Starting with Facebook.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Category: Facebook
Why we LOVE Stacey Abrams
If you’re celebrating seeing Donald Trump and the worst of his deplorable followers driven off social media, thank Stacey Abrams.
She devoted years to building the Democratic Party in Georgia. Wrote a book about voter suppression and co-produced an Amazon Prime documentary, “All In: the Fight for Democracy.”
People in the know credit Stacey Abrams for flipping the 2 Senate seats from Republican to Democrat.
NOW the Biden team has control of all 3 branches of government for 2 years.
NOW the Biden team can enthusiastically regulate BIG TECH.
NOW Twitter, Facebook and pretty much every other major platform is banning Trumpy hate speech.
Thanks Stacey.
We have to break-up BIG TECH
Professor Galloway recommends the American government mandates a break-up of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Facebook shareholders would actually make MORE money after the split. And those companies would have a better chance to compete with one another.
Galloway recommends Amazon be split from Amazon Web Services (VIDEO).
He recommends YouTube be split from Google.
MORE COMPETITION is good for the consumer. Good for the economy.
MORE COMPETITION
Elizabeth Warren, for one, is keen to push that legislation. And I agree.
YES. I know governments will do a lousy job. Politicians don’t understand Tech.
But the alternative is even worse. Bezos and Amazon — at this rate — will have too much share of the world’s wealth.
Aggregation Theory postulates that it’s nearly impossible to compete with a company that is able to aggregate a majority of consumers.
How do you launch a company to compete against Amazon, for example.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Zucked by Roger McNamee (2019)
Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe
Roger McNamee was early mentor to Mark Zuckerberg. And an early investor.
A big Facebook promoter.
ZUCKED is McNamee’s intimate reckoning with the catastrophic failure of the head of one of the world’s most powerful companies to face up to the damage he is doing.
I’ve not heard any other critic as astute, nor as fair, as to exactly why Facebook is harming and even killing some of their customers around the world.
As Facebook is unable to police itself, governments should step in.
Would you pay for ad-free Facebook?
I would.
In addition I’d want personal controls over my feed.
As Professor Galloway points out so clearly, it’s the algorithm driving monetization that causes MOST of the problems with Facebook.
Both right and left leaning Americans are convinced that Facebook currently is biased against their beliefs. Both GOP and DEMs want to change Facebook.
Facebook is a private company and can do anything it wants — unless laws are changed. And they will be.
Facebook would continue their free service with advertising, of course.
Click PLAY or watch it on Twitter.
Censorship by flood of misinformation
Back in the 1990s I was completely convinced that Google and the internet would make the world a much better place.
If people had more information, they’d be able to make better decisions.
It turned out to be mixed. Smart people make better decisions.
But many are overwhelmed, disinterested and easily confused.
How Russian Trolls worked in 2016
Thousands were paid about $700 / month to create distrust and chaos in society.
For 2020 Bernie v Trump would be about as chaotic as you can get.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Social Media – Good or Bad?
When the internet — and then social media — got popular I was convinced it would make the world better.
Better informed.
The poor and powerless would have a voice. A blog. A podcast.
Seems I was wrong.
Social media was supposed to be the ultimate free speech platform, a place where the world would come together to swap information and share opinions. It would be the battleground of ideas. …
Twitter has become a playground for bots and trolls. Facebook is filled with misinformation, a place where foreign governments can set up groups to spread fake news. …
At the same time, users have retreated into their own bubbles. …
Social Media has had its Day
I strongly agree with BORAT
Sacha Baron Cohen:
Facebook spreads hate, conspiracy and lies.
Those who deny the Holocaust, for example, help enable the next one.
Facebook should be legislated by governments.
The Four by Scott Galloway
Four American companies have totally changed our lives.
Apple
Amazon
Google
Facebook
I use all four non-stop. Fantastic innovation.
Needless to say, there are downsides. Google no longer uses the mantra “don’t be evil”. They dropped it in 2018.
Scott Galloway has replaced Leo Laporte as my main tech guru. I just finished his book …
The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google (2017)
It’s great, but you can get a good summary by reading Galloway’s article in Esquire:
Silicon Valley’s Tax-Avoiding, Job-Killing, Soul-Sucking Machine (2018)
