There’s a hefty amount of conflict that swirls around the title of this post, simply because it goes against what may be the most powerful social force today, Facebook. A vision which initially began as a college project has recently been revealed to have a concerning sinister underbelly…

Those of the living under a rock persuasion (and I admire you) may not know that very recently Facebook had their business exposed by the way of Cambridge Analytica, a somewhat evil sounding corporation straight out of a dystopian future looking to control the world by harvesting everyone’s private information. And the rub is, that fanatical  analogy doesn’t fall too far from the tree.

If you google ‘Cambridge Analytica’ you’ll see for yourself what they have been up to along with Facebook. And to put it basically, they accessed millions of user’s data without really telling them! Now the details are rich amongst the many news articles online but a figure which seems to echo throughout is 87 Million. That is the number of Facebook users who had their ‘information’ collected via a sneaky quiz app, you know the types that come up every now and then via the news feed.

So what type of information are we talking here? Now this is where some of the facts may differ but we are talking personal things here, such as; political beliefs, interests, friend’s information, phone call logs even if you didn’t use facebook to call, location and even private messages. There is even rumors of deleted information still being kept somewhere..

This is where the real power of Facebook is exposed, and its quite concerning to say the least how much they have on one person. So what is real problem here? 

Facebook are heavily known for being vague and having many grey areas when it comes to rules. Kind of like ‘do as I say, not as I do’. This poses the real issue here and that question is; what are Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg’s real intentions?

Having all this data gives a major company a lot of sway via the information gathered. It can even be used in a political sense, such as an election. President Barack Obama did exactly the same as Cambridge Analytica and was even perceived and viewed as clever for doing so. But it doesn’t matter what this information is being used for, it’s the fact they have it.

For what initially seems like an uber democracy, the internet over recent times has just become yet another place where the corporations have more control and again Facebook has proven this. It’s all about the money seemingly, and in these circumstances the conflicted arises from the fact there is no real alternative to Facebook.

Honest people like me have invested in Facebook for the use of not just socializing but for trying to launch a career in writing. I’ve had success as an author because of Facebook and the networking it provides. I have met people from across the globe because of this social network and built a following over time. There is so much good in what Facebook is, the world is much smaller and better connected place because of it, but…

Some of the worst things have come from the best of intentions and Facebook is staring down the barrel of conflicted users because of their conduct. Near enough Everyone I know uses Facebook and let’s put this into perspective.

Let’s say I developed a way to harvest millions of people’s personal information, all the way to level where I knew what they had for breakfast. I’m pretty sure the law wouldn’t just let that fly, you probably wouldn’t see me again. But Mark Zuckerberg was able to sit in front of US senators and talk about the idea of regulating Facebook and tell them he doesnt ‘feel’ like he has a monopoly.

It’s incredible that billionaire types get some kind of preference all because of money. I can almost guran-damn-tee Facebook will live to fight another day after this scandal passes and the problem is for people like me, is that’s the result I kind of need to continue a decent social media presence. We have no choice but to carry on. Even if millions of people delete Facebook, or a token celebrity tries to make some political deal about it, they will still stand. For as long as the internet is floating in the airwaves there is no real way to put any real lawful control across the globe for it.

So I guess for now life will continue with needless selfies, an overabundance of emojis, name tests and vague attention fishing statuses… Every now and then Facebook brings something good but that frequency is dying.

Have you deleted Facebook? Or are you like me and need to reach followers  in order to promote books. Speaking of books,

The Teleporter arrives in just a few weeks, there,will,be, booze!