THE DEMISE OF FACEBOOK just became more probable. Recent study. Government is trying to undermine Facebook claiming that a person’s Facebook ‘likes’ can determine a person’s sexual orientation and emotional/mental stability. That’s an effective way to make people stop liking other people’s Facebook pages, comments and photos, which is what advertisers rely on to sell their products.
Advertisers can’t be too happy about this government funded research looking for mentally ill gay people by analyzing Facebook users’ ‘likes’. It’s a mean spirited ‘study’ to be sure, but isn’t that how Mark Zuckerburg (sp.) built his Facebook empire by being mean?…
People will stop ‘liking’ stuff on Facebook, which will reduce interaction among users (the focus of Facebook’s purpose of connecting people), thus reduce participation–thus the global demise of Facebook as we know it. If nobody is liking what anyone is posting, people will lose interest in posting, because liking something is what ultimately keeps us connected.
In fact, the government study driven more by vengeance than a desire to understand advertising as it relates to Facebook, left out a key variable: people will say they like anything, just so they’ll get a lot of stuff on their news feed from all of their friends. If you don’t participate by liking and commenting, you’re out of the loop and nobody shows up on your feed.
Advertisers can’t really predict what Facebook users want to buy, precisely because they say they like things they really don’t, or even if they like something, they wouldn’t go out and buy it. Also what advertisers missed: just because you support gay rights, doesn’t make you gay, just because you support anybody’s rights or anybody’s cause doesn’t make you them. Because I support the rights of autistic children doesn’t make me autistic. Many men espouse strong anti-abortion feelings and beliefs, yet they’ve never had an abortion. Same is so for women. Being anti-death penalty doesn’t mean a person supports people killing each other in a lawless society. Because someone supports prisoners rights doesn’t make them a criminal. Because someone supports the rights of the mentally ill, doesn’t make them mentally ill.
The advertising industry isn’t doing a very good job at convincing people to buy products they don’t want. Why not sell products people want and you won’t have to do all this inappropriate and inaccurate labeling of Facebook people as payback to Mark Zuckerburg. Keep your private wars private and keep Facebook users out of the mean stream.
WORD WARRIOR DAVIES-TIGHT™ 