• Contact
  • About
  • Authors
DONATE
NEWSLETTER SIGN UP
  • Login
Yorkshire Bylines
  • Home
  • News
    • All
    • Brexit
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Home Affairs
    • Transport
    • World
    Emmanuel Macron

    French parliamentary elections 2022: shockwaves across the Channel

    Rail strikes

    Millions affected by biggest rail strike action in 30 years

    cost of living march london

    Trade union movement marches to demand better

    European Union

    After the seismic shocks of Brexit and Covid, what next for the European Union?

    Eurovision 2022 stage - photo by Michael Doherty on Wikimedia Commons licensed by CC BY-SA 4.0

    What does Ukraine’s Eurovision win tell us about the politics of solidarity?

    Refugee Week

    Refugee week: a chance to celebrate refugees

    Yorkshire cows

    British farmers are being offered a lump sum payment to leave the industry – but at what cost to agriculture?

    Julian Assange

    Julian Assange’s extradition given the green light by the UK home secretary

    RSPB heritage event

    RSPB heritage event to tell the story of the Dearne Valley, from coal face to wild place

    Trending Tags

    • Johnson
    • Coronavirus
    • Labour
    • Starmer
    • NI Protocol
    • Brexit
    • Culture
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Home Affairs
    • Transport
    • World
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Culture
    • Dance
    • Food
    • Music
    • Poetry
    • Recipes
    • Sport
    Nostell Priory, Wakefield

    Glastonbury? What’s Glastonbury? When the music world came to Wakefield

    Headingley Cricket Stadium

    A view from the Roses match: is everything ‘rosey’ in English cricket?

    Bettys' Fat Rascals

    Scallywags, scoundrels and rascals abound in Yorkshire (we do like our scones)

    'Woke' beliefs

    Woke and proud: Compassion must never be allowed to go out of fashion

    Eurovision 2022 stage - photo by Michael Doherty on Wikimedia Commons licensed by CC BY-SA 4.0

    What does Ukraine’s Eurovision win tell us about the politics of solidarity?

    Red Ladder

    Climbing the Red Ladder – bringing theatre to the community

    Kaiser Chiefs in Doncaster

    Kaiser Chiefs never miss a beat in Doncaster

    Bradford Council leader Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, second from right, is joined by Keighley Creative representatives, from left, Georgina Webster, Jan Smithies and Gemma Hobbs.

    Bradford announced as City of Culture 2025

    Queen cakes fit for a Queen

    Queen Cakes fit for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

    • Food
    • Music
    • Poetry
    • Sport
  • Business
    • All
    • Economy
    • Technology
    • Trade
    Freya Osment from Northern Gas Networks

    International Women in Engineering Day 2022

    Rail strikes

    Millions affected by biggest rail strike action in 30 years

    conservative party

    The Conservative Party: fiscally irresponsible and ideologically incapable of addressing the current crises

    Yorkshire cows

    British farmers are being offered a lump sum payment to leave the industry – but at what cost to agriculture?

    cost-of-living-crisis-in-voluntary-sector

    Cost-of-living crisis looming for the voluntary sector

    Money on the floor - £20 notes

    The huge cost of Brexit is being seriously understated

    Financial problems

    Surge in bad debt and late payments indicate mounting business distress in Yorkshire

    An evening photo tour of Drax power station near Selby, North Yorkshire, with excellent light towards sunset.

    Winter blackouts and rationing for six million homes as government plans for disruption to energy supply

    Jar with money cascading out of it

    Boosterism doesn’t put food on the table

    Trending Tags

      • Economy
      • Technology
      • Trade
    • Region
    No Result
    View All Result
    • Home
    • News
      • All
      • Brexit
      • Education
      • Environment
      • Health
      • Home Affairs
      • Transport
      • World
      Emmanuel Macron

      French parliamentary elections 2022: shockwaves across the Channel

      Rail strikes

      Millions affected by biggest rail strike action in 30 years

      cost of living march london

      Trade union movement marches to demand better

      European Union

      After the seismic shocks of Brexit and Covid, what next for the European Union?

      Eurovision 2022 stage - photo by Michael Doherty on Wikimedia Commons licensed by CC BY-SA 4.0

      What does Ukraine’s Eurovision win tell us about the politics of solidarity?

      Refugee Week

      Refugee week: a chance to celebrate refugees

      Yorkshire cows

      British farmers are being offered a lump sum payment to leave the industry – but at what cost to agriculture?

      Julian Assange

      Julian Assange’s extradition given the green light by the UK home secretary

      RSPB heritage event

      RSPB heritage event to tell the story of the Dearne Valley, from coal face to wild place

      Trending Tags

      • Johnson
      • Coronavirus
      • Labour
      • Starmer
      • NI Protocol
      • Brexit
      • Culture
      • Education
      • Environment
      • Home Affairs
      • Transport
      • World
    • Politics
    • Opinion
    • Lifestyle
      • All
      • Culture
      • Dance
      • Food
      • Music
      • Poetry
      • Recipes
      • Sport
      Nostell Priory, Wakefield

      Glastonbury? What’s Glastonbury? When the music world came to Wakefield

      Headingley Cricket Stadium

      A view from the Roses match: is everything ‘rosey’ in English cricket?

      Bettys' Fat Rascals

      Scallywags, scoundrels and rascals abound in Yorkshire (we do like our scones)

      'Woke' beliefs

      Woke and proud: Compassion must never be allowed to go out of fashion

      Eurovision 2022 stage - photo by Michael Doherty on Wikimedia Commons licensed by CC BY-SA 4.0

      What does Ukraine’s Eurovision win tell us about the politics of solidarity?

      Red Ladder

      Climbing the Red Ladder – bringing theatre to the community

      Kaiser Chiefs in Doncaster

      Kaiser Chiefs never miss a beat in Doncaster

      Bradford Council leader Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, second from right, is joined by Keighley Creative representatives, from left, Georgina Webster, Jan Smithies and Gemma Hobbs.

      Bradford announced as City of Culture 2025

      Queen cakes fit for a Queen

      Queen Cakes fit for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

      • Food
      • Music
      • Poetry
      • Sport
    • Business
      • All
      • Economy
      • Technology
      • Trade
      Freya Osment from Northern Gas Networks

      International Women in Engineering Day 2022

      Rail strikes

      Millions affected by biggest rail strike action in 30 years

      conservative party

      The Conservative Party: fiscally irresponsible and ideologically incapable of addressing the current crises

      Yorkshire cows

      British farmers are being offered a lump sum payment to leave the industry – but at what cost to agriculture?

      cost-of-living-crisis-in-voluntary-sector

      Cost-of-living crisis looming for the voluntary sector

      Money on the floor - £20 notes

      The huge cost of Brexit is being seriously understated

      Financial problems

      Surge in bad debt and late payments indicate mounting business distress in Yorkshire

      An evening photo tour of Drax power station near Selby, North Yorkshire, with excellent light towards sunset.

      Winter blackouts and rationing for six million homes as government plans for disruption to energy supply

      Jar with money cascading out of it

      Boosterism doesn’t put food on the table

      Trending Tags

        • Economy
        • Technology
        • Trade
      • Region
      No Result
      View All Result
      Yorkshire Bylines
      No Result
      View All Result
      Home Business

      Is Facebook conning its advertisers?

      Is Facebook giving its advertisers the run-around by counting fake and/or unsuitable demographics just to make its numbers look better?

      Jimmy AndrexbyJimmy Andrex
      03-11-2021 11:07
      in Business, Technology
      "You've been Zucked" Facebook adversising photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

      "You've been Zucked" Facebook adversising photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

      132
      VIEWS
      Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
      ADVERTISEMENT

      Q: How does Facebook make money? A: From advertising. Evidence of this is on my feed. Facebook have worked out that I’m vulnerable to stupidly expensive clothes so long as they’re ethically sourced. They also believe I want to buy a pair of jeans specially designed for cycling that cost A HUNDRED AND FIFTY QUID!!!!!

      I don’t, but that’s metadata for you.

      Mind you, I do want one of them coats Gareth Southgate had on at the Euros. Even though they’re two hundred quid and even though the website admits the model is six foot three with a 32-inch waist. I’m not.

      What sort of businesses advertise on Facebook?

      All of these ads are from relatively small firms looking to sell to left-leaning middle-aged wannabe fashion victims such as myself. Bless ‘em. 

      They’re not alone. According to Deutsche Bank, 75 percent of Facebook advertising is from small businesses. With local newspapers dying out, if you’re looking to reach people, a ten quid, seven-day boosted post will reach about a thousand people and, best of all, you can specify your demographic.

      I’ve used targeted Facebook advertising myself to promote events with which I’ve been involved. For instance, over the summer, I performed at Ventnor Fringe on the Isle of Wight and bought a ten pound ad for my spoken word show about universal basic income. 

      As you can imagine, this was never likely to attract a mass audience. My average audience is about a dozen, (over twice the average for the Edinburgh Fringe I might add), and, given I’m in Yorkshire, I’m unlikely to put posters up in local shops. I did try though.

      However, I was able to target people in specific Isle of Wight towns who were interested in poetry and social equality. A leap of faith was involved that there were actually people on the Isle of Wight who fitted these criteria. 

      How well did my advertising work?

      In the end, over seven hundred people viewed my promotional video and my audience numbered twenty-odd, though I am related to about eight of them. Success, I say.

      Since then, I’ve taken out several more ads but have noticed something odd lately.

      The ads have started to get negative responses in the form of meme-based reactions from what look like fake accounts. 

      Here’s one. 

      Meme of a barren landscape saying "group photo of everyone who cares"

      One successful ‘engagement’. Worth the money? All a bit meta, if you ask me.

      Fair enough, that’s showbiz, you might say, but given that the target audience for the ad was a spoken word event in Wakefield about the climate crisis, how come it ended up in the feed of a bloke in Hampshire with pictures of tanks and Captain Tom on his profile picture? If he’s real, it’s not surprising he didn’t fancy my event.

      Given the super-abundance of fake accounts, I took a look at the guy’s profile and there was nothing to suggest he had any friends, family or job. All the posts were shares or memes involving a picture of a desert and responses along the lines of “Who cares?”

      What can advertisers do if they think responses are fake?

      I reported the account to Facebook and their response was that there was nothing in the account to suggest he’d broken their rules. Ironically, a friend of mine promoting a Yorkshire event with the same audience criteria got a similar response from the same account a week after his own account had been suspended on suspicion of itself being a fake account!

      What this suggests is that either Facebook doesn’t care about fake accounts, or that they boost their engagement numbers by sending ads to profiles that are either fake or inappropriate. Or both. What’s doubly ironic is that, a few years ago, before they altered their algorithms to monetise content, Facebook was a really effective way of getting bums on seats at events.

      It also brings the question of whether governments should legislate to ban anonymity into clearer focus. Some (me included with my moniker), are understandably reluctant to give photo ID to an organisation with such a poor reputation. On the other hand, we all give away so much data already that it wouldn’t make any difference and might make the world a better place. 

      As for me, my next appearance is sold out, so my tank-loving friend in Hampshire (or it might be the Isle of Wight, hard to tell from the photos), needn’t worry.

      Mind you, if his town wants a spoken word event, he now knows where I am.

      ADVERTISEMENT
      Previous Post

      COP26: taking climate action at a local level

      Next Post

      The UK government won’t tell you this, but the EU wants to hear from you!

      Jimmy Andrex

      Jimmy Andrex

      Jimmy is a Wakefield poet who performs all over the UK. Co-founder of Red Shed Readings, he is a presenter on ELFM’s Love the Words, where he writes and produces the Jimmy Andrex Outside Broadcast, as well as co-curating their Writing on Air Festival. Cartoon by Hamley Jenkins.

      Related Posts

      Freya Osment from Northern Gas Networks
      Technology

      International Women in Engineering Day 2022

      byLouisa Merrick-White
      23 June 2022
      Rail strikes
      Business

      Millions affected by biggest rail strike action in 30 years

      byLiliya Arutyunyan
      22 June 2022
      conservative party
      Economy

      The Conservative Party: fiscally irresponsible and ideologically incapable of addressing the current crises

      byAndy Brown
      21 June 2022
      Yorkshire cows
      Business

      British farmers are being offered a lump sum payment to leave the industry – but at what cost to agriculture?

      byPeter Gittins
      19 June 2022
      cost-of-living-crisis-in-voluntary-sector
      Economy

      Cost-of-living crisis looming for the voluntary sector

      byJohn Heywood
      16 June 2022
      Next Post
      Conference on the Future of Europe, photo by Juliane Liebermann on Unsplash

      The UK government won’t tell you this, but the EU wants to hear from you!

      Want to support us?

      Can you help Yorkshire Bylines to grow and become more sustainable with a regular donation, no matter how small?  

      DONATE

      Sign up to our newsletter

      If you would like to receive the Yorkshire Bylines regular newsletter, straight talking direct to your inbox, click the button below.

      NEWSLETTER

      LATEST

      Conservative Party Meeting

      Hypocrisy, desperation and excuses: Conservative Party clutch at straws over by-election losses

      27 June 2022
      Nostell Priory, Wakefield

      Glastonbury? What’s Glastonbury? When the music world came to Wakefield

      26 June 2022
      10/05/2022 Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the House of Commons. Picture by Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street

      The country needs more than just ‘Booting Boris out of Downing Street’

      26 June 2022
      Emmanuel Macron

      French parliamentary elections 2022: shockwaves across the Channel

      25 June 2022

      MOST READ

      10/05/2022 Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the House of Commons. Picture by Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street

      The country needs more than just ‘Booting Boris out of Downing Street’

      26 June 2022
      Nostell Priory, Wakefield

      Glastonbury? What’s Glastonbury? When the music world came to Wakefield

      26 June 2022
      Conservative Party Meeting

      Hypocrisy, desperation and excuses: Conservative Party clutch at straws over by-election losses

      27 June 2022
      Photo credit Robert Sharp / englishpenLicensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

      The Davis Downside Dossier

      1 January 2021

      BROWSE BY TAGS

      antivaxxers Charity climate change Coronavirus Cost of living Creative industries Crime Cummings Democracy Devolution education Equality Farming Fishing hgv History Immigration Johnson Journalism Labour Local Democracy Mental Health mining money NHS NI Protocol omicron Pies pollution poverty PPE Public Health Review shortage social media Starmer tax travel Ukraine Yorkshire
      Yorkshire Bylines

      Yorkshire Bylines is a regional online newspaper that supports citizen journalism. Our aim is to publish well-written, fact-based articles and opinion pieces on subjects that are of interest to people in Yorkshire and beyond.

      Learn more about us

      No Result
      View All Result
      • Contact
      • About
      • Letters
      • Donate
      • Privacy
      • Bylines network
      • Shop

      © 2022 Yorkshire Bylines. Citizen Journalism | Local & Internationalist

      No Result
      View All Result
      • Home
      • News
        • Brexit
        • Education
        • Environment
        • Health
        • Home Affairs
        • Transport
        • World
      • Politics
      • Opinion
      • Lifestyle
        • Culture
        • Dance
        • Food
        • Music
        • Poetry
        • Recipes
        • Sport
      • Business
        • Economy
        • Technology
        • Trade
      • Donate
      • The Compendium of Cabinet Codebreakers
      • The Davis Downside Dossier
      • The Digby Jones Index
      • Newsletter sign up
      • Cartoons by Stan
      • Authors

      © 2022 Yorkshire Bylines. Citizen Journalism | Local & Internationalist

      Welcome Back!

      Login to your account below

      Forgotten Password?

      Retrieve your password

      Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

      Log In