Google From 'Forge Me' To 'Forget Me', Facebook From Emoticons To Emotics

Facebook doesn't stop at asking you in which mood you feel, it wants to decide how you should feel (see "Facebook reveals news feed experiment to control emotions" - The Guardian - 20140630). You don't chose your emoticon, the platform embeds one into your own mind. "Emotics" as the ultimate marketing/propaganda tool: I want you to feel thirsty before this ad for Coke, I want you to feel insecure before we beef up our intrusive security systems, I want you to feel sympathy or aversion for this industrial or religious lobby before lawmakers convene, I want you to feel good/bad about this candidate before the elections...

Guess what, Facebook remains a media with a clear editorial line: to make money, we'll do whatever it takes, and with such an amoral leader as Mark Zuckerberg, you'll never know how far (low) we can go. For example to open up new markets like, say, China.

Europe has already forced Google to propose a "Forget Me" function for those who want to opt out of the standard "Forge Me" treatment. So the ideal of that other pervasive, blue, big brother may not be totally dead yet.

mot-bile 2014