FACEBOOK FALLOUT
Of the adults who have heard about the Cambridge Analytica scandal, 70 percent have changed their settings or use of Facebook.
If you’ve made changes to how you use social media since Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica privacy debacle, you’re not alone.
A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that 7 out of 10 of online adults who’ve heard of the scandal — revelations that a data mining firm may have accessed the private information of some 87 million Facebook users to influence elections — have unfollowed accounts, deleted their profiles or made other changes in how they use social media.
And since 9 in 10 Americans have heard at least a little bit about Cambridge Analytica, this means the scandal has led to widespread changes in the use of social media among Americans. What’s less clear is whether these changes are permanent, and whether they will affect business at Facebook, Twitter and other social media companies.
Facebook has said that it hasn’t noticed a meaningful
decline in usage since the scandal broke and it doesn’t seem to have experienced much of an advertiser exodus, either. But that doesn’t mean the social media giant is in the clear. Some highprofile tech luminaries such as Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak have disavowed Facebook, and a “Delete-Facebook” online campaign — even if it didn’t lead to mass defections — has bruised the company’s already-battered image.
Cole Bearden, 26, a musician and liquor store employee in Nashville, said he soured on Facebook a while ago, after his parents friended him and turned his app into “a perpetual recipe video-sharing machine.”
Still, Bearden says deleting his profile won’t mean a lot unless many other Facebook users do the same.
“The real damage has been done. Our concept of open democracy has been undermined, subverted and potentially irreparably damaged,” he said.
Some people, though, were cautious long before Cambridge Analytica. Jessica Garcia, who lives in Homewood, Ill., said she was already “pretty strict” with all her settings and she uses social media (Facebook, mostly) only minimally. She doesn’t post much and stays out of politics.
Americans who have taken some action after hearing about Facebook’s recent privacy crisis include 29 percent who have deleted certain social media accounts — the most drastic step. A larger number, 38 percent, uninstalled apps on their phone, while 42 percent said they used certain platforms less often. Nearly half, 47 percent, unfollowed or unfriended certain people, and 41 percent unfollowed groups or organizations.
Forty-five percent reviewed or changed their privacy settings — something Facebook encouraged recently by sending a notice to users through their Facebook pages. First, it notified the 87 million people whose information may have been leaked to Cambridge Analytica. This week, it began sending all 2.2 billion Facebook users a more generic notice to review their settings that show what apps have access to their data.
Social media is a daily way of life for many Americans. Nearly half of Americans who use the internet say they use Facebook at least several times a day, making it easily the most popular social media site. And Facebook-owned Instagram comes in No. 2.
Another poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that 12 percent of Americans who are online use Facebook “almost constantly,” while 34 percent use it several times a day. About 15 percent use it once a day, and only 12 percent of Americans don’t have a Facebook account at all.
Jim Mazzarese, 73, a retired airline manager from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., is one senior who checks Facebook on his phone several times a day when he gets notifications. He has a love-hate relationship with the site.
“It gets me crazy when I see opinions other than mine, it gets my blood pressure going up — but it’s a lot of fun,” he said.