Just when you think there is not much lower Facebook could sink, they manage to exceed expectations. Now its about scraping data from from hopes and prayers. Find a person at their most vulnerable and over-sell them on something they don't need and maybe can't afford. Poor decisions are made when we are in a bad mental place - often also the times when we feel inclined to pray and have others pray for us.
Facebook’s found a new way to capitalize on the thoughts, prayers (and data) from the religious side of its user base. On Thursday, the company confirmed that it’s begun expanding a new feature called “prayer posts” that will let members of particular Facebook groups literally ask for (and offer up) prayers for other folks on the platform.
These are very difficult times we live in and fearing the loss of a loved one and losing loved ones had become normalized to the point of anxiety and compassion fatigue. My cousin M has lost some of her closest friends to covid and others in her social circle have lost one or both parents.
We used to chat often even in the early days of the pandemic but lately she is reluctant to engage - her heart is not in the casual banter. The overhang of tragedy is too large for that. That is the kind of mental state Facebook is targeting - it is very specific and therefore has analytic value. It will be interesting to see how shameful the next thing they do is - monetizing grief might not be Facebook's nadir yet.
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