Thursday, 17 November 2016

Facebook buys tool that tracks how stories spread #18

Facebook buys tool that tracks how stories spread



Considering that half of all Americans get their news from facebook this was an important investment for the media company. 'Crowdtangle' the analytical service that detects the most shared stories on a website and surfaces them to be on peoples pages. In another story facebook was accused of influencing the 2016 presidential election with their algorithmic system but this new 'spontaneous' change in system could be a way of making sure people see a range of stories that are popular and reflect both sides of an argument.

I believe that this new move to crowdtangle is because of the criticism about facebook influencing the election result, despite saying this was not true facebook still purchased this software which makes significant difference to what news stories appear on peoples pages. Some would argue that this is a way of controlling what people see on their pages although some would say this is a good thing as it opens people up to different sides of arguments.

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