Facebook is like a jar of jelly beans, once you see them you have to open them up and immediately have one post or one jelly bean. Suddenly you can’t stop yourself and you need more funny memes, pictures of friends or suggested posts. Much like a sweet jelly bean, you’re seduced by the colorful content and you want more. However, deep in the back of your mind you know it’s not healthy for you, one is full of empty calories and the other fills your empty time. The big difference between the two, is you can hide jelly beans to avoid them, whereas Facebook keeps calling you back with notifications and promises of news from your friends. 

Working in advertising, I know some of the many tricks Facebook uses to encourage people to scroll and come back for more. I actually pay Facebook and rely on them to keep up this practice. When putting together a new campaign, my sales team always asks me these same questions: What’s the best way to get customers to our stores? What’s the best way to reach our specific target audience? How can we get the most ROI and not pay for wasteful clicks? Facebook has risen to the top in all of these categories. It would be irresponsible of me to spend my company’s money elsewhere. 

How does Facebook do it? Easy, people willingly give them a plethora of their data without even knowing it. With every like, click or swipe, Facebook is gathering data. From there, “it’s their algorithms that suggest the news we read, the goods we buy, the paths we travel, the friends we invite into our circles.” With this data, they serve content in your newsfeed that they think will keep you continuously scrolling. 

Another way we give Facebook information is by simply accepting website’s “cookies”. Remember when you were searching for a new pair of sneakers on Google and later that day you checked your Facebook account only to find ads featuring the Nikes you were looking at? Then you asked yourself, how did they know? We are leaving a crumb trail on the internet for companies to pick up and advertise to you through Facebook and other forms of media. The more time you spend scrolling, the better it is for tech companies’ ad revenues.

Just like jelly beans, there are unhealthy side effects to our endless consumption. When Facebook starts to feed users information, only one side of the story is served. Eli Pariser calls this the “Filter bubble” and it’s “how Facebook mines our data to keep giving us the news and information we crave, creating a feedback loop that pushes us deeper and deeper into our own amen corners.” Due to users only seeing news posts that Facebook thinks will appeal to them, the opposite side of the story is seldom shown. 

A prime example of Facebook spreading fabricated news can be seen at the beginning of the Covid-19 epidemic. Users seeking information were served all sorts of misinformation including rumors that the virus was created in a Wuhan lab as a bioweapon or drinks containing mint and spices would cure the disease. The director-general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghreyesus, called this spread of misinformation the “coronavirus infodemic.”  In any news story it is up to us to seek more reliable sources and make our own judgements.

As an advertiser, I know we all need to tread lightly on Facebook but it is essential to keep in mind that it is only another form of entertainment. Personally, I enjoy reading what my friends are thinking and seeing “first day of school” pictures. However, I refuse to read any news articles and I block any “friend” who posts political propaganda. If I didn’t need to see important information regarding my kids’ school or their Girl Scout group information, I would consider deleting my Facebook account. Much in the same way I love jelly beans, I know it’s not good for me and I must enjoy it in small quantities. As the saying goes, everything in moderation.