Back in February of this year Facebook finally added to the number of reactions we could choose when viewing a post. Hard though it may be to recall for many years all anyone could do was to like a post with a thumbs up. But in February Facebook added five more alternatives, namely Love, Haha, Sad, Wow, and Angry.
Well now it seems in Belgium at least the police are actively advising Facebook users not to use these new options. Their argument is that by utilising these new options you are giving away your personal privacy to Facebook.
The claim is that by providing users with only 5 extra options,
Facebook are deliberately forcing users to only react in a certain
way, and as a consequence they are able to learn and understand
their user’s behaviour better. This then enables them to target
users with laser-like precision when it comes to advertising.
Whilst I can see what the police are saying, there is always
another way to view this. If I am going to be served adverts
anyways, I might as well have adverts that are relevant to me and
interest me. And when all is said and done , it is only really how
I react to my news feed, anyway, so it is hardly a matter of life
or death.
Here is the police quote in full
“Facebook never misses an opportunity to improve the collection of information about us and they proved it again last February.
“The icons help not only express your feelings, they also help Facebook assess the effectiveness of the ads on your profile,”
“The question that some of you have asked me was why Facebook limited them to six…
“By limiting the number of icons to six, Facebook is counting on you to express your thoughts more easily so that the algorithms that run in the background are more effective.With your clicks, it will be possible to determine the [types of] content that puts you in a good mood… In conclusion, it will be one more reason not to click too fast if you want to protect your privacy.”