One donor egg and ‘a dollop of love’: ART and de-queering genealogies in Facebook advertising

We consider what genealogical links, kinship and sociality are promised through the marketing of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs). Using a mixed method of formal analysis of Facebook's algorithmic architectures and textual analysis of twenty-eight adverts for egg donation drawn from the Facebook Ad Library, we analyse the ways in which the figure of the ‘fertile woman’ is constituted both within the text and at the level of Facebook's targeted advertising systems. We critically examine the ways in which ART clinics address those women whose eggs they wish to harvest and exchange, in combination with the ways in which Facebook's architecture identifies, and sorts those women deemed of ‘relevance’ to the commercial ART industry. We find that women variously appear in these adverts as empowered consumers, generous girlfriends, potential mothers and essentialised bodies who provide free-floating eggs. The genealogical and fertility possibility offered through ART is represented with banal ambiguity wherein potentially disruptive forms of biogenetic relatedness and arrangements of kinship are derisked by an overarching narrative of simplicity and sameness which excludes men, messy genealogies and explicitly queer forms of kinship. This rationalisation is supported by the simplicity and certainty of the Facebook targeted advertising algorithm which produces a coherent audience and interpellates users as fertile subjects whose choices are both biologically determined and only available through clinical intervention.

LGBTQ Older Adult Recruitment in the Midst of a COVID-19 Lockdown: Reminiscences of a Post-Doctoral Fellow

Within days of obtaining ethics approval for a qualitative study “Optimizing LGBTQ Engagement with Hospice and Palliative Care in the Island Health Region” our local Covid-19 lockdown began. It took several months to have new Covid-19 research protocols (Zoom Town Hall meetings/Zoom or telephone interviews) approved. Being impatient, I teamed with another group of researchers to launch “Covid-19: Your Current Experiences and Planning for the Future,” an online survey with a large qualitative component where we planned to oversample LGBTQ respondents. In time both projects were approved, and here I reflect on recruitment lessons learned. These include my perceptions how Zoom Town Hall meetings and interviews differ from those I’ve conducted in-person, reflections on how to use social media (including targeted Facebook advertising) to recruit participants, and sadly, how to manage anti-LGBTQ sentiment that resulted from even the most targeted advertising.

A Framework for Estimating Migrant Stocks Using Digital Traces and Survey Data: An Application in the United Kingdom

An accurate estimation of international migration is hampered by a lack of timely and comprehensive data, and by the use of different definitions and measures of migration in different countries. In an effort to address this situation, we complement traditional data sources for the United Kingdom with social media data: our aim is to understand whether information from digital traces can help measure international migration. The Bayesian framework proposed is used to combine data from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and the Facebook Advertising Platform to study the number of European migrants in the United Kingdom, with the aim of producing more accurate estimates of the numbers of European migrants. The overarching model is divided into a Theory-Based Model of migration and a Measurement Error Model. We review the quality of the LFS and Facebook data, paying particular attention to the biases of these sources. The results indicate visible yet uncertain differences between model estimates using the Bayesian framework and individual sources. Sensitivity analysis techniques are used to evaluate the quality of the model. The advantages and limitations of this approach, which can be applied in other contexts, are discussed. We cannot necessarily trust any individual source, but combining them through modeling offers valuable insights.

Management decisions on modernization of e-commerce enterprises as subjects of innovative entrepreneurship

The purpose of the article is to analyse the types of management decisions on the modernization of e-commerce enterprises as subjects of innovative entrepreneurship and to explore their content. Methodology. In the study of this issue used methods of generalization, comparison and systematic method. Results. In the article the types of management decisions on the modernization of e-commerce enterprises as subjects of innovative entrepreneurship are analysed. Their content has been studied. Scientific positions are described and statistical data on the research topic are given. Practical meaning. To better understand the issues of management decisions on modernization of e-commerce enterprises as subjects of innovative entrepreneurship, the author analysed foreign sources, which allowed to understand the features of world experience that determine the need of e-commerce enterprises in Ukraine to focus on new technological solutions and modern management approaches. Prospects for further research. The author analyses the current trends of enterprise modernization and notes that conversion optimization is becoming an increasingly serious problem in today’s business environment, as companies seek to effectively customize the pages of their products and make sure that their products stand out in all areas of multi-channel marketing. This can include dynamic Facebook advertising, Google shopping advertising, or digital marketing efforts.

Evidence for effective conservation fundraising: Comparing social media with traditional mailshot field experiments

Funding shortage limits conservation impact, making it vital to find effective fundraising methods. To explore how traditional and digital conservation fundraising methods perform, we conducted real-world field experiments by using mailshot and Facebook advertisements. We compare three types of message frames (Simple, Seed money, and Ecological) and found that the Seed money frame, which emphasizes the amount already donated, increased the number of donors, whereas the Ecological frame, which focuses on the fact that the fundraiser benefits threatened species, led to a relative reduction in this number. We also found that while on Facebook advertising costs were higher than donations, the opposite was true for the traditional mailshot experiment. Our findings illustrate some of the challenges associated with online fundraising, and importance of behavioral evidence to enhance effective fundraising in conservation.