Were you surprised to learn that Facebook just may have influenced an election?
I hope you were more than surprised… maybe even pissed?
Spoiler Alert — There is no politics in this post.
Put aside for a moment whatever side of the result you may have preferred. That’s not what matters here.
My message today is simply about awareness… awareness of the nuances and the not-so-obvious aspects of a connected world.
And how fine tuning that awareness can help you.
It was one thing that activists from another country may have flooded social media with posts that served their own agenda. That may not be something that can be stopped. But it can be countered.
Now we learn that an analytics company, a big data cruncher, had access to, and may have used personal data from millions of users to influence the results of an election.
We’re talking about more than where you went to high school.
That should cause one pause. (understatement)
We all have a few friends who aren’t on Facebook. Some aren’t even on any social media platform. Not even the “just for business” LinkedIn.
So, we pass them off as the paranoid few. But are they? Maybe they’re the prudent few?
You may ask, what’s so useful about where I went to high school? About where I’ve worked? That stuff just helps my friends find me.
After all, Facebook is just a platform for friends to keep up with friends, right?
Well it is, to a point…
To the point were it made billionaires out of a few fortunate ones who rode the waves of a good idea. Then delivering massive, but hyper-targeted reach to sellers of all types.
Then onward to where no one has gone before… delivering a massive, yet stealth dose of influence to virtually any target available to the highest bidder. Sorry if that sounds cynical.
Just to be clear, I’m not setting out to write a bash-o-gram on Facebook. Social media has been a lot of fun for me too and I get to keep up with all kinds of cool and interesting people.
It expands your reach and my reach alike. Plus, I don’t want to push the boundaries of LifeUntucked beyond its intended theme.
However, awareness of the modern world is very much within that theme. I believe it’s about understanding and keeping up with a rapidly evolving world. That’s an important part of living well.
There are plenty of other bloggers who would recommend running for the hills and living off the grid is a better idea. Knock yourself out.
I’d rather stick around a be a part of this. What about you?
From the very first time I heard the line from “Wasted on the Way” by Graham Nash of Crosby, Stills and Nash…
Do you question all the answers?”
… it stuck firmly in my head and has never left. I consider it good advice to live by.
It’s not just the answers we need to question. It’s often the questions themselves. Better yet, to ask them when no one else is. Then to ask better questions.
And here’s the biggie… Do you question your own answers? Not to satisfy me or anyone else, but for you? You should. And so should everyone else. But, too often we don’t.
Let’s get back to social media. Below are just a few of the ways information can be gathered that will paint an incredibly accurate picture of any user.
A better word is avatar, which has a Digital Technology definition
— a graphical image that represents a person, as on the Internet”
(from Dictionary.com)
When I first signed up for Facebook, I thought it was cool to learn that I could list every movie I’ve seen and every book I’ve read. It pulled me in. I wanted to show off.
Look at me, I’ve seen all these movies and I’ve read all these books. How cool am I?
Okay, okay… so now you know I’m a sucker for coming of age movies and a few other weird things. So what?
So, I tried to delete them… but I couldn’t.
You know what they say, “The internet never forgets.”
We all know about Google. They track everything. And it’s too easy to pass it off by telling ourselves, “I’ve got nothing to hide. Besides, my life online is really boring anyway.”
But, isn’t it just a little spooky when Amazon offers you a deal on the last item you searched for on Google? How did they know that?
Back to Facebook for a moment. Have you ever taken one of those quizzes? You know… If you were a city, would you be New York or Fargo? If you were a billionaire, would you be Elon Musk or J. K. Rowling?
There are thousands of them. Some of them border on spookiness on how close to the real you they seem to get. Right?
Here’s the scary part. Those amusing little quizzes aren’t for your entertainment (that’s the hook). They are for collecting information.
About you.
Practice making yourself aware. I believe awareness is a skill that can be sharpened and honed. You’ll learn more and you’ll protect yourself in the process.
Get in the habit of asking yourself “why?” Why is that important? Why do they need to know that?
That amusing little quiz…What else is it revealing about me?
Be aware. Be safe. Enjoy the journey.
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