FACEBOOK has been receiving tremendous criticism.
As the world’s leading social media site, it has been branded as one of the most visible fronts in the spread of false news. One of the things it is trying to do is to create a trustworthiness user score very similar to China’s infamous social credit scoring system.
Currently, the social media giant’s current program relies on its users to flag problematic posts, which include, but are not limited to, misinformed and malicious content. The problem with this lies with the users themselves since certain posts are often flagged simply because they don’t agree with it.
Now, Facebook is pursuing a zero to one trustworthiness rating scale that takes into account various behavioral data. However, the company has yet to respond on which behavioral indicators it will consider and the implications this will mean for a user’s privacy.
Meanwhile, Facebook is trying to use its user base to expand to new markets. Now it is unveiling its counterpart to YouTube and Netflix by introducing a video service.
Facebook now hosts millions of video content, and many people use it to stream live videos. Now it has introduced also a service called Watch, which will be offering original shows and interactive videos.
It owns Instagram, and it also made popular a service that it is copying from Snapchat. Called Instagram Stories, people can post pictures, and videos which will disappear after 24 hours. Although the tech industry prizes innovation, everybody really cannot avoid copying each other’s success.
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Here is one innovation that is focused on a very specific cultural issue.
Japan is a country that puts emphasis on the culture of hard work and responsibility, as well as relationships. The culture also emphasizes that the Japanese worker should not refuse to do overtime, or various demands of the workplace. In most cases, Japanese employees also are reluctant to be absent and many of them do not use their vacation leaves even if they are entitled to.
In return, the company takes care of the employees very well. This has resulted in many employees feeling they are trapped in a company where they do not have the temerity to tell their employer that they would like to quit.
One innovative startup called Exit is aimed at assisting Japanese employees inform the management of their desire to resign. Employees pay up to more than P20,000 to use the service just to inform their company of this.
One thing I’m sure is it won’t work in the Philippines. It is hard to imagine any Filipinos who wants to pay for the service. Many of them actually don’t hesitate to go AWOL once they are convinced the company is no longer an important part of their career. I guess some startup ideas will only work only on specific cultures.