Thread by @koolidge

Here's the #Facebook "scandal" in a nutshell:
(1/10) In 2004 Mark #Zuckerberg creates essentially the biggest single advertising platform of all time.

(2/10) Facebook's genius is that instead of advertising that's coupled with original content (TV, radio, print, other websites) the "original content" of FB is the audience itself, as they "connect" with each other.

(3/10) Like any & every business, ever, at some point FB needs to find a way to get people to voluntarily give them lots of money. Who though? Well, companies/entities that want to influence groups of people to do things (duh).

(4/10) In order to target advertising effectively, FB collects data on its individual users (also, duh).

(5/10) These entities come to FB and BUY for its assistance in reaching their target audience. Some of those entities are products ("I see you like trucks. Buy an F150!") Some of these entities are candidates for political office ("I see you like Noam Chomsky. Vote for Bernie!")

(6/10) When the media/big city/elite establishment-types are happy with the results of the big elections (2008, 2012), there's no scandal. It's just business/political acumen. "Hey, Politics ain't bean bag." - D. Axelrod

(7/10) When media/big city/elite establishment-types are NOT happy with the results of an election (2016): "THIS IS A SCANDAL! HOW DID THIS HAPPEN??"

(8/10) Bottom line, the services/data that FB sold to Cambridge Analytics (which for argument's sake we'll say helped the Trump campaign) before the '16 election is no different than what the Obama campaign did DIRECTLY with Facebook in '08 and '12. Neither are "scandals.

(9/10) Both situations are akin to a TV or radio ratings company (Nielson or Arbitron selling data to a business (Pepsi, Ford) OR political candidate (Trump, Hillary) to helps them decide which radio/TV programs with original content (Roseanne, Will & Grace) to buy ads on.

(10/10) Facebook's genius, again, is that it's a gargantuan amalgam of a ratings company (all its data) AND original programing (people connecting). Monopoly? Maybe. But none of this #CambridgeAnalytics stuff is any way a "scandal" and it should stop being reported that way. #end