenting because of the bots and many other issues. When i got into this i was advised to be professional, honest and nice, etc etc (which is no extra mile i have to walk), but there are tons of accounts that we can't even say who is behind (and some of them are very powerful, which is a scary thing).
So, i guess it is complicated. At least here people do their best to post quality content and users can flag abuses, etc. It can be perfected and people should grow out of this interaction.
Thanks for contributing to the post!
I'm not sure there is such thing as a perfect platform for ALL users or bots even, as they do have a place in some circumstances. With that said I'm excited about the possibilities of this platform and I'm motivated to add to the community. At the end of the day we have some control over what value the platform adds to our lives so lets hope everyone continues to use it wisely.
My approach to steemit is simple, be myself. The content I produce will be enjoyed by the few who like it and avoided by those who disapprove. If I stay true to myself I will enjoy the journey regardless of how many followers I end up with or how much money is made.
Facebook is slowly going to disappear in my opinion. I mean real slow though. Crazy how many fake accounts.
We need to get you posting more!
I agree. Everything in life seems to have its own cycle. Facebook has a very large share of it's respective field, but in time something will come along and replace it. Hopefully that something will be steem or a platform very similar!
I will definitely be posting more in the near future! With the recent holidays here I took some time away from the internet and spent it with the family.
I’ll look for it in the future!