The world according to Facebook
Do you know who has access to the information on your profile in Facebook? Think that it's just the people who you select as your friends? Think again. According to this story I found at http://www.albumoftheday.com/facebook/ all pieces of information that we post in our profiles are fair game for large companies who buy information from Facebook. There is no privacy when you join - if you are one of those people who actually bother to read the disclaimers (the pages of fine print written in legal-ese that you have to scroll through) then you would realize that you are agreeing to let Facebook use the information that you post in any way that they want. Scary.
And I don't know about you, but I've had complete strangers try and add me as their friend. That bugs me. And people who I recognize from highschool that I MAYBE said "hi" to in the hallway once or twice who are trying to add me as their friend. I almost feel like they're just doing it so that they can boast about how many "friends" they have on the website. AND - get this .... men that I meet from the dating website add me as their friend - sometimes before they even meet me for the first time!
I like Facebook because it is a handy way to see what my friends are doing - you can look at pictures that they've posted, read what they've been up to, etc. I worry about my son using it sometimes (I made him remove our address from his personal info section) - the kid has more than 300 friends! And he probably gives away too much about personal stuff. But think about it - Facebook has access to a whole lot of personal information and that doesn't sit well with me. Paranoid? Maybe. But I like my life to be kept private and only shared with those who I really know and trust.
posted by Marta at
6:49 pm
2 Comments:
Sorry, your son doesn't have 300 friends - he has 300 people who have listed him as a friend. A friend is someone you know intimately and will be there when you need them (and when they need you). Friends don't exist over a communication technology - friends exist when they are real and you can call and talk to them at any hour of the day.
I fear that Facebook and its clones have changed the definition of friends and family and not for the good. At a time when we need people close to us, the technology allows us to have many people, but probably none that can be relied on when needed.
8:53 am
Not to be taken literally anon - friends should be read more like "friends". Facebook is a big popularity contest for many. And I agree that Facebook and even email has changed how we interact with people. Some of my students are very brave with what they write to me in an email - not so brave when I talk to them face to face.
6:10 pm
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