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Social Networks Businesses Facebook

Facebook Really Wants You To Come Back (bloomberg.com) 243

Posted by msmash from the desperate-measures dept.
An anonymous reader writes: The social network is getting aggressive with people who don't log in often, working to keep up its engagement numbers, Bloomberg reports. Sample this for instance: It's been about a year since Rishi Gorantala deleted the Facebook app from his phone, and the company has only gotten more aggressive in its emails to win him back. The social network started out by alerting him every few days about friends that had posted photos or made comments -- each time inviting him to click a link and view the activity on Facebook. He rarely did. Then, about once a week in September, he started to get prompts from a Facebook security customer-service address. "It looks like you're having trouble logging into Facebook," the emails would say. "Just click the button below and we'll log you in. If you weren't trying to log in, let us know." He wasn't trying. But he doesn't think anybody else was, either. "The content of mail they send is essentially trying to trick you," said Gorantala, 35, who lives in Chile. "Like someone tried to access my account so I should go and log in."
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Facebook Really Wants You To Come Back More

Facebook Really Wants You To Come Back

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  • Creepy Zuck wants all your data (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 31, 2018 @02:23PM (#56042037)

    Say no to the Silicon Valley mafia.

  • Die, Facebook, die, die, die. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Rick Schumann ( 4662797 ) on Wednesday January 31, 2018 @02:24PM (#56042045) Journal
    Maybe we get lucky and this is foreshadowing of the beginning of the end for Facebook? :-)

    • Companies the size of Facebook that really get into trouble whine at governments to bail them out.

      • There's more to it than that. (Score:5, Insightful)

        by waspleg ( 316038 ) on Wednesday January 31, 2018 @02:48PM (#56042289) Journal

        This is an NSA/CIA/FBI/ETC wet dream for spying (on Americans and otherwise). I'm sure Facebook has deep in roads with the gov't.

        I remember the old Onion article calling Zuckerberg CIA agent of the year many years ago. It's supposed to be satire but ...

        • Re:There's more to it than that. (Score:5, Funny)

          by DontBeAMoran ( 4843879 ) on Wednesday January 31, 2018 @03:01PM (#56042425)

          https://www.theonion.com/cias-... [theonion.com]

        • This is an NSA/CIA/FBI/ETC wet dream for spying (on Americans and otherwise). I'm sure Facebook has deep in roads with the gov't.

          I remember the old Onion article calling Zuckerberg CIA agent of the year many years ago. It's supposed to be satire but ...

          Is MySpace still a "wet dream" for our spy community?

          I thought not. The only way Facebook justifies value to these organizations is if they manage to keep it.

          • MySpace data and images would likely hold a great amount of value, if someone was able to correlate offensive content generated by teens, to adults and professionals, these 20ish years later.This sound like something our spy community would have interest in, to you?

        • I'm sure the government is hugely interested in that I watched Sharknado 5 yesterday and 2 of my friends sent me a like.

          Frankly I'm all for government spying. The more we can fill up their databases with completely worthless shit the more they may realise that trying to rake in everything about everyone is a losing strategy.

      • Re:Unlikely (Score:5, Insightful)

        by jwhyche ( 6192 ) on Wednesday January 31, 2018 @02:57PM (#56042373) Homepage

        How about 'kiss my ass?"

      • Re:Unlikely (Score:4, Insightful)

        by tbannist ( 230135 ) on Wednesday January 31, 2018 @03:00PM (#56042409)

        Companies the size of Facebook that really get into trouble whine at governments to bail them out.

        So a government bail out is the reason that MySpace [myspace.com] is the vibrant, innovative company that it is today?

        Perhaps my memory is slipping, but while I remember banks and manufacturing (especially car and plane manufacturing) getting bail outs, I don't remember any tech companies ever getting a government bail out...

        • How is Facebook more or less "relevant" than GM or Boeing? What's "system relevant" about these two, anyway?

      • Re:Unlikely (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Unknown User ( 4795349 ) on Wednesday January 31, 2018 @03:08PM (#56042481)
        Not very likely in this case. Advertisement companies like Facebook have no real product and are easy to replace once they're gone.

    • Re:Die, Facebook, die, die, die. (Score:5, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 31, 2018 @02:48PM (#56042293)

      Doesn't anyone remember the first few years of facebook?

      Their modus operandi was to have new users log in and provide login/password for various email or instant messenger accounts. They would then grab as many contacts as possible and spam every contact with "join facebook now!" spam.

      This went on for years, until about 2008 or so with the CAN-SPAM act. If you didn't create a facebook account the spam would continue endlessly with no option to make it stop.

      If anything facebook is merely showing their true colors once more. Look into how the site was originally set up by creating fake accounts from public profile data of female faculty members. ...but this time you've given facebook access to your smartphone contacts, phone number and heaps of other data.

      CAPTCHA: circus

    • Re:Die, Facebook, die, die, die. (Score:5, Interesting)

      by uCallHimDrJ0NES ( 2546640 ) on Wednesday January 31, 2018 @02:50PM (#56042307)

      This isn't new practice on Facebook's part. They pulled a similar pattern of mails on me when I quit using it back in 2007. I'm surprised no one else has made this comment. When I complained about this to tech industry contacts back then, I was treated like I was wearing a tinfoil hat, but now some user experiences the same thing and an article gets written for a major news outlet. If you apply the rule that fear sells news, I guess this means that people are finally starting to be afraid of what they are "sharing" on voluntary surveillance media. Whoops, I mean, social media. Sorry.

    • Facebook is dead already (well it's all down from here).

      Facebook became irrelevant as soon as "parents" started using it.

  • It took me 2 years to get off Facebook (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 31, 2018 @02:24PM (#56042047)
    Yes, 2 years to get off FB and finally stop receiving their junk emails. Get a life by getting off FB.

    • Re:It took me 2 years to get off Facebook (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Sperbels ( 1008585 ) on Wednesday January 31, 2018 @03:00PM (#56042411)
      It was fairly easy for me. I changed my real name to my initials. They had a real name only policy (not sure if they still do) so they banned my account for using a fake name. I haven't received an email from them since.

      • Re:It took me 2 years to get off Facebook (Score:5, Interesting)

        by PKFC ( 580410 ) <pkfc@@@hotmail...com> on Wednesday January 31, 2018 @03:29PM (#56042621)

        Confirmed. My name was changed to Jus D'Orange because I got bored. Years later they bust me for it. Require me to change my name before I can log in again. Bam: "Jus de Pomme". Week later banned and now need to upload a government issued ID to confirm my name.... oh hell no.

        Only problem is: I can't log in to be able to delete my account. I'm sure that password will get breached eventually (not sure if I can even change it in the current state), but the ID requirement will be there protecting my account.

        Terms of service say I can't create a new account to circumvent a ban so yeah

        • Re:It took me 2 years to get off Facebook (Score:4, Interesting)

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 31, 2018 @03:42PM (#56042731)
          I have a similar problem with MySpace. I want to delete all my stuff (and maybe try to delete my account if it's an option) but whenever I try to log in, it won't let me proceed unless I agree to new ToS. I want out but I can't say No without saying Yes first.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by Chryana ( 708485 )

          I wouldn't be so sure. Someone managed to register a Facebook account under my primary email some time back, I'm not sure how. I learned of it because I kept getting email notices from Facebook in some southeast Asia tongue. I was able to do a takeover of the account by asking for an email password reset. I was unable to complete the login though, because they kept asking me for my birth date, which had been decided by the attacker, and I was told to send a government ID to be granted access. I kept trying

        • Week later banned and now need to upload a government issued ID to confirm my name.... oh hell no.

          I'm sorry, but - WHAT!? You are supposed to provide your drivers license or equivalent to Facebook before they deign to let you use their service again? Is this some sort of IQ test, and if you do it, you fail?

          I thought I was too cynical and too negative to be surprised any more, but holy crap, this, I didn't see coming!

      • I did something similar back in the day.

        Using a popular link, I added 500 Friends in one day.

        Facebook sent me a warning shot telling me I couldn't possibly know that many people.

        I added another 500 Friends the next day.

        BOOM!

        Blocked.

        That was ten years ago.

        To this day, that email cannot be used to create a Facebook account.

        I have a fake account. I let my family know who I was and they added me.

        I've been using that account so long, FB probably knows who I am.

    • I closed my account about 3 years ago and never heard another word from them beyond the 30 days later "we're really going to delete your account if you don't come back!" email.

      If people are leaving their accounts dormant, what do they expect? Either get off it or don't, stop pussyfooting around!

    • After a bunch of Click on the link to reset your password, I decided *NOT to reset it, and left it at that. Suddenly I could have more time for more useful pursuits.
      I was one of those that believed that so-n-so got this really hot tech job by nearly stalking online one of the HR generalists to find out who's who in that guy's friends list -- until I decided I am not that desperate for a job.
      I got my life back, and I did not need to see what my friends had for dinner at such and such restaurant; neither did

  • MySpace never cut me off, and I haven't logged in there in a decade.

    I'm coming back MySpace, so turn the light back on!

  • Does anybody still have a MySpace account?

  • Delete your account (Score:5, Insightful)

    by rl117 ( 110595 ) <rleigh@cOPENBSDodelibre.net minus bsd> on Wednesday January 31, 2018 @02:30PM (#56042113) Homepage
    I got one of these last year. It was a good reminder to log in and completely delete my account for good, after not using it for several years. I did the same for Google+ just last week. I came to the realisation that while superficially convenient, they weren't adding much value to my life and were in many respects a net negative. Facebook in particular had become a cesspool of irrelevant time-wasting nonsense. Finally deleting them all felt quite liberating. Like I'm no longer being spied on by super creepy people, though I'm sure they'll still try their best to track me.
    • I don't use it, but I still have a Facebook account. I've found that it actually is a reasonably slick Rolodex only I don't need to maintain the information. Occasionally I find it convenient when I want to look up a distant relative or an old classmate's contact information and call them up. The rest of it is, as you say, a bunch of time-wasting nonsense.

      • Right. I have an account to be able to check in with relatives and friends to see something they have posted (and email me about), and there are a couple of organizations I belong to that use Facebook for group activity (messaging, blogging) that I check in with, and a few performers I "liked" to boost their careers. But that is all. I have never posted anything to Facebook, ever.

    • Facebook in particular had become a cesspool of irrelevant time-wasting nonsense. Finally deleting them all felt quite liberating.

      This says more about your friends (or "friends" if you prefer) than it does about Facebook as a platform.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by rl117 ( 110595 )
        It was more the irrelevant crap Facebook started pushing to keep your attention than anything else. And I found it increasingly creepy. Overall, I didn't find it a net positive in my life, and I didn't think it was particularly good for my mental health either.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by paazin ( 719486 )
      Indeed, precisely the same thing happened to me (they even claimed the IP was originating from Taiwan) but then when I authenticated this "invalid attempt" somehow vanished.

      Thanks Zuckerberg, was a great reminder to delete the account!

  • Oh no! Better safe than sorry! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Wednesday January 31, 2018 @02:30PM (#56042123)

    Dear Facebook,

    That wasn't me trying to log in. Better delete the account right now, lest you have some fake profiles again. Better safe than sorry, delete it NOW, NOW, NOW!

  • Not the only company (Score:3, Interesting)

    by TheInternet01 ( 5046241 ) on Wednesday January 31, 2018 @02:34PM (#56042155)

    I've seen other companies try to use security scares to get you to log back in, like ubisoft.

    If your account isn't locked out then it's likely just pr scam to get you to remember their services and login again. They wonder why people are alert and ad overloaded and don't respond to things, even ones that matter, because all the shady scamming crap from 'trusted companies' is fake.

    Security alerts used to mean something, and people shouldn't ignore them, but they've started to since companies are abusing that content.

  • Alternatives are good enough (Score:4, Interesting)

    by butchersong ( 1222796 ) on Wednesday January 31, 2018 @02:37PM (#56042179)
    I never used facebook very much and got a similar email recently. Honestly, I prefer Minds. The community is small enough that I don't have to deal with the vitriol of random relatives in my feeds or 1k friend requests as soon as I create an account..
  • So I rarely login, but I've never received a message a security message - most likely someone is either intentionally or accidentally attempting to log in as you. The other ones you can just unsubscribe from.

  • FB was nice 10 years ago, we re-fond old friends, exchanged words and pictures, but now my FB feed is ads and useless articles, less and less real people posts things. I scroll my feed the morning for 1 minute and that's it. It looks like it's dying and FB has limited growth (1.5 billion people on it).
    With families and friends we have groups in Messenger and are using it way more than FB, but the application became a behemot and now, with ads, so at one time we wil have to change this. Techies easily can sw

    • Use iMessage or Google Hangouts for your discussion threads. Both work better than Facebook Messenger.

  • Facebook Becomes The Jealous Girlfriend (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 31, 2018 @02:44PM (#56042243)

    Stopped going on Facebook after being out of the country for a couple weeks without internet access. Facebook turns into the crazy jealous girlfriend, sending countless emails to you.

    It's been a while since you've been here. Come back....
    Why haven't you checked your feed lately?
    Your friend did this thing. You should really look at it!
    Something happened. You should really come see us and find out what.
    Why aren't you checking these things!? You're missing out!
    WHERE ARE YOU AND WHY ARE YOU IGNORING US!!?!?!?

  • What really sucks about FB (Score:4, Interesting)

    by future assassin ( 639396 ) on Wednesday January 31, 2018 @02:44PM (#56042251)

    is if you really want to find local underground/niche music events/raves or even some general music most of the promotion now happens on FB or unless you really hang around/are friends with the people in the industry. Pretty fucking silly if you ask me

    • What kind of fucking sentence is that?

      Is that how they communicate on Facebook?

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by tepples ( 727027 )

        Let me try to rephrase it in more standard English:

        What I find frustrating about Facebook is that if you really want to find local underground or niche music shows, or even music in general, most of the promotion now happens on Facebook. Anyone who isn't friends with people in the industry is left out.

    • Why does this suck about Facebook? They have exactly what you're looking for all in one place.

    • Pretty fucking silly if you ask me

      Much cheaper, access the vast majority of your target market more easily, wider reach... Just because they lose the odd customer or two doesn't make it silly. They would stick with it as a primary promotion medium if it wasn't working far better for them than their previous methods.

  • but when a local newspaper does not like the comments you post on their stupid, racist stories, they block your Facebook account for 30 days.

  • AOL CDs in the mail are the next logical step (Score:3)

    by sinij ( 911942 ) on Wednesday January 31, 2018 @03:22PM (#56042581)
    AOL-like CDs in the mail are the next logical step in escalating this.

  • Because the USA far more than Russia with my information.

  • ...why I will never, ever have a Facebook account.

  • I don't know if using GMail is up this guy's alley, but if you click the "Spam" button on these, they will disappear quickly.

  • Huge middle finger to you, Facebook (Score:4, Interesting)

    by OneHundredAndTen ( 1523865 ) on Wednesday January 31, 2018 @04:01PM (#56042859)
    I'll carry on using Facebook for the only thing it is useful to me: to sign in easily into sites that require me to sign in before I can participate. I couldn't care less what kind of garbage populates my Facebook account afterwards. I do not log into explicitly anyway. That's what Facebook is good for: as a trash bin.

    • For any site where I don’t care about having my own login, BugMeNot is the easier way to log in. For any site where I want my own login, it’s worth doing the one-time registration and then putting it into my password manager.

  • "Looks like you are trying to log in". I just assumed some kid was trying to access my account and, frankly, didn't even care. I have 1 friend on Facebook (my wife) and I use it to view local news, kid activities and a couple hobbies. It's a aggregator, just like ./ or reddit for me.
  • Must be a Russian bot trying to log in as me.

  • Don't use one email address (Score:5, Informative)

    by MobyDisk ( 75490 ) on Wednesday January 31, 2018 @04:16PM (#56042955) Homepage

    This is why I use a different email address for every service. If you don't have your own domain, then use one of the many services that let you do this easily. Then you can just delete the email address when companies like Facebook start spamming you. It also lets you know who is selling your email address to advertisers.

  • It's funny, but these emails have a real air of desperation about them. It's this very air of desperation that puts me off checking them.

    That and learning that when I do follow through that it's never anything I'm interested in. Facebook is just so out of touch, and everything they do just discourages me more and more.

    Why do people feel the need to continuously broadcast to all and sundry every random and banal moment or thought in their lives? If Facebook could filter this out, and all the sponsored and

  • Facebook's nagging reminds me of the insane girlfriend [google.com]

  • The more you tighten your grip, the more ... will slip through your fingers.

    I finally gave up playing the FB game. I haven't posted. I haven't liked anything. I haven't read any shares in couple months now. I've been tempted to post, but I always stop short of pressing the button. I just look at the pictures that my friends who haven't figured out Instagram post.

    Nothing drove home more how much of a game it was when a friend tried to shame me recently for not wishing him happy birthday on FB. For years I sent him, and several other friends (email) birthday wishes on their birthda

  • Facebook wants me to use facebook.

    I want all of Facebooks upper management to commit slow sepuku using chainsaws.

    I guess we can't get everything we want in life.

  • I visit FB once every couple of months (over the last three years -- I dislike some FB policies so I've moved on to other sites.) And yes, I've been getting emails about Friends' actions etc, which is OK. What TFA says though is new, and definitely underhanded, "trouble logging in" does suggest attempted misuse by dastardly hackerz; Zuck is sinking to a new low. BTW, no chance I would ever use a Facebook app on a smartphone; go in with a browser (and may I suggest you too have 5 or 6 of them lying about, e

  • 1. Go and delete all your posts. Don't hide them, delete them.
    2. Leave any groups, other than your direct family.
    3. Unfollow any pages and any groups and any people, in that order.
    4. Wait 72 hours.
    5. Unfriend all your friends, in batches of less than 10 percent of all friends. Leave your family for last.
    6. Specifically deny any pending friend requests, in batches of 100 or less.
    7. Wait 72 hours.
    8. Delete any tags in any pics you have still.
    9. Delete the pics themselves, starting with those with your face in

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