Facebook Digs Deeper Into Your Life

Facebook has been at the center of the privacy storm for sometime. It continues to seek more and better ways to get into your life and learn everything it can about you all in the name of advertising. And now they are moving into your life to watch television and listen to music with you.

Facebook introduced a new audio fingerprinting tool to be used on your smartphone to identify what you are watching on television and what music you are listening to.

Audio fingerprinting is designed to stop you from looking for a hashtag.  With this technology you simply click a button on your Facebook mobile app. The device listens to the TV show you’re watching then it automatically posts your comments to the right online forum. According to Facebook executives that’s how its supposed to work. It won’t be available for at least a month.

Now why is Facebook doing this? Its all about knowing what programs you watch or music you listen to and getting to know your needs and desires. And needs and desires add up to advertising dollars.   The idea is to capture advertising dollars that go to television.

But the people at Facebook see it a different way. ““We really wanted to make it even easier to share music that’s playing or what TV shows you’re watching and make that a very easy part of posting a new story to Facebook,” says Facebook product manager Aryeh Selekman. 

Facebook is really doing its best to get into your life. In the past week Facebook users have received notices that Facebook plans to institute a more effective advertising formula. Facebook will track users activity all over the Internet, not just on Facebook, to target ads. This action has  serious privacy implications for users that don’t want their every move tracked online.

But the people at Facebook offers some options to their users. They are introducing ad preferences. This tool allows Facebook users to click on the ad to explain why they’re seeing that specific ad. They have the option to add or remove the ad to help control what ads they see. This also helps Facebook to better understand you and what you like and dislike and to offer even more accurate targeting for its advertisers.

Breaking It Down

The question is when is enough? Think about this for a second, if Facebook knows what television programs you are watching  then they know what ads are being run during those programs and they also know the shows demographics. Demographics means you!

Black people have specific television watching habits just like other ethnicities. Some shows appeal to us some don’t. What Facebook is doing is making damn sure they know who is watching what at what time and how often so they can tell advertisers how specific their audience metrics is. We know that.

But we need to visit my “Internet Rules To Live By” because I clearly state that there is no privacy! Are you going to allow Facebook to own your life? You post pictures of everything you do. Facebook owns all images you post! Talk about everything in your life from your child’s birthday to your job to your grandmother’s surgery. Facebook owns that!  You like a web page, product or celebrity and Facebook owns that.You share everything and Facebook owns it all. As long as you allow Facebook to use you then they own you. And haven’t black people had enough of being owned?

This move to monitor your web movements and your television watching and music listening is pretty much them saying that they are hell bent on knowing everything about you. They don’t take it from you. You give it up every time you log on. You have the Facebook app  on your phone so they know where you are at all times. It getting ridiculous!