...is mostly anti-Trump. I don't recall ads promoting the tax cut bill...

I’ve been trying to explain that to people for a long time.

You get to use Facebook for free, becuse they are not selling a service to you.

They are selling you to others. Your data, and how to sell to you.

Selling political ideas is the same as selling a product or service. Hell, at its core politicians and political ideas are a service in many ways, so it sell just the same.

The only difference between TV and Facebook is every day you use Facebook every single click you make gives them data to better know you and build a profile to target you with.

WHile you can target based on the show/time/channel, it doesn't get into specifics like FB can.

One of the problems in large markets is that specific neighborhoods couldn't be targeted. But the cable companies are developing ways to break down large markets like NY and target at least down to the county level.

And as more television goes to internet, rather than channels, this will develop further.

Especially when it come to reaching cord-cutting younger voters.

I very rarely watch TV (as I cut the cord). The few times I have in the last 4 years have been at hotels or my parents' house.

TV can be more effective in some ways. But facebook is MUCH more targeted.


And I'll claim Facebook is much better at persuasion. Advertisers like it a lot.
To see that, just look at its stock value.

Facebook market cap: $450 billion.
Time warner (CNN parent) market cap: $75 billion.

Which is semi-targeted depending on the show/channel/time, Facebook ads are microtargeted. Magazines used to be the most highly targeted form of media, but the internet changed that.

If you want to reach people who 'like' Barack Obama, Victoria's Secret, and Wonder Woman between the ages of 27 and 30 in a single zip code, you are able to.

(Note-- likes are based on the person liking the FB page).

The ad targeting that happens on Facebook is simply a microcosm of what happens all over the internet every time you visit a different page. Including your activity here on DU.

You've discovered the 75 year old concept of commercial branding by targeting specific demographics.

Amazing.

I was axing my bookface account but didn't want to leave a legacy profile once I deleted it, so I tinkered with my profile. Originally, my likes were of liberal politicials, social movements and liberal-ish activities. Of course my ads followed suit.

Then I deleted all my likes and re-liked the spectrum of everything my antithesis from Fox News to the NRA to Ted Nugent for President. Hopefully these data obscure my digital persona in such a way that I become a statistical outlier.

It also renders my bookface so repulsive to look at that I haven't been back but a few times since changing. It's like a heavy dose of antabuse.

I'll let thap profile sit for a while and become established, then permanently delete.

When something stupid is posted, we feel the need to respond. In effect, that only emboldens the stupid.

If left to their own arguments and own discussions, they would die in darkness. They thrive on the opposing arguments. They gather their racism and prejudices in groups to fight the evil liberals and the "deep state". But, if left to their own devices, they would crumble into pieces from lack of rationality or logic.

We should have confidence in our own positions and not feel the need to convert "friends" or whomever may be posting on Facebook.

Finally, people are not always who we thought them to be. Old "friends" have changed over the years. The choice is to cut them loose or never discuss politics in their presence.

My hope is that their arguments are so weak that they will die a slow agonizing death on the Internet.

Your Facebook is no different than anyone else’s. You are being insulated from reality in one way or another with FB. I implore people to give up Facebook in the name of freedom.

I have read about the information Google collects and it is scary.

Facebook is not the only demon we face.