Addicted to Facebook? Do You Play Candy Crush?

[MineralMan]

Those two questions may seem unrelated, but they're not. According to the article at the link below, half a billion people have downloaded this game, and 93 million people play it daily. It's addictive and is specifically designed to be addictive. Neuroscience is the discipline that lies behind its popularity.

So, what does that have to do with Facebook? Well, if you play it on Facebook, you have given the company that owns access to all of your Facebook data, along with access to your friends' public data as well. That's why that Facebook friend of yours keeps inviting you to play. Actually, it's not your friend. It's the game company who is sending you that invitation. They want your friends' data, too.

Facebook's entire business model is based on sharing its users' data and selling the ability to access users' data to app producers and others. Guess what? Cambridge Analytica is one of its customers, and that company, too, uses the same methods Candy Crush uses to sweep up Facebook user data.

So, if you're addicted to Facebook, you're part of that vacuuming up of data. You've probably helped companies like CA get at your friends' data too.

Isn't that cool?

https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2014/apr/01/candy-crush-saga-app-brain

[Ohiogal]

1. I am one of the old fossils

Who never had a FB account and never played Candy Crush.

[grumpyduck]

4. I am too

I had an account but realized I never went there. The few times I did all I saw was people writing nonsense and asking to be friends so I could follow their nonsense. I have better things to do with my time. Email works fine for me.

[RadiationTherapy]

5. "Never had a FB account and never played Candy Crush" is probably a demographic, haha

As a matter of fact, this stated fact about yourself coupled with a likely "dark side of the moon" reference in your avatar identifies certain traits in and of itself. Possibly about consumer habits, opinions about consumerism, possibly even eating habits (whole grains, maybe vegetarian, maybe processed and fast food averse).

Anyways, data is so cheap and easy to store that anyone can create a profile about you given enough time. Facebook is just optimized for it, but your banks, convenience stores, and neighborhood participation can all paint pretty effective pictures in regard to advertising.

[Fresh_Start]

2. I thought I was using it intelligently

I've got my privacy settings set to limit access
I don't post personal information
I don't have a real location or a real birthdate

but I play idiot games

So I'm an idiot

However I wasn't dumb enough to fall for the russian conspiracy or the "left" equivalent of the same

sigh

[MineralMan]

3. I use Facebook, too, to keep up with family and friends.

I don't play any games or do anything else there. But, I still see those pesky invitations to go play some games some of my friends are addicted to. Ads and stuff appear on my page, but I don't even notice them any more. I spend about 15 minutes each morning seeing what my family and friends are up to, and that's it.

Is my data being used? Probably, but there's data about me all over the place, so...

A lot of people, though, don't understand how Facebook works and why it exists. It's not designed for us. It's designed to make money for Zuckerberg. I know that. I don't care, really. But I think people should understand what Facebook is all about, and it's not to provide a place for us to keep up with our friends. That's not what it's about.

[Siwsan]

6. I was suspicious of those request from the games so I deleted the requests

And as for info on me being "out there", anyway, when we held our weekly anti-Iraq War protest, on more than one occasion a black SUV would pull up into the lot where we parked our cars. Men in suits got out, wrote down our license plate numbers and then they drove off. On at least one occasion, we saw them taking photos. I figured they probably already linked my identity, via my license plate, to what ever file I have from being active duty military. Big waste of their time. I've got nothing to hide and I'm not easily led or intimidated.

[MineralMan]

7. Yeah, they did the same thing during the Vietnam War protests.

Collecting data has always been a thing. Today, though, it's a lot easier to collect and easier yet to mine. Data mining is today's growth industry.

[FarCenter]

8. I think Farmville works the same way.

[MineralMan]

9. Yes. So do almost all Facebook games, polls, quizzes,

and other apps. They all grab your data and your friends, too. And you agree to it when you first start using any of them. That's how they get to do it.

[TheBlackAdder]

10. Many cell phone apps are of Russian origin or written by Russians. Many ask for phone access.

[MineralMan]

11. Not surprising. I don't use a smart phone.

Just a flip phone. I have tablets for other uses. But, I don't use many apps, either. I do try to avoid software of Russian origin, though. It's way too easy for software to do things you don't know about while you're using it to do other things. Too easy for malware to use your computer or phone these days.

[colsohlibgal]

12. No and No

I comment or like friends stuff but never post anything myself. Never played Candy Crush.

[Luciferous]

13. I only had a Facebook account to play candy crush

but it was under a fake name and that's all I really used it for. I still deleted my account!

[MineralMan]

14. LOL!

[Initech]

15. I think the last time I logged into my Facebook account was 2 years ago.

And I'm definitely not missing it!