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Chris Hadfield
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Facebook finally adds option to delete old posts in batches
Got any embarrassing old posts collecting dust on your profile? Facebook wants to help you delete them.
03 June, 2020
Facebook
- The feature is called Manage Activity, and it's currently available through mobile and Facebook Lite.
- Manage Activity lets users sort old content by filters like date and posts involving specific people.
- Some companies now use AI-powered background checking services that scrape social media profiles for problematic content.
<p>Facebook is rolling out a new feature designed to help users delete old posts in bulk instead of one at a time.</p><p>The company <a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2020/06/introducing-manage-activity/" target="_blank">announced</a> Tuesday that its "Manage Activity" tool will allow users to delete posts en masse, or archive them so that they're accessible only to the user. Manage Activity will let users organize old content in batches, sorted by filers like specific date range and posts involving certain people. </p><p>Manage Activity is available today on mobile and Facebook Lite, and the company says it'll be functional for desktop users in the future.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"Whether you're entering the job market after college or moving on from an old relationship, we know things change in people's lives, and we want to make it easy for you to curate your presence on Facebook to more accurately reflect who you are today," Facebook wrote in a statement. "That's why we're launching Manage Activity to help you archive or trash old posts, all in one place."</p>
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<p>Why is Facebook releasing the feature now? A company spokesperson told <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/6/2/21276974/facebook-manage-activity" target="_blank">Recode</a> that users and privacy advocates have long requested better control over past posts. Users have had access to the "limit past posts" option, which blocks the public from accessing a user's posts past a certain date. But there has been no way to delete old content in batches.</p>
Social media background checks
<p><br></p><p>Now, the feature could bring users some peace of mind. After all, the platform currently has more than <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/#:~:text=How%20many%20users%20does%20Facebook,network%20ever%20to%20do%20so." target="_blank">2.6 billion monthly active users</a>, and some of these users created accounts in their teens, around the time Facebook became widely available in 2006. As these veteran users get older, it seems likely that many would want to delete years-old posts, whether because content is embarrassing, outdated or professionally jeopardizing.</p><p>Some employers now use automated or <a href="https://www.goodegg.io/blog/is-this-legal-and-other-social-media-screening-faqs" target="_blank">third-party background</a> checks that scrape candidates' social media accounts. These checks can search for content that's racist, sexually explicit, criminal or otherwise offensive. </p><p>But they're not always accurate. One AI-powered background service called <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/5/11/21166291/artificial-intelligence-ai-background-check-checkr-fama" target="_blank">Checkr has even faced lawsuits</a> from people who claim the company's algorithms made mistakes that cost them job opportunities.</p>How to use Manage Activity
<iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Ffacebookapp%2Fvideos%2F707969696627907%2F&show_text=0&width=560" width="560" height="353" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowTransparency="true" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe><p>It's unclear when Manage Activity will become available on desktop. But to learn how to use it on mobile or Facebook Lite, check out this instructional video from Facebook.</p>
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Facebook moving forward with hiding like counts to fight envy
This could become a standard feature one day.
28 September, 2019
Photo credit: Boudewijn Huysmans on Unsplash
- Facebook has begun hiding 'like counts' in Australia.
- Earlier this month, a reverse engineer predicted that this would be the case.
- The new feature may help in reducing envy and other ill-fated social effects.
<p>Somehow the concepts of 'likes,' that little counter of online social interactions, gained far too much importance in the complex web of people's lives and psyches. The less fortunate among us tie their self worth to it. Large numbers of likes spike their self worth momentarily. It often leaves people envious of those with more likes and even causes depression in those with less likes. </p><p> It's an absurd phenomenon when you get down to the root of it. It's also unhealthy. </p><p>Which is why Facebook is officially rolling out its new feature to hide like counts on posts, with the first trial run occurring on September 27th in Australia. The post's author will be able to still see the count internally, which is still an important metric for business pages, but the total overall count will be hidden from everyone. During the trial, public users will not be able to see how many people liked the post — or see who liked the post. This is to help combat 'like-envy' and mitigate herd-like behavior online.<span></span></p>
Facebook hiding Likes
<p>Facebook hiding like counts was originally spotted by reverse engineer Jane Manchun Wong. It was <a href="https://bigthink.com/politics-current-affairs/facebook-remove-likes" target="_self">predicted earlier this month</a> that Facebook was going to begin publicly testing its hidden Like features sooner than later. The new tests will be running alongside Instagram's pilot hidden Like count initiative as well, whereas Instagram began first testing it in Canada before expanding to six further countries in July. </p> <p>A Facebook spokesperson recently told TechCrunch that, "We are running a limited test where like, reaction, and video view counts are made private across Facebook. We will gather feedback to understand whether this change will improve people's experiences." </p> <p>If the test shows positive results and improves user's sense of self worth, lack of envy and increased participation on the platform, this feature could spread around the world and even one day become a central feature of the application. So far now plans for that have been revealed or talked about. </p> <p>The company's similar test on Instagram is being led by a separate team. </p> <p>The tests have proven successful in keeping users engaged and liking on Instagram and many users have reported <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/22/20699316/instagram-like-hiding-update-feedback-data-countries" target="_blank">liking the hidden counts feature.</a></p> <p>Businesses and creators on instagram are still able to view the highly detailed metrics on their dashboards and they can still track the number of likes on their posted content.</p>Competition and envy online
<p>Facebook hopes that without the looming Like counts, people will be more apt to interact with one another and care less about how their popularity is perceived by others. It also may assist in getting rid of herd mentality and letting people interact freely with content that interests them for what it is, not just for how many likes it has.</p> <p>For those more competitive minded people, they'll still be able to see the totals on their own posts, but they won't be able to compare that with others. Although, that might help them out in the long run. </p> <p>If Facebook goes through with removing Like counts everywhere and it eventually becomes the standard, it could help mitigate the negative effects that social media has on many people's self esteem.</p>
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I invested in Facebook. By 2016, I couldn’t stay silent.
Why an early Facebook investor is now Facebook's biggest critic.
10 April, 2019
- Investor Roger McNamee joined Facebook as an early investor when the company was just two years old.
- In this video, he explains why he went from Facebook supporter to public critic, and why he came to write the book "Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe".
- The next billion dollars Facebook makes means nothing if it doesn't reform its practices, says McNamee.
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Slactivism: The problem with moral outrage on the internet
Why virtue signaling does nothing.
22 July, 2018
"A big problem with moral outrage on the Internet is that it leads people to think they’ve done something when in fact they haven’t done something," says author Alice Dreger. Sure, you might get a little rush out of updating your status to say something, but all you're really doing is virtue signaling. Alice's latest book is Galileo's Middle Finger: Heretics, Activists, and One Scholar's Search for Justice.
Creation without consequence: How Silicon Valley made a hot mess of progress
At the dawn of the AI era, where decisions made now could affect the future of mankind, regulation over tech giants is needed now more than ever.
07 April, 2018
Joanna Bryson isn't a fan of companies that can't hold themselves responsible for their actions. Too many tech companies, she argues, think that they're above the law and that they should create what they want, no matter who it hurts, and have society pick up the pieces later. This libertarian attitude might be fine if the company happens to be a young startup. But if the company is a massive behemoth like Facebook that could easily manipulate 2 billion people worldwide — or influence an election, perhaps — perhaps there should be some oversight. Tech companies, she argues, could potentially create something catastrophic that they can't take back. And at the dawn of the AI era, where decisions made now could affect the future of mankind, regulation over these tech giants is needed now more than ever.
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