'Like' button

50 Things That Made the Modern Economy

BBC

Business

4.8 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 10 June 2019

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Facebook’s 'like' button is ubiquitous across the web. It’s how user data is collected, meaning adverts and newsfeeds can be targeted more effectively. Some say there’s nothing to worry about, but others point to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, suggesting how Facebook might shape our opinions. But is there something else we should be worried about? Approval from our friends and family can be addictive – so is the pursuit of “likes” on social media the reason we’re glued to our mobile phones? Tim Harford asks how should we manage our compulsions in this brave new online world.

Transcript

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0:00.0	50 Things That Made The Modern Economy With Tim Harford
0:16.4	Leopoldman draws comics, sharing her ideas on topics such as emotional literacy and self-love.
0:25.3	When she started to post them on Facebook, she discovered that her friends found them
0:29.7	healing and endearing.
0:32.2	But then, Facebook changed its algorithm, how it decides what to put in front of our
0:37.6	eyeballs.
0:38.8	If social media is a big part of your life, an algorithm change can come as a shock.
0:44.5	You might suddenly find that your content is being shown to fewer people.
0:49.2	And that's what happened to Lea.
0:51.3	Her comics started to get fewer likes.
0:54.1	She told an interviewer for vice.com, it felt like she wasn't getting enough oxygen.
0:59.4	She could pour her heart and soul into a drawing and watch as it racked up only 20 likes.
1:07.1	It's easy to empathise.
1:11.2	Social approval can be addictive.
1:13.2	And what's a Facebook like if not social approval distilled into its purest form?
1:22.0	Such as now like and ask smartphones to slot machines, they trigger the same reward
1:27.1	pathways in our brain.
1:29.0	More likes, new notifications, even an old-fashioned email.
1:33.9	We never know what we'll get when we pull a lever.
1:41.8	Faced with a sudden drop in her likes, Lea started to buy ads on Facebook.
1:47.1	That is, she started to pay Facebook so more people would see her comics.
1:52.7	She just wanted the attention, but she felt embarrassed admitting it.
	...

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