OLDaily

Redirect FB algorithms now and 4 lessons from Cambridge Analytica
Inge de Waard, Ignatia Webs, 2018/03/27

This is a nice compendium of some of the lesser-known strands of discussion around the now-boiling debate on analytics. One strand is an "MIT research project on “How to manipulate Facebook and Twitter instead of letting them manipulate you’." Another turns the whole "correlation is not causation" argument on its head (especially relevant to discussions about PISA). Another looks at the recent paper on how well you can be profiled from just 12 likes. 

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Facebook Container Isolates Facebook From The Rest of Your Firefox Browsing
Justin Pot, How-To Geek, 2018/03/27

I use Firefox to browse the web because it doesn't report back to Facebook or Google. It's not that I'm paranoid, but I don't trust businesses that collect and sell my data. It's also the same reason I don't use Facebook. But if you need to use Facebook for whatever reason, this might be an option. "Facebook tracks your activity across the web, thanks to a network of “Like” buttons and embedded ads. If that creeps you out Facebook Container can help... The next time you visit Facebook it will open in a new blue-colored browser tab (aka “container tab”)... If you click on a non-Facebook link or navigate to a non-Facebook website in the URL bar, these pages will load outside of the container." I also use Ublock Origin to block ads, trackers and unwanted garbage on web pages (not AdBlock Plus).

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5 Ways You Can Use Psychology to Boost Ecommerce Sales
The Blog Herald, 2018/03/27

When I was in the Canary Islands a number of years ago I learned an expensive but valuable lesson about sales as I was convinced to pay far too much for a zoom lens for my then-brand-new camera. The lesson was: they are professionals, and I am a rank amateur. The same is true of sales generally. Which is why the whole Facebook-Cambridge Analytics debate is in reality nothing new, and is, in one way or another, very widespread, as this article shows. Sales is ultimately about psychology, making you feel a need you didn't know you had, and making you willing to pay something or (in the case of elections and referenda) do something. The only way to prevent is is to stay out of the store. Don't go into that expensive camera shop, block ads on ad-supported blogs, and for goodness sake, don't use software that tracks you using a network of ads and logins.

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