Despite employing a small army of contractors to monitor posts, it’s clear the company is no longer fit for purposeWay back in the 1950s, a pioneering British cybernetician, W Ross Ashby, proposed a fundamental law of dynamic systems. In his book An Introduction to Cybernetics, he formulated his law of requisite variety, which defines “the minimum number of states necessary for a controller to control a system of a given number of states”. In plain English, it boils down to this: for a system to be viable, it has to be able to absorb or cope with the complexity of its environment. And there are basically only two ways of achieving viability in those terms: either the system manages to control (or reduce) the variety of its environment, or it has to increase its internal capacity (its “variety”) to match what is being thrown at it from the environment.Sounds abstruse, I know, but it has a contemporary resonance. Specifically, it provides a way of understanding some of the current internal turmoil in Facebook as it grapples with the problem of keeping unacceptable, hateful or psychotic content off its platform. Two weeks ago, the New York Times was leaked 1,400 pages from the rulebooks that the company’s moderators are trying to follow as they police the stuff that flows through its servers. According to the paper, the leak came from an employee who said he “feared that the company was exercising too much power, with too little oversight – and making too many mistakes”.... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2019-01-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The days of electronics repair are over! Plus, Microsoft's aggressive Surface ads, the true value of an ebook, and a visit to the land of Chromebooks. With guests Jason Cross and Melissa Riofrio. Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2014-08-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A successful experiment to make one status-update widely seen—and the social publishing site still won in the end. Continue reading at The Atlantic
[ The Atlantic | 2014-08-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Why did John Oliver devote 11 minutes of his HBO show "Last Week Tonight" to skewering the practice of native advertising?It was inspired by an interview he saw with Time Inc. CEO Joe Ripp, Mr. Oliver told an audience at Hearst Tower in New York on Tuesday. Mr. Oliver was struck by how easily... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2014-08-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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PW spoke to the former NBCC president about his new venture, Freeman's, a series of anthologies published by Grove Atlantic. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-08-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Esther Day is celebrated on Aug. 3, the birthday of teenager Esther Earl, with whom 'The Fault in Our Stars' author Green became acquainted before she died in 2010. Earl suggested the holiday center on 'the kinds of love that are too often overlooked in our culture: love among friends and... Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-08-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Parents complained about Green's books 'Looking for Alaska' and 'Paper Towns,' but a school committee in Wisconsin decided not to remove 'Alaska' and 'Towns' was taken off a reading list in Florida, then restored. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-07-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook has smashed all estimates in its earnings and revenue report this week, largely thanks to its robust mobile ad business. The results slapped down any niggling doubts among critics about the social network's ability to transform itself from a simple communication website to a... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2014-07-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers have been exploiting a Facebook loophole with their native ads, making them alluring ad buys in light of decreased Facebook reach for brands. The post When an ad is not an ad on Facebook appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2014-07-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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When Secret first launched earlier this year, the only subscribers who could see your anonymous missives on the app were folks who were somehow connected to your phone's address book -- they were either your friends, friends of friends or friends of... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2014-07-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Top Shelf has released the cover art for 'March Book Two,' the much-anticipated second volume of Civil Rights legend John Lewis’ three-volume graphic memoir. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-07-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook has helped catapult sites like BuzzFeed and Upworthy into social stardom, boosting the visibility of media content on the News Feeds of millions of users and generating a deluge of traffic. But in this rising tide, some publishers have seen ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2014-07-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A Thai magazine editor has been arrested for posting comments critical of the military on his Facebook page, reports Human Rights Watch (HRW).Thanapol Eawsakul, the editor of Fah Diew Khan (Same Sky) magazine, was detained on Saturday (5 July) and is expected to remain police custody for another... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-07-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. Colombia's High-Tech... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2014-07-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The publisher, which has seen its Facebook traffic grow more than 500 percent in the past year, shares the secrets to its success. The post How Hearst learned to play with emotions to drive Facebook traffic game appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2014-07-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook Inc. bought video advertising company LiveRail to help it target and distribute video ads, AdWeek reported. TechCrunch pegged the price tag between $400 million and $500 million, although the companies haven’t disclosed the terms. LiveRail, based in San Francisco, has created a... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal
[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2014-07-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook is buying video ad platform LiveRail and giving it control of a network that powers advertising for high-profile publishers—online and on mobile. LiveRail delivers video ads to websites and apps for Major League Baseball, ABC, A+E Networks and Dailymotion. "LiveRail also helps... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2014-07-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook's video ad business just got a lot bigger.Months after rolling out the first video-specific ad product on the social network, Facebook has agreed to acquire LiveRail, one of the biggest video ad sellers. A Facebook spokesman declined to comment on the deal's price.LiveRail automates the... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2014-07-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook’s most recently published study is not unique. This is a call to action. We should work together to demand that companies promise not to make us involuntary accomplices in corporate activities that compromise other people’s autonomy and trust. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2014-07-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A Facebook researcher apologized after conducting an experiment that temporarily influenced what almost 700,000 readers saw on their news feeds, reviving some customers' concerns about privacy issues.The number of positive and negative comments that users saw on their feeds of articles and... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2014-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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If you use Facebook and found yourself momentarily feeling either better or worse in early 2012, an algorithm may have caused your shift in mood. And that's what has some social media users upset today. A controversial research study published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2014-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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