Slashdot Mirror
New Facebook Video Controls Let You Limit Viewing By Gender and Age
Mark Wilson writes: Videos on Facebook are big business. As well as drugged up post-dentist footage, there is also huge advertising potential. Now Facebook has announced a new set of options for video publishers — including the ability to limit who is able to see videos based on their age and gender. A social network might not be the first place you would think of to try to keep something private, but a new 'secret video' option makes it possible to restrict access to those people who have a direct link. Other new options include the ability to prevent embedding on other sites, but it is the audience restriction settings that are particularly interesting. For a long time Facebook has been about reaching out to as many people as possible in one hit — particularly in the case of pages, which are likely to be used for the promotion of businesses and services. But now the social giant provides tools to limit one's audience. It's fairly easy to understand the reasons for implementing age restrictions on video (although there is obviously scope for abuse), but the reasons for gender-based restrictions are less clear.
I predict that men will whine that they can't see videos set so that only women can see them.
I predict the women who posted the above videos will whine if men post videos set so only men can see them, saying it's sexist, while not realizing the hypocrisy.
I predict SJWs will whine that this somehow doesn't include transgendered people.
I predict that I will sit back with a big tub of popcorn and enjoy the hilarious drama.
The talk of gender-related limits made me think of teenage boys and girls in their isolated cliques wanting to share things only with other teenage boys or girls, and in light of that a possible use of age-related limits struck me: if you can set an age ceiling as well, this could be used by kids to hide things from adults, not just by adults to hide age-inappropriate things from kids.
-Forrest Cameranesi, Geek of all Trades
"I am Sam. Sam I am. I do not like trolls, flames, or spam."
They talk about videos being big business right there. If you're going to pay them $$$ for "promoting" your posts, then controlling who you promote them to is...kind of obvious, isn't it?
I mean, promoting on FB isn't the same as a full advertising suite. It's almost more like blackmail. If you have enough followers, then they stop showing your posts to all of them unless you give Facebook money. As a halfway step between promoting and full targeted advertising, this makes total sense.
Share your secrets on facebook. What could possibly go wrong?
Showing off is not what yoga is about... I think the ones making videos do it exactly for this purpose.
Always read at -1, don't let others decide what you should and should not read.
Facebook is a space created for men, by men. Their website and app have no support at all for female accessibility features. Things like breast gesture swipe recognition are left out on purpose and there's nowhere I can go to talk about my period without men ogling my tampon photos. A public company like Facebook must be required to create safe spaces where male predators aren't allowed!
Facebook video is already filled with copyright infringement from YouTube channels, where rebranded content is being posted. The rebranding of content, plus the limited lifespan of most videos plus the inability to find it publicly, are causing pain in the "YouTube Star" group.
How is the MPAA/RIAA/Whomever going to deal with Facebook facilitating massive copyright infringement? I mean, it's one thing to share a fairly powerless guy's content with 20 million followers, get caught and just have to remove it. But when I want to see a movie my friend has, so he just posts it so only I can see it...?
Given how Facebook is trying to make most people's whole internet experience solely based on their servers,t his is the one time I'm hoping the MPAA can make a ton of trouble for someone.
Your ad here. Ask me how!
When I read the title, I though this was a function for users rather than publishers. As in "From now on I only want to see videos of girls in the age span 19-24".
The pervs at your favorite three letter agency still get to see what they want, profiled by whatever they see fit.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.