Greetings Columbus —
You are on it. Your family is on it. Seems the whole world (2.1 billion users, $40 billion in annual revenue) is on it.
I am talking about Facebook, the latest too-big-to-fail-or-reign-in gazillion dollar company. And while the #DeleteFacebook movement has not caught fire, the company is in the ring of fire — financially, politically, ethically.
And deservedly so.
The latest came on Wednesday when Facebook revealed that tens of millions more people might have been exposed in the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal than previously thought, according to The Associated Press.
Beyond that, Facebook allowed its platform to be overrun by Russian and other misinformation campaigns in an attack on our country, doing little to stop the spread of fake and inaccurate news.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg is on an apology tour that should reach an apex next week when he testifies before Congress. He is outlining steps the company is taking to put the genie back in the bottle.
One of those measures Zuckerberg is talking about involves having the company promote trusted journalism that does a fair and thorough job.
And yesterday, we noticed that effort on our own Facebook page. Unbeknownst to us, an indicator with “About this article” started appearing in all of our posts —
Click on that indicator and you’ll get a message telling you about our company so you know where the story and information are coming from —
Now, I am being hard pretty hard on Facebook here knowing full well we use the platform to get stories and information to you.
But here’s the difference: We cite where we get the information we put in our stories. We reveal who pays for political ads that run on all of our publishing platforms. We vet comments made by sources. We are not a troll farm in Macedonia, and now Facebook is starting to tell you that.
Thanks Facebook, it’s a good start.
Here’s what else you need to know —
Tough commute this morning.
Traffic westbound and eastbound at the Interstate 65 and State Road 46 intersection on the west side of Columbus was backed up because stoplights are out in all directions. Columbus police are on the scene directing traffic.
BCSC E-learning Day 2.0.
We in the midst of a winter that never ends, and the kids are home again because of water-covered roads. Six other Columbus schools have also canceled classes today: St. Bartholomew Catholic School, St. Peter’s Lutheran School, Faith Lutheran Preschool, First Presbyterian Preschool, Learning Tree Preschool and St. Paul’s Lutheran Preschool.
- Parents, and students, here’s the link to BCSC’s e-learning site: Click here.
- Story: Latest information and how the first day of e-learning went.
And here’s a tweet from Mr. H (and Felix), who is excited about Day 2 of E-learning —
Up late with Felix getting tomorrow’s #bcscelearning day lesson ready. I’m excited for round two! pic.twitter.com/gfYyin6OhQ
— Mr. H (@MisterHudelson) April 5, 2018
Gallery: Flooding photos tell the story.
Republic photographer Mike Wolanin captured our water-logged county. These are terrific photos. Link to story here here.
Nothing to do? Have we got the list for you.
Fun and cool activities in the Columbus area … upcoming concerts at Brown County Playhouse in Nashville … Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, the Philharmonic Chorus, the Anderson Symphonic Choir and the Anderson University Chorale perform Saturday in Columbus.
Teacher a light to students who need it the most.
Columbus East High School teacher Michelle Burnett works with students who are lost, angry and desperate. Burnett got a big honor recently, and this is what a student wrote about here: She (Burnett) will make them (students) feel like a rock star. She shows them how important they are. Friday’s Republic.
Today’s Instapic from color.the.wind: Sometimes days can be just really hard as a Mom, but goodness, these moments. Like when they say “mommy, hold hands” and you melt.
Have a great day. Send your story ideas to [email protected].
