What comes to mind when you think of Facebook?
Mark Zuckerberg?
Your friend’s newest relationship status?
Or is it embarrassing baby photos that your mom has posted and so thoughtfully tagged you in?
Previously, Zuckerberg had created Facesmash (Facebook’s predecessor), a website set up as a “hot or not” game. Facebook was launched in February 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg as a social networking that profiled students and staff at Harvard. Now, Facebook has grown into one of the world’s biggest social media platforms with two billion (and counting) users.
Like every other social media site, Facebook has grown and evolved over the years. One of the most obvious places one can see this evolution is through one’s own timeline. Looking at the two photos below, one can see the new additions and features Facebook has added since its launching. An “introduction” feature on the left side allows you to customize what you want people to first see about you (featured photos, life motto, what makes you happy etc). Facebook gives you the option of making information such as your hometown or the university you’re currently attending public or private. When you click on your hometown or university location, Facebook opens a new tab on to your hometown/university. For example, when I click on “Hong Kong”, Facebook pulls up a new page where I can view different restaurant locations and reviews throughout Hong Kong. This goes to show how global Facebook is becoming and how it’s come to incorporate various elements from other social platforms (the restaurant reviews are reminiscent of Yelp).
But perhaps, one of the most noticeable features of Facebook, are the ads that frequent your news feed. Ads have become quite common on other popular social media platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube. We’ve all seen these types of ads. It’s almost impossible to scroll your news feed without coming across an ad attempting to sell you Maybelline’s newest and BOLDEST mascara. For me, many of the ads that pop up are fashion and fitness related, based on the pages (like Adidas and Zara) that I’ve liked and followed. When one of these ads show up, you can actually click “about this ad” and Facebook will give you reasons on why you are seeing the ad. A New York Times article describes how “Facebook’s primary ad system plugs straight into the Facebook News Feed”. The article also goes on to explain how ads are geared towards people’s particular interests, the post and pages they’ve liked and shared etc.
“On Facebook, people describe themselves and leave all sorts of digital breadcrumbs that show their interests. Then Facebook matches these with other data it collects”.
Whether we’re aware of it or not, all these social media sites revolve around some type of algorithm designed to get the most amount of views, likes etc. In Safiya Nygaard’s YouTube video, “I Bought The First 5 Things YouTube Recommended Me”, she points out Google’s algorithm and how ads are shown based on the types of video you watch, gender, location, websites you’ve visited etc. And we have all experienced this in some way or another. We decide to one day casually browse Forever 21 in hopes of looking for a nice skirt and the next day, our Facebook feed is choke-full of various Forever 21 ads. A recent Forbes article writes that “the algorithm behind the [Facebook] News Feed determines which posts people see from friends, advertisers and other sources, and the order in which they appear depending on how users responded to previous posts.”
Facebook has become an worldwide social media platform where many go to share pictures from their latest vacations or to view a friend’s wedding album. It’s enabled us to keep in close contact with people who are miles away from us. It’s became a place where people such as myself can create our narrative and present the life we want the world to see. Facebook allows us to be selective in what content we are putting out and who is able to view it. And based on what you’ve chosen to share, like and follow, Facebook is able to put together posts and ads that will circulate your news feed. So next time you’re browsing through Facebook’s many cute dog videos, take a look at the ads that are popping up.
And who knows? Maybe you’ll actually end up buying a bracelet from that Pandora ad you keep seeing.
(p.s: the notification globe on Facebook changes in accordance to where you are in the world!!)
WORKS CITED
Constine, Josh. “Facebook Now Has 2 Billion Monthly Users… And responsibility.”TechCrunch. TechCrunch, 27 June 2017. Web. 13 Nov. 2017.
Metz, Cade. “How Facebook’s Ad System Works.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 12 Oct. 2017. Web. 13 Nov. 2017.
Nyaard Safiya. “I Bought The First 5 Things YouTube Recommended To Me.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 5 July 2017. Web. 15 November 2017.
Phillips, Sarah. “A Brief History of Facebook.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 25 July 2007. Web. 13 Nov. 2017.
Reuters. “Facebook Is Changing Its News Feed Algorithm Again.” Fortune. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2017.