So apparently due to the increasingly scary privacy concerns on Facebook, some bunch of people are going to be quitting en mass on May 31st. I'm actually probably going to be doing this, not so much because I'm actually concerned for my own information, but because I haven't extensively used Facebook in a while, and as long as I'm not using it I might as well contribute to some cause whether it's a particularly big deal or not.
Posted by AchillesHeel (Member # 11736) on :
I had these concerns two years ago when I googled myself and realized how easy it was for ex-girlfriends to find me.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
Still gonna use Facebook, not care.
Posted by MightyCow (Member # 9253) on :
I'm opposed to Facebook's horrible privacy, but so far the utility outweighs the frustration.
Posted by scholarette (Member # 11540) on :
One of my facebook accounts is purposefully out there to have my name on the net. So, the horrible privacy doesn't matter on that one. On the other, I have no interests, no prior workplace, etc- though I do post pics of my daughter which probably can be tracked (which I don't like the idea of).
Posted by aeolusdallas (Member # 11455) on :
Yeah a bunch of whiny people who hate facebook because it became to popular. Just like the ones who love a musician till he actually becomes successful.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
Uh, no, there are legitimate reasons to diss on fbook right now and honestly the people running it deserve all this attention to their crappy policy on privacy, and the founder is a dip. This isn't a case of Indie Syndrome where people are just hatin' on it cause it got popular.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
quote:Originally posted by aeolusdallas: Just like the ones who love a musician till he actually becomes successful.
I've never understood this behavior before. I can understand the allure of being drawn to an underground artist, but not the reasons for dropping them once they gain notoriety, unless the person never actually liked them to begin with, but rather the idea of them.
Posted by Launchywiggin (Member # 9116) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn:
quote:Originally posted by aeolusdallas: Just like the ones who love a musician till he actually becomes successful.
I've never understood this behavior before. I can understand the allure of being drawn to an underground artist, but not the reasons for dropping them once they gain notoriety, unless the person never actually liked them to begin with, but rather the idea of them.
I'm sure you DO get it, in that it has more to do with said person's identity than their taste in music. All people make discriminating choices when it comes to showing the world "what they like" because those preferences define who you are in a culture of appearances.
Teenage culture is all about identity, so you don't want to associate yourself with something that your enemies start to like. It makes a lot of sense, actually.
Posted by krynn (Member # 524) on :
EDIT: OK I have a lot to say on this issue. Two sides of this argument for me. First I am concerned because of the ease of personal information to others. Second, I'm excited about the opportunities social media present to me as a Marketing professional.
I am concerned. FB started when I was a freshman in college. back then it was great spending lots of time filling in your profile with plenty of information and sharing pictures just amongst friends.
Now there are several ways a company can get all your personal info and pictures, and sell your personal information to turn a profit. It's no longer about connecting on another level with friends, it's a huge database of consumer information. How many changes in the last two years have been to improve the user's experience compared to the changes FB has made to make it easier for companies to market to you?
I feel like the focus of FB has transitioned from making the best online social network to making the best online money-maker.
As a Marketing professional, I am on the band wagon. Having a FB/twitter/Youtube account is great for SEO (especially now with the new Google) and for targeting a very specific audience. I've just had to sacrifice giving away so much personal information.
Social media is now the latest source for SEO and lead generation. Google even searches sites for social media connections, and having them helps you rank higher. I think people will have to learn to censor their online presence more and more in the next few year. I miss the "good ol' days" and want privacy to remain a serious concern, but I'm also enthusiastic about the effect the internet and our virtual identities have on the world.
Posted by rollainm (Member # 8318) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn:
quote:Originally posted by aeolusdallas: Just like the ones who love a musician till he actually becomes successful.
I've never understood this behavior before. I can understand the allure of being drawn to an underground artist, but not the reasons for dropping them once they gain notoriety, unless the person never actually liked them to begin with, but rather the idea of them.
Generally, I agree. One scenario I can understand the sentiment, however, is when the artist/band drastically changes their style once they become popular. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, of course. Maybe this is the music they wanted to make all along, but they needed to enter the business cautiously or with a bang, or maybe they just evolved. But regardless, if they're no longer making the music I grew to love from them, then I move on. Taking Back Sunday is a good example for me here. I absolutely loved their first album. After that, members and style changed, and they just lost that something special that I liked so much about them. I still listen to Tell All Your Friends all the time.
Posted by Phanto (Member # 5897) on :
quote: As a Marketing professional, I am on the band wagon. Having a FB/twitter/Youtube account is great for SEO (especially now with the new Google) and for targeting a very specific audience. I've just had to sacrifice giving away so much personal information.
Social media is now the latest source for SEO and lead generation. Google even searches sites for social media connections, and having them helps you rank higher. I think people will have to learn to censor their online presence more and more in the next few year. I miss the "good ol' days" and want privacy to remain a serious concern, but I'm also enthusiastic about the effect the internet and our virtual identities have on the world.
Can I get a source on that? Nothing I've read has shown that facebook mentions lead to better SERPs and I don't recall reading that Twitter mentions directly lead to SERP increases - and I would love to learn if I am misinformed =)
Posted by LargeTuna (Member # 10512) on :
I've had my own fair share of Indie Syndrome and some artists just change. I can still appreciate their older music, but the newer popular stuff just might not be the same things that led me to love the artists to begin with. (also unknown artists are more cool )
prime examples: Mr Hudson. His debut album (A Tale of Two Cities) is one of my favorite albums of all time. It's full of lovely ballads and acoustic/piano heavy songs.
He started getting popular, did that song Young Forever with Jay-Z, Paranoid with Kanye, signed to Kanye's GOOD MUSIC label, and released an album that is a shadow of the greatness of the first one.
Regina Spektor. I will love every album by her for sure, but her older stuff (11:11, Songs) are so quirky and original I am amazed at the beauty of some of those tracks. New stuff is great, but imo doesn't compare.
(end rant of obsessive music geek)
Posted by krynn (Member # 524) on :
Hubspot also gave a webinar recently about social media and lead generation. You can probably find it through the link I gave you above.
EDIT: I double posted. Here is what i wrote in my following post that I deleted.
Large Tuna, an opposite example would be The Black Keys. I've been a fan of theirs for a very long time and their newer music (Attack & Release) is one of my favorites. I havent heard the very latest album yet.
[ May 26, 2010, 12:00 AM: Message edited by: krynn ]
Posted by Mr. Y (Member # 11590) on :
Who wants to play some Yahtzee? Posted by Phanto (Member # 5897) on :
krynn - nothing on those pages that I see clearly says that being twittered about or shared on facebook will increase your SERPS. Twitter might generate a temporary SERP, sure. Social media is of course an important part of SEO, but I have yet to read from a reputable source that Twitter or Facebook will increase SERPS.
That said, in the past, social bookmarking had a tremendous impact on SERPS.
Posted by Amanecer (Member # 4068) on :
It's my understanding that the biggest issue with privacy is that the default setting is that "everyone" can see your profile. If you change this, there is no privacy issue. Am I missing something?
Posted by The White Whale (Member # 6594) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn:
quote:Originally posted by aeolusdallas: Just like the ones who love a musician till he actually becomes successful.
I've never understood this behavior before. I can understand the allure of being drawn to an underground artist, but not the reasons for dropping them once they gain notoriety, unless the person never actually liked them to begin with, but rather the idea of them.
I would avoid shows or artists that were popular, only to really enjoy them years later. Scrubs and Radiohead are two examples.
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
quote:Originally posted by Launchywiggin: Teenage culture is all about identity, so you don't want to associate yourself with something that your enemies start to like. It makes a lot of sense, actually.
I'd extend that to all of the culture, not just teenagers. Your enjoyment of art is strongly linked with the social context of that art. If the context isn't right, you won't enjoy the art in the same way. Purity of art doesn't exist from a consumer's perspective.
Posted by scholarette (Member # 11540) on :
Didn't they do some study with like internet shared music and had people listen and rank the music. In one case, they included how many downloads it had and in another just had the music? Changing how many people had downloaded it changed where people ranked it.
Posted by C3PO the Dragon Slayer (Member # 10416) on :
quote:Originally posted by Raymond Arnold: some bunch of people are going to be quitting en mass on May 31st.
And how will they get people to rally behind their cause? By getting people to join their Facebook group for it!
Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :
that's not as ironic as it sounds, since Facebook users are the only people in their target audience.
Posted by neo-dragon (Member # 7168) on :
quote:Originally posted by Amanecer: It's my understanding that the biggest issue with privacy is that the default setting is that "everyone" can see your profile. If you change this, there is no privacy issue. Am I missing something?
My thoughts exactly. It seems to me that all you have to do is...
1. Don't post things that you don't want public.
2. Take 2 seconds to adjust your privacy settings.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
And the number of settings grows with each update. Each new setting conveniently set to "public" without any notification from the developers.
Posted by scholarette (Member # 11540) on :
Another aspect to consider is that you don't have to post things for them to be very accurately guessed at. For example, using who you are friends with, computer programmers can project who is gay, even when that is not listed anywhere on your profile. Also, they are pretty good at determining where you live, even when not posted. Lots of other info can be gleaned from what you think is harmless.
Posted by aeolusdallas (Member # 11455) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn:
quote:Originally posted by aeolusdallas: Just like the ones who love a musician till he actually becomes successful.
I've never understood this behavior before. I can understand the allure of being drawn to an underground artist, but not the reasons for dropping them once they gain notoriety, unless the person never actually liked them to begin with, but rather the idea of them.
Bingo. It's the ideal of being cool and hip and being above the "sheep" It happens all the time. Like all the people who jump on every pop star who hit's it big. Case in point Justin Bieber. Is he a great singer? No Will he last? I really doubt it but nothing that little kid has done justifies the kind of hate and bile that gets tossed at him.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
quote:Originally posted by neo-dragon: 1. Don't post things that you don't want public.
2. Take 2 seconds to adjust your privacy settings.
2 seconds? lol, I wish.
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
I realize you can get a big rise out of people by saying "170 big bad options," but I adjusted my settings and I found it easy. I didn't appreciate that they had been left wide open without me being informed, and that my previous personal information was somehow lost in the last update, but I didn't find it bewildering at all. I've had phones with more options.
Granted, not everybody is savvy enough to figure this stuff out, nor should people have to be, but I look at that settings page and just think, "incompetent" not necessarily "evil." I'm aware their intention indeed *was* to discourage people from keeping their information private, but it's a business. I was expecting that. I'm not shocked and appalled when I discover that I am being manipulated for profit. I'm quite used to the feeling.
So let's just all take a big deep breath and act rationally. The nuclear option is not required, and it's not desirable. Vote with your feet, but stay involved- I think people should boycott facebook's advertisers if they feel their information is being shared inappropriately. People should refuse to post personal information at all until they are satisfied that it is secure. Why do we have to nuke facebook to get what we want... which will be impossible to have if you aren't actually *on* facebook to have it. In a decade, not having an online page similar to facebook (or whatever it will be) will be like refusing to own a phone or answer mail. It will be unacceptable. I'm fine with that- people just need to realize what's at stake and take control, not go bananas and fling feces at the God Machine as if it were a demon spawn.
Posted by Misha McBride (Member # 6578) on :
Someone made a page that searches all the public Facebook status updates. Its truly amazing what some people will make public - try searching for things like "my phone number".
The way I see it has been mentioned: if there's something you don't want people to see, don't post it on the Internet. That's regardless of privacy settings or anything; you shouldn't trust any of that in the first place.
I have a very public appearance, and am not particularly phased at what people know of me based on the information I make public. That which I don't want any one person to know or see I don't post. Anywhere. Ever.
And all those people that say they're going to quick on the 31st... I predict quite a few of them will have withdrawals and come back within a week. I mean, that farm needs tending to, don't it?
Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :
The issue is that even things you don't think of as "private" can easily be used to deduce private things. There's some story out there about how a cop befriended a girl on facebook (posing as another girl), figured out what school she went to based on pictures of her soccer uniform, found her at school, followed her home and alerted her parents to the fact that he was able to do this. Granted, that's mostly an issue for younger children who are easier to victimize.
I don't think it's much of an issue if people come back a few weeks later, as long as enough people did it en mass to deliver the message. But I think facebook's already "promised" to change some things so I'm not sure it's important enough for me to care.
Posted by scholarette (Member # 11540) on :
Facebook has a pattern. They change stuff, people get mad, they apologize, put in a quick fix and do it again when people have forgotten all about it, they do something obnoxious again, repeat cycle.
Posted by Achilles (Member # 7741) on :
Just posting this article to say that the jury is out for me. I may come back after these issues are resolved.
But maybe not as I used to.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
Here is my advice:
Continue to use facebook. Right now it is the universal standard. Its commonplace usage and universality as a social connection tool means that even if you think the owners are dicks (they are) the utility far outweighs the uselessness of individual protest, which will do nothing at this point (the positive change has already been put into place by social outcry).
Use facebook and be smart about it. Just do two things:
1. Read up on what facebook has changed and how to manage it.
2. Never put up anything you don't explicitly desire to be public, unless it is in a strongly contained private group, or is in private message. Even then, express restraint.
This whole dropout is kind of silly in the first place, since the vast vast majority of people who are 'standing up to' the facebook machine are people who already didn't have much use for facebook anyway (they don't keep up with it, or they're old or something, or their social group is already conspicuously absent so there's not much of a point to using it) so they're dropping out of something they don't much use anyway and questioned the utility of in the first place and dressing it up as ritchus(sp) protest.
Posted by Achilles (Member # 7741) on :
Mostly. That's not my personal experience, however. I didn't back out to protest, I backed out because of compromise. I'd already followed the guidelines above, but linked to my name, I'm not comfortable with it.
I had it locked down completely, but there are things that will remain public that I don't wish to put out there. When I come back, it will be in a professional capacity, and I'll likely use it like Linked-In. This is what Facebook will be, a public place to network, not the private place that it had been.
I already have such public places, and will continue to use them. When Facebook sorts out what they are and will be, then I might return.
Posted by neo-dragon (Member # 7168) on :
I'm still not getting what the trouble is, which is making me think that I must be missing something.
You go to the "account" tab, click on "privacy settings", and everything is organized in categories. Yeah, there may be 50 different things you can set but it just takes a couple of seconds for each unless you're putting a whole lot of thought into it. When in doubt, just set it to "friends only". I'm a teacher so I'm particularly concerned about students not being able to find me online. Saying that it took 2 seconds to ramp up my privacy settings is obviously hyperbole, but the literal truth is it took about 5 minutes. So far no curious student has ever been able to confirm that I even have a facebook page let alone view anything on it. One of the easiest things to adjust is who can even find your profile.
But of course, the number one rule as others have said is that you simply don't post anything about yourself on the internet that you're not okay with strangers seeing/knowing. You can quit facebook because you're worried about people learning your personal information. You can also quit speaking out loud for the same reason. Most of us learn how to practice discretion in real life, but people are only just beginning to learn how to do the same online.
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