Facebook and its morals as set by Mark Zuckerberg are well know, long standing, publicly available, and discussed the world over. It is a company focused on the almighty dollar and attaining that by selling as much personal information it can get it hands upon via its users (and even those that aren't) to ... anyone.
Facebook reported bringing in US$18,687,000,000 (18.68 billion) for the second quarter (3 months) of 2020.
Its not the money he makes (well, not for this article) that is my biggest issue, its the fact he just don't care who he gets the money from. Coca Cola sure, MTV absolutely, Stuff not anymore, Trump lying campaign but of course, New Zealand government agencies bring it on, QAnon groups why not, Wellington City Council hell yeah, 5G Conspiracy people be rude not to.
They make their money by promising to pass on the messages peoples give them to the people they want to read it - everyone in a country, the teenagers with potential for depression and looking to burn the world down because puberty ... you name, you pay us, you got it.
It works of course because, "you have to go where the people are".
Apparently this is Facebook.
Although it's not, people are in LOT'S of places, especially when it comes to online.
Sinead Boucher, the new owner of Stuff, points out
That just isn’t true. @nzstuff alone has an audience almost the size of FB, and across the board reaches 85% plus of Kiwis, including young people. Add @NewshubNZ rnz_news, @NZMETweets, @TheSpinoffTV, @NewsroomNZ, @businessdesk_nz and dozens more and that argument doesn’t add up
— Sinead Boucher (@sineadboucher) August 16, 2020
(of course, Sinead would say this, but then again she also says this because its true)
People are offline as well - by that I mean radio (those talk back shows are going great guns), printed newspapers, and broadcast TV. TV is interesting as I am always looked at weirdly when I say I have no arial and don't watch broadcast TV, many many many do. Oh, and there's more local and popular podcasts you can throw your dollars at, another way to get your message / ad out.
I don't buy, "you have to go where the people are" and then immediately conflate that to Facebook.
I think it might be an "easy win" for those that have messages to get out. Less thinking needed.
A small point though.
The major issue is that the government agencies (local, regional, and central) are either happy to be tainted by being seen alongside the latest scam / disgusting post from [fill in the latest garbage Facebook shows] or they are using some heavily perfumed handkerchief when they enter Facebook.
They use it for advertising, notices, events, competitions, and probably much more.
Coca Cola, MTV, Stuff, and even the conspiracy people can go do what they like.
I expect my own $ to spent in a more ethical manner, and spending it on Facebook in its current guise is NOT spending it ethically.
If you work in local, regional, local government what say you?
Since you are calling out local government on this I'm interested to hear your thoughts on alternatives.
ReplyDeleteHow do you suggest a local council with 22,000 Facebook followers (close to half the city's population) and access to 17 widely used and relied on local community groups, in a city where data shows Facebook is the digital channel people prefer and use over any others, gets important messages quickly and readily to its people?
Genuinely interested in your thoughts on this. Or was the "what say you" question rhetorical?
ReplyDelete