>>> Facebook isn’t a mind-control ray.
Cory is fine but here, he's wrong. FaceBook is a mind control tool. It is a mind control because when you send it some information, you know that friends, facebook employees, facebook algorithm, potentially marketeers, potentially state agencies, etc. will read read it. So you inflict yourself some degree of censorship. You basically alter your behaviour. So, in a sense, it is a mind control machine.
"The media doesn't tell you what to think, it tells you what to think about"
In that context, "The media doesn't tell you what to think, it tells you what to think about" is meant to be taken as "The media doesn't control how you think, but it defines the discussion." I think this is just a case where an author decided for alliteration over clarity. Sometimes that's a useful path, as alliteration can help phrases stick in the social consciousness. In this case it's just confusing.
https://www.quora.com/What-did-Marshall-McLuhan-mean-by-hot-...
The better Facebook can convince you to take an action, the more value its platform has. The Darwinism of the ad industry meant that the top ad-tech companies were eventually going to be really, really good at changing people's behavior.
Those tools are just media and offer you visibility to a certain degree.
And of course you adapt your presentation style to reach a specific audience.
And in a way: Spot on!