CBC reporter finds himself unwillingly 'Liking' the Conservatives

tay

Hall of Fame Member
May 20, 2012
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When asked, the Liberals, NDP and Greens firmly denied that they would ever buy Facebook Likes stolen from Canadians with malware.The Conservatives said it was 'an internal party matter' and refused to answer any more questions.

Third-party websites or videos that you are clicking on may have malware embedded in them, and you won't even know, that's the thing. It's very insidious in how it can happen and it's also very quick." (link is external)

It turns out there are lots of people out there selling "likes."

Suddenly you are liking companies, organizations, even political parties, and unless someone tells you, or you check your settings, you wouldn't know anything about it. "Peer-to-peer recommendation is huge," says Parker.

"If I know you well and I see that Reg likes a certain brand, and I'm looking to shop, maybe I say, 'Well, if Reg is liking that, maybe I need to take a second look.'"

This liking business happened to chocolatier Constance Popp, too. She loves chocolate, but when a friend told her that she had somehow "liked' the Conservative Party of Canada on Facebook, it left a sour taste in her mouth.

"And they asked if I purposely liked it," says Popp, "and I said no, and I found myself having to defend that I really didn't do that." So the question is, are political parties buying phoney "likes" on Facebook? The Liberals, Greens and NDP all said pretty much the same thing. They said they buy advertising, but they don't buy likes.

The Conservative Party's director of communications, Cory Hann, however, said: "Thanks for reaching out to us. On this question, it's an internal party matter." It could be argued that response doesn't really answer the question at all.

This is a big deal.

This is identity theft by way of computer crime and Canada's governing party describes their participation in it as 'an internal party matter'.

Conservative Party won't say whether it buys 'likes' on Facebook - Politics - CBC News




 

AnnaG

Hall of Fame Member
Jul 5, 2009
17,507
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Never saw those two side by side before. Did bro and sis marry? Scary. I don't wanna see the kids.

Politicians buying "likes"? Why not. There isn't one politician that doesn't bribe, buy, cajole, etc. for votes anyways.
 

Locutus

Adorable Deplorable
Jun 18, 2007
32,230
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fake likes are from spurious spam accounts.

you'd see cliffy1, bigcliffy, clifford the dog etc liking harpo but not cliffy.

our tin foilly ceeb friend likely clicked on something shiny on zynga poker, a flashy spinning thingie on the interweb...because he's stupid. that or he fell for the ol' 'click here to see viewed your facebook profile' bit.

either way, he should learn to firefox and then learn to internet.

http://forums.canadiancontent.net/c...anadas-federal-election-2015-official-31.html
 

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
40,035
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Facebook needs a dislike button.
Facebook to add 'dislike' button
Todd Spangler, VARIETY.COM
First posted: Tuesday, September 15, 2015 06:39 PM EDT | Updated: Tuesday, September 15, 2015 06:44 PM EDT
LOS ANGELES - Facebook will finally let its billion-plus users worldwide express displeasure or sadness about posts on the social service.
The company is developing a way for people to indicate feelings of sadness or sympathy about Facebook content and comments, CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed during a Q&A session Tuesday. That will complement the Facebook's trademark "like" feature, which it launched in early 2009.
After years of users asking for a "dislike" button, "today is the day I can say we're working on it and shipping it," he said at the publicly live-streamed town hall event.
Zuckerberg added that what Facebook users "really want is an ability to express empathy." He didn't provide details on when the feature would go live but said Facebook will begin testing alternatives to the "like" button soon. "We will deliver something that meets the needs of the larger community," Zuckerberg said.
Facebook has resisted adding a "dislike" button on the theory it would discourage people from sharing posts -- or even that it would engender misunderstandings or animosity among friends.
Meanwhile, emoji icons in the Unicode text standard include a range of gestures, including a thumbs-up, thumbs-down, an "OK" sign and a pair of hands clapping. Facebook does currently include a thumbs-down icon in a sticker package for the Messenger app.
Facebook to add 'dislike' button | News | Tech | Toronto Sun
Facebook users dislike possible 'dislike' button
Yasmeen Abutaleb, Reuters
First posted: Wednesday, September 16, 2015 05:14 PM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, September 16, 2015 05:25 PM EDT
SAN FRANCISCO - Facebook users took to the social media site on Wednesday to react to the company's decision to test what Facebook Inc Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg called a "dislike button" - and not everyone liked the idea.
In a town hall-style question and answer session Tuesday, Zuckerberg took questions from users about topics ranging from virtual reality to his wife's pregnancy. Yet most Facebook users fixated on his announcement that the 1.5-billion user social network was working on adding a button other than "like."
Users flooded Zuckerberg's official Facebook page with nearly 3,000 comments largely about the dislike option. While some said they would use Facebook more if the button were introduced, others said it would lead to cyberbullying and more negativity on the site.
"Please don't put a dislike button, as much as there is times I would love it, would much rather express my thoughts in words to be completely direct on my opinion," said user Andrea Robichaud.
Users have been asking for a dislike button for several years, Zuckerberg said, though it may not necessarily be named dislike or be represented with a thumbs down. He added that the company was preparing to test a version of the button.
"Not every moment is a good moment," Zuckerberg said.
The button's aim, he said, would be to express empathy on posts that may reference topics where "like" is not the appropriate response, such as the refugee crisis or the death of a loved one.
Some users offered alternative suggestions that they thought would minimize harassment on the site, such as adding a "sympathy" button instead or allowing users to opt out of the "dislike" button on their posts.
Others took a more humorous approach. Vince Vogel suggested Facebook offer "public smile, private smile, private frown and public frown" instead of like and dislike.
Analysts are not expecting a huge financial payoff if the company goes forward, and Facebook shares rose slightly Wednesday on the first full trading session after the announcement, up 0.5 percent to around $93.40.
"If it takes off it will help engagement," said Stern Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia, although noting the revenue impact would not be great. "This is probably more in response to what Facebook sees as a feature requested by users."
Facebook users dislike possible 'dislike' button | News | Tech | Toronto Sun
 

Wagner

Time Out
Sep 16, 2015
12
0
1
Choice is a great thing - even if your choices are limited. In America the "choice" is only a grand illusion.