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Milwaukee It has finally come to the point where it is impossible to believe anything that Facebook says. Yes, I know the goalpost keeps moving, but this is ridiculous!
Take today for example.
An analysis in the New York Times compared the number of fake accounts that Facebook claims to have closed in the last 12-months is over 2 billion accounts at the clip of 7 million per day. The Times was doing simple addition from the regular transparency reports that Facebook has been posting recently as their credibility crashed faster than a website. They also claim that they have a couple of billion “active” users. Something is wrong with the math here, brothers and sisters.
They also reported that Facebook was telling its investors that there was no appreciable difference in the number of fake accounts that it was deep sixing. How could that jibe with the reports of having closed billions of accounts? They also claimed that they can catch these fakers within seconds of their establishing a new account, but on the other hand they want to not move too fast, they claim, because it might be a real person. See what I mean about fables? You can’t talk out of both sides of your mouth and have any credibility.
A former classmate of Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, is also reportedly monitoring them closely. He might have a bit of a chip on his shoulder since he was behind an early iteration of the Face, before Zuckerberg took it all and ran. Regardless, he argues that the number of duplicate accounts may be at the same level as fake accounts, casting even more shade over Facebook’s claims of billions of active users. Yes, the rules say no double-dipping of accounts, but who among us doesn’t know folks with more than one account? He may be wrong on his speculation about the scale of the problem, but he’s definitely right that there’s a lot of dupes out there.
Meanwhile, Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s #2 honcho, was claiming at the same time to investors that despite all of their troubles, they were making goo-gobs of money still. She also claimed that they could make significant investments in security, and it would not curtail profits. If so, why haven’t they done so before this? Is this another Facebook fable?
Zuckerberg also recently claimed that Facebook users really and truly wanted ads on their Facebook pages. Researchers writing in the op-ed section of the Times also called that balderdash, and you know in your heart that they are right. There’s no one anywhere who is just dying to see an ad anywhere, including on Facebook. Let’s list this as another big Facebook whooper!
Who can believe anything that any of these Facebook folks say anymore? Come forward and identify yourself if you do. There’s a bridge in Brooklyn for sale that’s just waiting for your name on it.
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Please enjoy Vicky Emerson’s The Reckoning. Thanks to KABF.
And Fine Mess by Interpol