Originally published December 2 2014
Americans agree: Facebook can't be trusted - join Diaspora for social media that gives you control
by L.J. Devon, Staff Writer
(NaturalNews) When a Facebook user updates their status, comments on a post, or sends a message, they are creating open content that can be leveraged by advertisers, analyzed by researchers, or scrutinized by law enforcement. Nothing on Facebook is private, no matter how a person sets their "privacy settings." When Facebook unveiled a social experiment on 700,000 of its users a year ago, it became clear that the social media site can no longer be trusted.
In that covert study, Facebook scientists became sinister puppeteers, taking user's content and using it against them to manipulate their emotions. The privacy-shredding study collected user's status updates, ran the words through an algorithm, and manipulated user's news feeds with either positive or negative posts.
Facebook manipulates your emotions
The Facebook scientists wanted to see how they could manipulate user's emotions and Facebook posts by controlling the content appearing in each person's news feed. The Facebook scientists incited various "emotional contagions," studying how emotions transfer within groups of people.
The study claimed, "Emotional states can be transferred to others via emotional contagion, leading people to experience the same emotions without their awareness. Emotional contagion is well established in laboratory experiments, with people transferring positive and negative emotions to others."
Facebook sells your content and doesn't share it with you
If pulling the strings of user's emotions wasn't enough, Facebook also extracts personal information from users and sells it to advertisers. The revenue Facebook generates from user's content is not shared with the users. Other social media sites share revenue with their users. Facebook just extracts information, sells it, and hoards the earnings.
Facebook is used as a spy tool for thought crime
Everything written on Facebook is also subject to law enforcement scrutiny. In fact, if law enforcement disagree with a person's opinion or think they have found evidence against a "suspect", they can interpret the Facebook post however they like and use it to lock the person up in a psych ward. The most disturbing story of this kind of abuse occurred in 2012, when Marine veteran Brandon Raub was whisked away against his will by FBI agents. Raub was taken to a psych ward because an FBI office didn't agree with his "threatening" Facebook messages questioning the events on 9/11.
Even with truth like this now in the open, people continue to cling to their Facebook profile. What fuels the Facebook addiction?
Your distrust melts into apathy, Pew study finds
In a new Pew Research Center privacy poll, researchers looked at the reasons why people continue to use Facebook even when they are being manipulated, extracted from, and spied upon. The research found out that the majority of Facebook users simply don't care about the information they give up. Most people are completely apathetic and do not respect their own privacy.
User's would rather bare their soul in text and share that with anyone and everyone than even consider how this affects their own privacy. In fact, Pew research found out that only half of user's think that information about their physical location over time is "very sensitive" information. Only 52 percent consider the content of their email messages "very sensitive."
Over 75 percent of users report they don't consider information regarding purchasing habits, religious views, or search engine history as "very sensitive." The only information the majority deemed "very sensitive" was social security numbers.
The widespread apathy exists probably because Facebook is free to use and gives each user a "voice" and the ability to be "in the know" about everyone's social media life.
The most interesting part of the study was that, although apathetic, Americans highly distrust Facebook. In the Pew research, only 2 percent of users felt "very secure" using social media. A whopping 81 percent either felt "not very secure" or "not at all secure."
Join Diaspora for more control, privacy
Instead of becoming apathetic about personal privacy, Americans can let go of their disgust and distrust of Facebook and head over to Diaspora. This social media site puts users in control of their information, promising not to extract their content for advertisement or spying purposes.
See what the founders of Diaspora has to say about protecting your privacy and freedom here:
As more people switch from Facebook to Diaspora, the more government and sketchy, manipulative Facebook heads have less control.
Join here, invite your friends, and follow NaturalNews here:
Sources:
http://betabeat.com
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http://rt.com
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