Slashdot Mirror
Facebook Launches a Petition Feature (techcrunch.com)
Tomorrow Facebook will encounter a slew of fresh complexities with the launch of Community Actions, its News Feed petition feature. From a report: Community Actions could unite neighbors to request change from their local and national elected officials and government agencies. But it could also provide vocal interest groups a bully pulpit from which to pressure politicians and bureaucrats with their fringe agendas. Community Actions embodies the central challenge facing Facebook. Every tool it designs for positive expression and connectivity can be subverted for polarization and misinformation. Facebook's membership has swelled into such a ripe target for exploitation that it draws out the worst of humanity. You can imagine misuses like "Crack down on [minority group]" that are offensive or even dangerous but some see as legitimate. The question is whether Facebook puts in the forethought and aftercare to safeguard its new tools with proper policy and moderation. Otherwise each new feature is another liability.
Community Actions start to roll out to the US tomorrow after several weeks of testing in a couple of markets. Users can add a title, description, and image to their Community Action, and tag relevant government agencies and officials who'll be notified. The goal is to make the Community Action go viral and get people to hit the "Support" button. Community Actions have their own discussion feed where people can leave comments, create fundraisers, and organize Facebook Events or Call Your Rep campaigns. Facebook displays the numbers of supporters behind a Community Action, but you'll only be able to see the names of those you're friends with or that are Pages or public figures.
Community Actions start to roll out to the US tomorrow after several weeks of testing in a couple of markets. Users can add a title, description, and image to their Community Action, and tag relevant government agencies and officials who'll be notified. The goal is to make the Community Action go viral and get people to hit the "Support" button. Community Actions have their own discussion feed where people can leave comments, create fundraisers, and organize Facebook Events or Call Your Rep campaigns. Facebook displays the numbers of supporters behind a Community Action, but you'll only be able to see the names of those you're friends with or that are Pages or public figures.
... to creating petitions to promote them!
Community Actions could unite neighbors to request change from their local and national elected officials and government agencies. But it could also provide vocal interest groups a bully pulpit from which to pressure politicians and bureaucrats with their fringe agendas. Community Actions embodies the central challenge facing Facebook. Every tool it designs for positive expression and connectivity can be subverted for polarization and misinformation. Facebook's membership has swelled into such a ripe target for exploitation that it draws out the worst of humanity. You can imagine misuses like "Crack down on [minority group]" that are offensive or even dangerous but some see as legitimate. The question is whether Facebook puts in the forethought and aftercare to safeguard its new tools with proper policy and moderation. Otherwise each new feature is another liability.
I see this again and again from the mentally stunted. Yes, a petition can be launched to spread awareness of animal torture. A petition can also be launched to inspire more animal torture. That is not subversion! It is the same damn thing, but with the moral values inverted! What we in the west consider great moral virtues may be considered absolutely haram in the middle-east. The same thing happens within a country, where some people vote right and some people vote left. Don't pretend like it's some sort of nefarious scheme to voice your (quite possibly retarded) opinion just because other's don't share it.
The problem with the FB petition system is that it is open to everyone, which means that it's open to even the smallest groups within society, the extremists. As long as you force a threshold before any petition can be seen easily, it will be fine. Dumb petitions that relate to American Idol will still be viral, but extremist stuff will be kept to a minimum. That will make the system bland admittedly, but it will work for real issues.
Seriously ... I will unfollow anyone who shares one of these idiotic Facebook petitions, the same way I unfollow anyone who insists on sharing every bit of braindead clickbait they see, or who insists on posting nonstop political screeds.
You can definitely tell that Facebook's engagement metrics are falling, and that Zuckerberg is sweating over it, when "features" like this are pushed into user's faces.
We've already got whitehouse petitions, and several hundred activist sight petitions etc.... What have we learned from it? That nobody in power gives a damn about online petitions (probalby any petitions in general). Generally you have to get an insane amount of signatures to get a response... typically that response is "We'll think about it".
I'm struggling to think of a single occasion where a petition has achieved what it set out to. In almost all cases they are simply ignored since there's absolutely no reason for anyone to pay attention to them.
There are far better means of making people listen. If you want to petition a company, you stop buying their product. If you want to petition a politician, you stop voting for them until they start paying attention. If you want to petition a politician and you're a large company or well funded non-profit organisation, you bribe them, but you call it a campaign donation to legitimise your corruption.
The only purpose of a petition is to allow people to feel good about themselves while achieving precisely nothing.
Get your popcorn, folks. This is going to be a sh*tshow of epic proportions.
Mob rule, that's all this garbage is. Retweets, likes, thumbs up whatever you want to call it. It's all based on EMOTIONS, not facts.
So long as it's use to:
Petition Facebook to reveal who it has sold users data to.
Petition Facebook to give the user control over what data is collected
Petition Facebook to be far more transparent about its moderation
Petition Facebook to take community feedback about it's standards
Petition Facebook to promote free speech...
~Any apparent grammatical or typographic errors are caused by defects in your display device.
You have no idea what you're blathering about. Petitions become ballot measures become law all the time. Why would you advertise how little you know about this without researching it?
Is it physically painful to be so obtuse? Which part of your brain is damaged to the point where you can't include the contemplation of any sort of context when cranking out your juvenile response?
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.