Facebook Conundrums
My ongoing like/hate relationship with Facebook continues. But I’ve decided it’s time to deal and make a decision about it. I’ve been so close to deleting my account fro months, but whenever I log in to do so, I just can’t seem to bring myself to it. In fact, whenever I log in, 30 minutes mysteriously disappears. It’s freakin’ evil!
(You can find directions for deleting your account here.)
Anyway, I’ve decided to simply keep the account and address the privacy concerns. This has always been the root of my issue with the service. Facebook started as a tool that was inherently limited - to academic accounts - thus there were some boundaries to the extent of where the information could go. Where Facebook has failed repeatedly over the years, largely due to it’s founder’s disdain for privacy concerns, is that it has more broadly distributed our information without giving users the choice of whether to share that information or not. The problem of course, is that you have to Opt-In for privacy, not Opt-Out for the distribution of your content (which remember, Facebook owns once you put it up there).
So for myself, I decided to strip out a lot of information (which I would have had to share to keep in my account), delete all applications (please don’t send me app requests people!) and limit my personal imagery to my Flickr account. In Facebook’s defense they have recently implemented some much better privacy controls which make it possible to maintain an account if your careful. (And, if you care about maintaining some privacy.) Here’s an article with some more info on the topic as well as some ideas for protecting yourself; although I’d imagine any directions are already out of date since Facebook has been scrambling to change the privacy settings so much recently - still, it’s a good read.
This also seems like a gratuitous opportunity for me to once again re-link to one of my favorite Facebook movies:
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Comments:
Haha - classic.
I know Facebook is “evil” and “dangerous,” but I can’t help myself. I’m addicted. I’m staying in touch with former students, and gotten back in tough with long lost friends…things that didn’t happen in my pre-Facebook existence.
Rus Hardin likes your post.