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Facebook Tests Software to Track Your Cursor on Screen
NEW YORK – Facebook Inc. is testing technology that would greatly expand the scope of data that it collects about its users, the head of the company’s analytics group said Tuesday.
The social network may start collecting data on minute user interactions with its content, such as how long a user’s cursor hovers over a certain part of its website, or whether a user’s newsfeed is visible at a given moment on the screen of his or her mobile phone, Facebook analytics chief Ken Rudin said Tuesday during an interview.
Mr. Rudin said the captured information could be added to a data analytics warehouse that is available for use throughout the company for an endless range of purposes–from product development to more precise targeting of advertising.
Facebook collects two kinds of data, demographic and behavioral. The demographic data—such as where a user lives or went to school—documents a user’s life beyond the network. The behavioral data—such as one’s circle of Facebook friends, or “likes”—is captured in real time on the network itself. The ongoing tests would greatly expand the behavioral data that is collected, according to Mr. Rudin. The tests are ongoing and part of a broader technology testing program, but Facebook should know within months whether it makes sense to incorporate the new data collection into the business, he said
New types of data Facebook may collect include “did your cursor hover over that ad … and was the newsfeed in a viewable area,” Mr. Rudin said. “It is a never-ending phase. I can’t promise that it will roll out. We probably will know in a couple of months,” said Mr. Rudin, a Silicon Valley veteran who arrived at Facebook in April 2012 from Zynga Inc., where he was vice president of analytics and platform technologies.
As the head of analytics, Mr. Rudin is preparing the company’s infrastructure for a massive increase in the volume of its data.
Facebook isn’t the first company to contemplate recording such activity. Shutterstock Inc., a marketplace for digital images, records literally everything that its users do on the site. Shutterstock uses the open-source Hadoop distributed file system to analyze data such as where visitors to the site place their cursors and how long they hover over an image before they make a purchase. “Today, we are looking at every move a user makes, in order to optimize the Shutterstock experience….All these new technologies can process that,” Shutterstock founder and CEO Jon Oringer told the Wall Street Journal in March.
Facebook also is a major user of Hadoop, an open-source framework that is used to store large amounts of data on clusters of inexpensive machines. Facebook designs its own hardware to store its massive data analytics warehouse, which has grown 4,000 times during the last four years to a current level of 300 petabytes. The company uses a modified version of Hadoop to manage its data, according to Mr. Rudin. There are additional software layers on top of Hadoop, which rank the value of data and make sure it is accessible.
The data in the analytics warehouse—which is separate from the company’s user data, the volume of which has not been disclosed—is used in the targeting of advertising. As the company captures more data, it can help marketers target their advertising more effectively—assuming, of course, that the data is accessible.
“Instead of a warehouse of data, you can end up with a junkyard of data,” said Mr. Rudin, who spoke to CIO Journal during a break at the Strata and Hadoop World Conference in New York. He said that he has led a project to index that data, essentially creating an internal search engine for the analytics warehouse.
Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s (LP) presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, has urged party members to stand strong and united as Nigeria faces a crisis.
Speaking at the ongoing National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja, Obi highlighted the urgent need for national rescue, calling attention to the country’s ongoing struggles.
Obi did not mince words about the state of the nation, stressing that Nigeria is heading towards collapse.
READ MORE: Peter Obi In High-Level Meeting With Gov Bala Mohammed
He encouraged party members to speak up, no matter the opposition they may face.
“Do not fear anybody. Those who were afraid yesterday didn’t do any better,” Obi told the gathered party members. “We must speak out when things are going wrong. Nigeria is collapsing. The numbers are clear; the indices are clear—people are getting poorer every day.”
The former governor of Anambra State also stressed the importance of party unity and inclusiveness. He made it clear that the Labour Party’s direction is about collective choice, not individual preferences.
“Labour Party has chosen to be a family, and we must do everything as a family. It’s not about Peter Obi’s choice; it’s everyone’s choice. This family excludes no one. We want to build a party that is fair and just,” he said.
Looking forward, Obi outlined the party’s vision for the upcoming elections, emphasizing the need for preparation and a focus on selecting the most competent candidates for all political offices.
“We want to go into the next election fully prepared, offering Nigerians the best and most competent candidates for the House of Representatives, the Senate, Governorships, and the Presidency,” Obi stated.
He also called for a stricter focus on loyalty and competence from anyone seeking to run under the Labour Party banner. Obi noted that only committed party members with the necessary capabilities should be considered as candidates.
“We want to correct the mistakes we made in the past. Anyone seeking to contest under our party must be a committed member, not just someone passing through. They must be competent,” he said.
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Read Also: On SYNLAB Nigeria’s Secured Patient Portal, Test Result Delivery’s Safe Alternative
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Read Also: Celebrating 20 Years of Excellence: SYNLAB Nigeria’s Journey in Diagnostics Care
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Human rights activist Omoyele Sowore and several legal practitioners on Monday escorted a Lagos-based National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, Ushie Uguamaye, popularly known as Raye, to the office of her Local Government Inspector (LGI) after she was summoned for a viral video criticizing President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
Raye had gained widespread attention after posting a video on her TikTok account, #talktoraye, in which she lamented the country’s worsening economic crisis and blamed President Tinubu for the hardship faced by Nigerians.
She further described the president as a “terrible leader.”
READ ALSO: You Have No Right To Stop Me – Sowore Battles Police, EFCC At Court Entrance
In a subsequent video, Raye claimed that NYSC officials had begun to threaten her following her public outbursts.
She was then summoned to appear at the NYSC office in Eti-Osa, Lagos, for questioning on Monday.
However, Sowore, alongside legal practitioners including Festus Ogun, Yinka Oyesomi, and Justice Ojienoh, accompanied Raye to the NYSC office in a show of solidarity.
According to an update shared by Sowore on his official X handle, the NYSC officials failed to show up for the meeting.
“We arrived at the Eti-Osa LGI offices of the @officialnyscng with youth corper, Ushie Rita Uguamaye, in Lagos. She was scheduled to appear before the LGI today, and we escorted her to their offices with attorneys.
@mrfestusogun, @yinka_oyesomi, and @justiceojienoh, but the LGI official had absconded, failing to show up throughout our stay,” Sowore posted.
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