Wise Words for You

Facebook was launched 15 years ago and has gone on to change the internet and pioneer the world altering phenomenon known as social media. But at this point of its existence, Facebook faces some challenges in the ever evolving online world. Questions of privacy have been raised amid controversial revelations of data leakages and users are coming to grips with the sheer amount of data the platform has on each member for hyper accurate ad targeting. The company has gone through some ups and downs, acquired other companies and even be the subject of US Senate hearings among other controversies. Here’s a look at the Facebook timeline: FACEBOOK IS BORN On February 4, 2004 Facebook goes live for the first time. The brainchild of 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook, or Thefacebook as it was initially known, is launched for Harvard students before spreading to other colleges in the US. Mark Zuckerberg talking about Facebook in 2004 Two and half ye...

Content warning :  This story contains discussion of serious mental health issues and racism. T he  panic attacks started after Chloe watched a man die. She spent the past three and a half weeks in training, trying to harden herself against the daily onslaught of disturbing posts: the hate speech, the violent attacks, the graphic pornography. In a few more days, she will become a full-time Facebook content moderator, or what the company she works for, a professional services vendor named Cognizant, opaquely calls a “process executive.” For this portion of her education, Chloe will have to moderate a Facebook post in front of her fellow trainees. When it’s her turn, she walks to the front of the room, where a monitor displays a video that has been posted to the world’s largest social network. None of the trainees have seen it before, Chloe included. She presses play. SOMEONE IS STABBING HIM, DOZENS OF TIMES, WHILE HE SCREAMS AND BEGS FOR HIS LIFE. The video dep...