Jun
9
This latest time I’ve left Facebook will be the…3rd? 4th, maybe? I won’t be back this time. Really. It has nothing to do with the people I’ve actually friended over there, and everything to do with people who I don’t know who will have access to my information, most probably without my knowledge.
Mark Zukerman, the founder/inventor of Facebook, has a long, proud history of declaring that online privacy is for suckers; nobody is entitled to use their information online in a way that they choose or control. Nobody. Certainly nobody who signs up for Facebook…
Over the years, their privacy settings have become increasingly less private. What upset me this last time, and why I finally left, was that 1) the changed privacy settings were only discussed after they had been implemented; 2) the default setting for the majority of one’s profile was “friends of friends” (or, you know, the whole wide f-ing world); and last but not least, 3) things were only changed marginally, after a LOT of complaints and after a lot of people left the site.
Based on past history, things won’t get any better. After all, there’s gold in them there profile words, and it’s only reasonable in our capitalist society that the owners of a site grab for all the gold they can. If you really want anonymity, it’s not going to happen at a social networking site. No matter how many “special”/fake accounts you set up, if somebody wants to find out who the online persona matches with IRL, they can. And will.
I really want to leave Facebook and just created a work-only account for Support for Special Needs (because I manage our page) but now I’m trying to figure out how what I can do because my whole family is really really reliant on facebook as their communication device.
I can’t leave because too many people who live far away and who are dear to me are on Facebook and many use Facebook at the expense of email.
I can only hope Diaspora that will live up to expectations and that my peeps will migrate there.
I left Facebook last year – mostly because of how they hire employees (they’re local to me) and how little opportunity you have to apply for more than one job there and the fact that nepotism is pretty much how they get their employees. I went back because I like being able to catch up with people I haven’t seen in years. I agree that the privacy stuff sucks, but at least with Facebook you opt-in. There are so many companies that sell your info without your knowledge, and you get nothing in the process. I don’t necessarily support Facebook, but I’ll stay there for awhile just for the connection.
Unfortunately, facebook is my only way to stay in touch with some of my relatives in eastern Europe. My ISP keeps blocking them as spam and we can’t get messages to each other any other way. But I agree — the changes in privacy settings are upsetting and unacceptable.
Dawn: I’d think Special Needs Support might work for at least some of that, if that’s the career direction you’re heading toward.
Em, Batty: It is hard hen it’s the only way to get in touch with family. I’ve got a friend from high school on FB; it’s her first foray into online things, and she finds FB statuses easier to figure out than emails.
Elspeth: That’s disappointing to hear. I had heard rumors about how they operate and hire, but it’s sad to hear that at least some of the rumors are true. Mostly, I don’t like how almost every change has been done without advance notice, is difficult to opt out of (the one setting in particular that had me cheesed off enough to finally leave was not, in fact, an opt-out but a default that couldn’t be changed or made more restrictive), and has always been sold as “look what wonderful things we’ve done for you! Who needs to keep their information under their own control anyway?”.
Like I said, I’ve left before but I’m done for good. YMMV, as always.