Facebook essentials for a safer community

Saffron Edge

Sep 8, 2020

5 min read

Social media applications, especially Facebook, have become crucial to mark your presence in the digitally powered world. However, our digital presence is somewhat affecting our real-life presence and sense of reality. The line between the real and online world is increasingly thinning. Platforms like Facebook have helped the community and world grow multifold, there are certain values and convenience to their services. Although, the convenience has led to some people using it for callous means. Now, this where it becomes important to understand why were these platforms established and how can we contribute towards building a safer community online.

Facebook for the world

Facebook has been on the road to transformation for well over ten months now. They have made several changes to their core functions designed for marketing ease. These changes were made keeping in view the recent scandals and strive towards better transparency, privacy, and user experience. Some of the changes that significantly altered the Facebook universe are-

Content recognition algorithms

Facebook has changed its content recognition algorithms to shift its focus toward meaningful interactions. The focus has been shifted from generic brand content to content generated by the friends of a user. This has changed the marketing dynamics on Facebook notably. Brands are now bidding to generate more user engagement to get their posts trending. Another plus of sophisticated content recognition algorithms is that it’ll help in filtering spams like clickbait.

Limit number of ads run by a page

Facebook has decreased the number of ads a page can run simultaneously. Although a considerable change, it will only affect a small percentage of pages because the upper limit is still pretty high. Most of the pages, as claimed by Facebook, will not even notice the change. However, this has increased the power of content by getting brands to focus on content efficiency and quality rather than quantity. Simply put, they have reduced the content generation limit to increase the quality of content.

Features for Creator Studio

Creator Studio was launched a couple of years ago and has helped a lot of content creators to map the efficiency of their content. Facebook has now launched another fascinating feature to help increase the efficiency of video content. Creators can now view the average time spent by users on their videos. They have also changed the video ranking algorithms to increase engagement.

Ad disclosure

This is another feature that has remarkably shifted the marketing dynamics as now users can see why they are being targeted for specific ads. This has increased the transparency in dealings and pushed consumers towards relevant content.

Education feature

Facebook has rolled out Education Hub to help students, parents, and teachers with educational resources. It also includes a digital literacy programme to help students with remote learning.

Enhanced accessibility

Facebook, already being one of the most accessible platforms is working on increasing it even more. They have debugged several keyboard commands, increased readability with scalable font, added contextual headings, and much more to enhance user experience. They have also put out several notification settings to make it easier for users to get updates from their desired pages. As rightly said by Malcolm Gladwell, “Platforms are only as socially useful as their owners want them to be.” Now, what is being done by Facebook to counter the threats to humanity? They have placed policies to combat harmful conduct, they are using advanced tech to monitor feeds and posts to weed out the problems, and they have enabled the users to report any objectionable content. However, the problem still persists and it cannot be blamed on Facebook. It is also the responsibility of a user to take into consideration the guidelines set by the platform. It is crucial to abide by these to maintain communal harmony and peace.

Facebook for us

While Facebook is doing everything it can to protect us, don’t you think we should do the same to protect our community? Our community is safer and more accountable when people take responsibility for their actions and opinions. This is why it is imperative to abide by the following guidelines set by Facebook-

It starts out with our profile-
- Always use given name or the name you use in everyday life to create an authentic profile
- Provide accurate information in the necessary fields. With most of our information being optional to submit, it is on the user to fill them out. In case you choose to, always put down authentic information.
Create a single account- It is necessary to create only one account per person and you can create pages for your socials or businesses from your account.
Never share your password with anyone or give access to your profile. Facebook accounts are non-transferable and can only be transferred or operated by other individuals after obtaining permission from Facebook.

Facebook is globally available to everyone with certain exceptions put forth for the safety of an individual and the community. Facebook is accessible to all except the following-

Individuals under the age of 13 or as per the minimum legal age set by the country they are citizens of.
Individuals who are convicted of sexual offences.
Individuals whose Facebook accounts were previously disabled due to violations of Terms and Policies of the platform.
Individuals who are prohibited from using services provided by Facebook under applicable laws.

It is the civic duty of every user to understand and maintain the decorum set by the platform they are active on. With increasing cases of cyberbullying, it is we who need to protect ourselves and the community. At Saffron Edge, we ensure our readers are updated with crucial changes taking place in their favourite social media platforms. Our experienced social media experts are well versed with the latest news and are constantly upgrading their marketing certifications. Ads on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram are the future of marketing and it is imperative for all marketers to be up-to-date with their evolving guidelines.