Facebook and the art of dump

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"Since the publication of this article, we have discovered additional Instagram passwords logs stored in a readable format, and we now estimate that this question has touched millions of Instagram users," he said. says the update.

The original publication revealed passwords stored on Facebook for hundreds of millions of Facebook users and "tens of thousands" of Instagram users as plain text in a database accessible by his staff.

After more than a year of seemingly endless scandals for the social network, his communications team seems to have opted for some favorite techniques to minimize the damage caused by this type of ad. Sometimes referred to as "news dumps", these timing tips are used for news on topics such as hacking, poor customer data management, and bad management behavior.

One approach is to announce something late on Friday afternoon after the markets close, so investors have time to digest the news without hurting equities. It's also when news consumers are focusing on weekend flexibilities and as reporters are gearing up for the day. Sometimes a company also holds back the bad news and shares it when a large-scale story, with no connection to it, bursts out and catches everyone's attention.

Facebook told CNN Business that it only recently knew Instagram passwords.

And then there is the trick of announcing bad news just before a vacation – a Facebook favorite. On the Friday before Christmas 2017, the company launched its tool that allows users to know if they have been exposed to Russian propaganda, possibly assuming that it is not like that that someone else is going to do it. one would spend the time of his long weekend. He first announced that the tool was under construction the day before Thanksgiving. On the eve of the mid-term elections in the United States in November 2018, the group had published an article in which it stated that it had not done enough to prevent its platform from being used to fuel the political division and the political division. 39, bloodshed in Myanmar.

Although many important Facebook ads fit this pattern, many have also appeared at seemingly random times. For example, Facebook announced Wednesday night that it had accidentally collected 1.5 million user email contacts without its knowledge.

Information dump techniques already exist well before Facebook, and even the Internet.

"It could have worked with printed papers and a story could be forgotten," said Brian Baker, founder of Big Sky Crisis Communications, who has worked with technology companies. "It does not work like that, people who are careful will see the news, and if it is important, they will see it immediately."

Trying to hide bad news can often turn against a business, according to Baker. It could land during a quiet time where nothing happens and be a big story, or it could get journalists to write about a company's custom of trying to bury the news before the holidays . He recommends companies dealing with negative information focus on authenticity, transparency and responsiveness to problems.

For an organization that is already struggling with trust issues, Facebook should try to avoid information burial techniques in general, Baker said.

"I do not think it helps his reputation, I think it makes him more suspicious."

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