The hook, “Facebook plays to our base psychological impulses" by valuing popularity above all else.”
"All of us, when we are uploading something, when we are tagging people, when we are commenting, we are basically working for Facebook,"
"We tried to map all the inputs, the fields in which we interact with Facebook, and the outcome," he says.
"We mapped likes, shares, search, update status, adding photos, friends, names, everything our devices are saying about us, all the permissions we are giving to Facebook via apps, such as phone status, wifi connection and the ability to record audio."
All of this research provided only a fraction of the full picture. So the team looked into Facebook's acquisitions, and scoured its myriad patent filings.
One map shows how everything - from the links we post on Facebook, to the pages we like, to our online behaviour in many other corners of cyber-space that are owned or interact with the company (Instagram, WhatsApp or sites that merely use your Facebook log-in) - could all be entering a giant algorithmic process.
And that process allows Facebook to target users with terrifying accuracy, with the ability to determine whether they like Korean food, the length of their commute to work, or their baby's age.
Source: news.ycombinator.com
