August 2018

The Implications of Facebook’s New ‘Reputation Score’

August 24, 2018/by Corey Padveen

As of this week, Facebook has started to rate users based on a reputation score from zero to 1 based on their trustworthiness when reporting disallowed posts.

Posts can be reported for fake news, or for inappropriate content. According to Facebook, they have taken this measure because some users will intentionally flag stories when they don’t agree with the views of the story, even if the contents of an article are valid and appropriate for public viewing. This poses a problem to Facebook which relies on its users to help distinguish acceptable articles from non-acceptable ones.

The reasoning for a trustworthiness rating seems logical for a corporation that wants to maintain a good image. However, being that Facebook has become a global news source, they should still at least consider the concerns of Facebook users. In doing so, they can shape their policies around the overall public opinion of what is acceptable. Of course, this must be done while still maintaining a set of core values such as free speech, and the refusal of hate speech. By simply dismissing what does not fit Facebook’s views of appropriate vs not appropriate, users are at the mercy of Facebook’s policies and views.

The latest example of Facebook imposing its view of appropriateness happened early this month when the company permanently banned conspiracy theorist Alex Jones from using their social media platform. Considering Alex Jones’ sizeable following, the decision came as a shock to many users. Despite his often-absurd claims and views of the world, his silencing leads Facebook users to question the level to which free speech is permitted on the social platform.

Facebook should be treated as an open ground for all. Even if Facebook tries to commit to free speech, dismissing a user’s opinion about the validity and appropriateness of a post can have extremely negative repercussions. A study by Pew Research Center in 2017 states that “two-thirds (67%) of Americans report that they get at least some of their news on social media – with two-in-ten doing so often.” By implementing an algorithm which indicates whether or not a users’ opinion about a post is different than what Facebook deems acceptable, they are essentially ignoring the opinions of all users who don’t agree with their policies and views.

Despite this being a more extreme view of Facebook’s new ‘reputation score’, it is important to stay critical of powerful corporations such as Facebook, especially given their privacy issues within the past year. Only time will tell whether or not this new addition will do more good than harm. However, with Facebook improving its transparency and working on trust, one can only hope that the new reputation score is simply a tool to help Facebook help its community.

HTTP vs HTTPS and why it matters

August 22, 2018/by Corey Padveen

When browsing any site on the internet, the term HTTP or HTTPS will appear before the site address in your search bar.

HTTP means HyperText Transfer Protocol. It is what defines the message structure between the web browser and the web server. It is the basis of all communication on the world wide web and comes in two forms: HTTP and HTTPS.

Both HTTP and HTTPS serve the same main function, however, HTTPS encrypts your connection and prevents several potential problems when browsing the web. When websites are not secured with HTTPS, hackers can send users to fake websites, steal passwords, run third-party ads and use the browsers of unaware web users for cryptocurrency mining.

HTTP is becoming increasingly less common with over 90% of web traffic in the US using HTTPS secured connections. Despite its decline, HTTP is still found among the largest sites on the internet. As shown on the website whynohttps, many of the worlds most visited websites including bbc.com and espn.com still use HTTP versions of their website.

Last month, Google made a push in favor of HTTPS on their internet browser, Chrome. The company began to show warnings on non-HTTPS websites where users could share personal data such as their credit card information or their password. This change comes from Google’s effort to improve web security and data safety.

Further changes coming to the Google Chrome browser in upcoming months will push more site owners to switch their website over to HTTPS. In September, Chrome will begin to change the green ‘secure’ label next to HTTPS websites into a less noticeable black label. In the following month, HTTP sites will show a noticeable red ‘not secure’ label on the left of the website URL. And finally, the ‘secure’ label will be removed completely in a later month. This will presumably be when most of the commonly used sites on Chrome have switched over to HTTPS. To facilitate the process, an initiative sponsored by Google, Facebook, and Mozilla called Let’s Encrypt has been created to help website owners secure their HTTP websites free of charge.

Aside from the addition of warning labels as a push to change HTTP sites to HTTPS, Google has also introduced HTTPS as a ranking signal for SEO. Stating that security is a priority, Google uses HTTPS as a lightweight SEO signal for page ranking. Despite carrying significantly less weight than other SEO factors right now, Google plans on strengthening the importance of HTTPS for SEO in the future. For any marketing professional wishing to improve or maintain their Google webpage ranking, switching over to HTTPS before Google increases its importance is an important move.

Google’s push towards a safer world wide web with the help of HTTPS is a step in the right direction for the history of the internet. With HTTP being outdated and unsafe, it is wise to avoid entering personal data in HTTP sites and switching your personal website over to HTTPS as soon as possible.

Facebook’s Recent Platform Changes Explained

August 9, 2018/by Corey Padveen

This week, Facebook decided to relax its cryptocurrency ad ban. In doing so, they added new regulations to assure that any cryptocurrency company who advertises on the platform is legitimate.

Facebook will now be performing background checks and reviewing licenses before allowing cryptocurrency companies to advertise. This is one of many changes Facebook has made to their platform over the past few months. Since the Cambridge Analytica scandal in March of 2018, Mark Zuckerberg vowed to improve the safety of Facebook user information. In doing so, many changes were made to the social media and ad platform. The following changes show Facebook’s attempt to regain the trust of their online community and improve the transparency of their platform.

Ad targeting

As of September 30th, advertisers will no longer be able to target Facebook users by a number of currently available targeting metrics. Facebook will be removing all targeting data from third-party databases such as Oracle. In doing so, Facebook ads will lose many powerful targeting options. These options include targeting by net worth, income, and various purchase behaviors. This may turn out to be a big loss for Facebook in the long run as advertisers will have a more difficult time reaching their audience. It may cause them to consider switching to Google Ads or Amazon Ads.

Simplified Privacy

Facebook has simplified the option to customize profile privacy settings. Users can now access a privacy shortcut menu where they and choose who can see their profile information, and which information can be used for Facebook ads. The new option to turn on two-factor authentication can also help further secure your account. On top of this, Facebook will be updating its service and data policy to ensure a better understanding between Facebook and its community. The company plans on continuing to show users how and why their data is being used and what they can do if they aren’t comfortable with certain data being shared.

Ad Transparency

Ad transparency is another important feature added by Facebook in recent months. Users can now view any active ads running from a Facebook page, they can filter ads based on country, and can report an ad if they deem it inappropriate or offensive. This doesn’t only add a level of transparency for users. It can also help businesses keep track of their competitors marketing initiative, and may help small business find inspiration for their marketing campaigns. On top of ad transparency, users will now be able to view the info of any Facebook page to see the creation date as well as any name changes the page has made.

Facebook has been making impressive changes to their platform to improve the safety of user information as well as the transparency of their ads. These changes are reassuring after a breach of trust between Facebook and its community but may come at a cost to the social media giant (Facebook stock dropped 19% after announcing their Q2 results and projections) and may significantly lower the quality of Facebook as an ad platform. Hopefully, Facebook can find a way to stay transparent and honest while continuing to grow their amazing community.