When I first signed up for Facebook, I had a very strict policy of not befriending people I didn’t know or hadn’t met in person. I viewed it as my inner circle and considered it a safe place to post more personal information. That said, I wasn’t so naive as to think that any of what I posted wasn’t essentially public but I did feel that it was safer than posting it on one of my blogs. Over time, I relaxed my own rules and began to use Facebook in order to get to know new people virtually. Many of those online friendships have led to in-person meetings and ultimately to a new circle of good friends. Not just acquaintances. Honest-to-goodness-pick-me-up-from-the-airport friends. So, don’t get me wrong…change can be good. But, in that case, it was I who was changing my own rules and not some third party changing the rules in order to make a profit. However, that is exactly what Facebook has done. Money changes everything I suppose.
Back in 2008, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg praised the privacy controls of Facebook. Fast forward to 2010 when a Facebook employee makes an offhanded comment that Zuckerberg “doesn’t believe in [privacy].” And, that’s very apparent to most of us users who have been to subjected to a classic “bait and switch” tactic. We signed up under one set of rules. Those rules changed drastically. Now we must choose between being connected and our privacy. It’s been a slippery slope to be sure. But this latest announcement at the F8 Conference means that our private data has been opened up not only to other users but to third parties looking to make a profit by marketing their services to us based on a wealth of demographic and personal information. Facebook has attempted to bully us into “liking” (a new term for being a fan of something) a page simply because we listed it as an interest. Just because I may watch a TV show or like a movie doesn’t mean I want to be connected to it and see updates on my wall from it (yes, I know I could hide them but that’s not the point). So, my profile page on Facebook is now largely blank. Sure, Facebook still has that information archived someplace but the net result is that I will not “like” anything in the future. My activity in that regard has come to a screeching halt. I only connect to a handful of third-party applications and have slowly deleted a lot of personal information from my page. I’m basically following Facebook’s advice which is “If You’re Not Comfortable Sharing, Don’t.“ I am no longer comfortable. No one is forcing me to use Facebook after all. I get that. But here’s the problem: they have virtually no competition. So, the way I have been using Facebook now has to change drastically and that changes how I connect to people. For example, I once bonded with someone over our mutual fondness for an obscure 80s band. I had listed the band in the music section. But, do I want to be connected to a page about them? Probably not. In this instance, the band is long gone so Facebook had instantly created a “community page” (which is public, by the way) so if I kept them on my profile, I would show up on that page under a simple Google search. Speaking of Google search…I did a search of my name which I do from time to time anyway. A LOT of comments I had made on various Fan Pages (or whatever they’re called now) in the past–one as old as early 2009–were at the top of the search results. None of them were offensive or off-color but rather out of context so they didn’t make sense or looked silly. Of course, I went in and deleted most of them but the point is that I can’t do that anymore. I can’t comment on things the way I used to or interact with people in the same way. That has all changed and in my opinion, not for the better.
The other disturbing thing is that Facebook’s privacy policy is impossibly long–actually longer than the United States Constitution–so forget trying to understand it in any meaningful way.
“Facebook’s Privacy Policy is 5,830 words long; the United States Constitution, without any of its amendments, is a concise 4,543 words.” [Nick Bilton, New York Times, "The Price of Facebook Privacy? Start Clicking"]
Trying to figure out just how to lock down your profile and make it more private is another frustrating thing. I’m pretty technically savvy and it took me a lot of clicking around to remove applications, delete information and restrict access by third-party applications. I can’t imagine someone like my Mom trying to figure that out. Oh, and for all of you who let those friend requests just sit in limbo instead of accepting or ignoring them? Guess what? The minute someone sends you a friend request, your information and status updates begin showing up in their feed. So, you might want to log in and click “ignore” on anyone with whom you are not comfortable sharing your information.
What sucks about all of this is that we all drank the Facebook Kool-Aid and now we’re stuck because there really isn’t a great alternative (for now). There are some folks out there trying to create one but that could take years. I’m active on a lot of social networks but none of them are as robust or interconnected as Facebook. Yes, I’ve considered deleting my profile but that would mean pulling the virtual plug on some of the relationships I’ve either established or re-established via Facebook over the past couple of years. And, Facebook knows that! Try to delete your profile and they will try to manipulate you into changing your mind.
My take on it is this: What Facebook has gained in monetary compensation, it has lost in trustworthiness. I do not trust them and I suspect many people out there may feel the same way. Whether or not they change the way they use Facebook, alter their profiles or delete their accounts altogether remains to be seen. Nonetheless, Facebook, as Jason Calacanis put it, has “overplayed its hand” and all of us users have been “Zucked.”
So, while I may hate Facebook, I’m stuck with it for now. But, I used to be stuck with America Online and look how that turned out. I can’t help but think that the arrogance and utter disregard for people’s privacy will eventually catch up to them.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
it seems like facebook is paying attention, if the word of a company-wide meeting today to discuss “privacy strategy” is any indication. speculation was that instant personalization (or, as some might put it, “the rampant sharing of personal data with third parties”) will get pulled.
I think facebook goes too far in assuming its core younger users are capable of making judgments about what is ok to share and are any not more susceptible to subtly tailored marketing pitches than geezers like me. however, I absolutely love the idea that pandora or yelp or even retail sites will be able to use my expressed preferences to create a personalized experience for me. I don’t mind at all that they will waste less of my time trying to sell me stuff I don’t want.
“So make it opt in,” I hear. the problem is twofold. first, I believe that a lot of people who would probably enjoy instant personalization will get all freaked out by the hooplah and not opt in. the second is getting to scale – any system based around collaborative filtering improves with the number of users.
I’ve got more on the subject and some examples of why I think it’s a beautiful thing on my blog http://btrandolph.com/2010/05/facebook-instant-personalization-not-all-bad/.
btw, good job on scrubbing your facebook account. I was not able to find any facebook links searching on your name! : )