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posted by Fnord666 on Thursday September 03 2020, @07:27AM   Printer-friendly
from the I-see-what-you're-doing-there dept.

Facebook pilot links user profiles with online news subscriptions:

It works like this: When Facebook identifies that a user subscribes to a participating publisher, it will invite the user to link their subscription account. Once the accounts are connected, if the user clicks on a paywalled link via Facebook, they won't have to sign-in to access the content. Users who link their Facebook and news accounts will also see more stories from those publishers in Facebook News.

Facebook is testing the feature with a handful of publishers, ranging from The Atlantic to the Winnipeg Free Press, and early test results are promising. In June, subscribers who linked their Facebook accounts made 111 percent more article clicks compared to those who didn't link their accounts, Facebook said in a blog post.


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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by Unixnut on Thursday September 03 2020, @08:06AM (10 children)

    by Unixnut (5779) on Thursday September 03 2020, @08:06AM (#1045769)

    I was going to start this with the usual "hell no, fuck Facebook" post, but when I think about it. It is becoming almost impossible to function in society without a FB account. In the last year or so, I have seen:

    - Hobby forums I am on move to FB Groups, meaning you can't post (or sometimes even view) content without a FB account
    - People buying/selling stuff on FB marketplace, rather than Ebay/gumtree/etc... requiring a FB account
    - Dating apps requiring a FB account in order to sign up
    - My local coffee delivery van only communicating via FB (you can't order any other way, not even email/phone/other service. Just FB), so no coffee without a FB account.
    - Online shopping offering to "link your account" with FB, so you can log in with your FB account to shop
    - Local government encouraging you to "follow" them on FB, for the latest news/updates and information, requiring a FB account

    The last two at least still have the option of refusing to use FB, but for how much longer will that be the case? At some point they may say that the cost of keeping two systems alive is not worth it, if 80% of people come in via FB (like the Coffee van decided). Apart from the local government (which is required to provide accessibility to all), others may well judge it worth the loss of business to just not have to maintain two systems, and switch to "FB only". Even the website of the small village I live in has been taken down, and they are considering just moving to a village FB Group, rather than pay for website, domain and hosting.

    I have noticed a real acceleration in the trend to just run everything via FB over the last year. Between Amazon, FB and Google, this dark trend is just getting worse. Imagine if FB's "digital money" had been approved, next thing you know you would need a FB account to get paid, or buy anything.

    I have resisted getting a FB account so far, but it does really affect you socially. When I tell people I don't have a FB account, their first inclination is to think I am an idiot, and they tell me "It is really easy to do", and even offer to help me set up my account. When I point out to them that I know how to do it, but I object to their violations of privacy, the spying, and what they put in their terms of service, they switch from thinking I am an idiot to thinking I am a fringe nutjob, and just have a look of confusion on their face until they can excuse themselves.

    So strange, to think that things that seemed normal 10 or so years ago, are now seen as as being the domain of crazy people.

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  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday September 03 2020, @08:41AM

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Thursday September 03 2020, @08:41AM (#1045776) Journal

    It's the Mark of the Beast, I tell you!!

    Of course, we were hearing the same about bar codes when they started appearing.

    Seriously, I don't like the trend to Facebook, either. But, few care what some old bastard out in the woods likes.

  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by PinkyGigglebrain on Thursday September 03 2020, @08:50AM (3 children)

    by PinkyGigglebrain (4458) on Thursday September 03 2020, @08:50AM (#1045779)

    Can you even avoid FB anymore?

    in answer to your question : Yes

    Everything you mentioned, the coffee truck, the dating apps, etc. are all optional. You don't need them to live your life. Any business that makes it so I have to have a FB account to interact with them loses my business. Government? if they make it so people have to have an FB account to access public services and data they will get sued.

    And to those people who can't respect my desire to protect my privacy they can fuck off. I will, and have, laugh when their bank accounts and email get compromised thanks to all the info they posted on their FB pages. All those security questions, first pet, high school, favorite sport, etc., its all right there on you FB page.

      It is amazing how fast they go from thinking I'm a "fringe nut job" to someone who is a lot smarter than they are about privacy and security when they lose a bunch of money and have to explain to their mother why she is getting email from them with links to porn sites, etc..

    --
    "Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
    • (Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Thursday September 03 2020, @11:59AM (1 child)

      by PiMuNu (3823) on Thursday September 03 2020, @11:59AM (#1045820)

      > Government? if they make it so people have to have an FB account to access public services and data they will get sued.

      A bit off topic (google not fb) but ... just for your interest, turn on umatrix or firefox lightning plugin and then see how many government websites deploy google analytics. It is many in the UK, including for example NHS.

      • (Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Thursday September 03 2020, @10:05PM

        by PinkyGigglebrain (4458) on Thursday September 03 2020, @10:05PM (#1046085)

        A bit off topic (google not fb) but ...

        Actually very off topic, and totally irrelevant. The OP was talking about a FB membership being required to do things, not about being being passively tracked by Google (an issue unto itself). I've used .gov websites with google analytics blocked without any issues.

        --
        "Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
    • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 03 2020, @07:26PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 03 2020, @07:26PM (#1046001)

      Government? if they make it so people have to have an FB account to access public services and data they will get sued.

      Not if they're smart and requiere a FB account for access to the court system first.

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by c0lo on Thursday September 03 2020, @09:48AM

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Thursday September 03 2020, @09:48AM (#1045789) Journal

    It is becoming almost impossible to function in society without a FB account.

    Really? I don't think so.

    Hobby forums I am on move to FB Groups, meaning you can't post (or sometimes even view) content without a FB account

    In my case, I'm still happy: eevblog forum is in place [eevblog.com] and society didn't collapse.
    Rex Kruger keeps on figuring out [youtube.com] and the society didn't collapse.
    And heaps of others.

    People buying/selling stuff on FB marketplace, rather than Ebay/gumtree/etc... requiring a FB account

    Plenty of others remains on ebay, gumtree, etc...

    Dating apps requiring a FB account in order to sign up

    Don't need those. Never needed them anyway.

    My local coffee delivery van only communicating via FB

    Time to learn a new skill, then. Like brewing a Turkish coffee [youtube.com] - their loss, your gain.

    Online shopping offering to "link your account" with FB, so you can log in with your FB account to shop

    Which you can refuse.

    Local government encouraging you to "follow" them on FB, for the latest news/updates and information, requiring a FB account

    The last two at least still have the option of refusing to use FB, but for how much longer will that be the case?

    The same news you can get from their sire by request - a govt cannot offer the information exclusively on FB.

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
  • (Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Thursday September 03 2020, @02:26PM (2 children)

    by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Thursday September 03 2020, @02:26PM (#1045859) Journal
    And you don't complain? The coffee thing, either send them snail mail (they're a business, they have a business address) or just use a competitor. For the government, they cannot discriminate against people who don't use Facebook (it won't let you log in with a text-only browser, discrimination against the visually handicapped). If it's a municipal government, go to your next town council meeting. (Warning - they're BORING).

    Facebook also discriminates against older people who are going colour blind - their colour scheme makes certain icons invisible.

    But in the end, you don't NEED Facebook or Google. And those who don't require it deserve your business.

    --
    SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Unixnut on Thursday September 03 2020, @04:01PM (1 child)

      by Unixnut (5779) on Thursday September 03 2020, @04:01PM (#1045892)

      > And you don't complain?

      No, I just use others, coffee is pretty fungible.

      My concern is not the present day, but the future. Most of what I described happened in 12 months. For the moment there are alternatives, but for how much longer? It is already getting harder to avoid the great data suck online, and at some point most businesses will not bother with the 5% of so people who refuse by choice to not be on these platforms.

      I don't intend to join these platforms, but every day it becomes the much easier choice, which I guess is what I want.

      Government is fine, as they don't require it (and I doubt they ever will), like you say, they have a duty to be accessible to all, including people without internet. Banking I am not sure about. They don't have the same regulations on accesibility, and are prevented right now on the security nightmare it would be to do so, but everything else is fair game. Including savings and investment accounts, one of which staring requiring me to use Googles ReCaptcha to access my savings, which caused a mini ruckus between us.

      It is a large time and energy sink having to fight it more and more, and it just feels like a losing battle. We shall see what the future holds, but it seems to only get worse with each passing year.

      • (Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Friday September 04 2020, @05:31AM

        by PinkyGigglebrain (4458) on Friday September 04 2020, @05:31AM (#1046217)

        And you don't complain?

        No, I just use others, coffee is pretty fungible.

        Very true, but it also makes you part of the problem.

        If you stop being a regular at a business because they require a FB account you should let them know that their choice cost them a customer. Send a letter, or have a word with a manager. And be sure to remind them that complaints are like cockroaches, for every complaint they see there are 100s they don't.

        --
        "Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
  • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday September 03 2020, @07:34PM

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Thursday September 03 2020, @07:34PM (#1046006) Journal

    It's exceptionally easy to function without Facebook. I never use it. I use privacy plugins to block it everywhere.

    --
    Washington DC delenda est.