Comments on: confused by Facebook

By: SweetV

SweetV — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 09:04:05 +0000

um…. i dont know where to start…. i guess i wanna know if it is possible for some one to take the pics and things from face book and fake messages from them to you…. i think this is happening to me … what should i do? please w.b.

By: angelica

angelica — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 09:48:08 +0000

though i signed up for facebook i am not using it any more because of confusing User Interface

http://www.ceveni.com/2008/09/why-facebook-is-confusing-and-mess.html

By: Johnn B.

Johnn B. — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 10:43:49 +0000

I came across an Ad Age article about Facebook this morning.

Leave it to advertisers to offer some great perspective…

A couple of interesting points:

While Facebook strives to mirror their users offline network, it fails because there are people IRL that would never have an online profile. It remains a place to find your friends who like to create online profiles
Demographic data is unreliable on social networking sites because people tend to fudge facts about themselves. If Facebook plans on basing their ad network on user profile data, they need to guarantee the soundness of that data to advertisers. If not, then welcome to the world of direct online advertsing like what currenlty pollutes MySpace

By: Jenny Campbell

Jenny Campbell — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 04:44:55 +0000

I’m not a keen user of Facebook or MySpace. Perhaps I’m too old. I’m nearing 60. Anyway, some of my friends joined Facebook so when invited, I joined up. Yeah it was fun for a while. I liked playing scrabble with them, but I hate it when a friend sends me something to do and I have to add that app in order to do it. I hate those apps. I don’t want to answer silly questions or draw graffiti on walls. But you feel obliged to do what a real friend asks. In fact I’ve been challenged to ask a question.
Most of my other friends didn’t want to join. They are certainly not as tech savvy as some of the others and think their identity can be stolen by joining up. After what you have said about Facebook, I’m wondering if they are right! I never write anything on the internet that is too personal anyway. My bank account details are certainly not on Facebook.
I have a web site and a blog and podcasts and videos to play with, which I find more satisfying.

By: jon

jon — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 18:46:08 +0000

my only lament is that people would take personal responsibility. y’all act like facebook doesn’t have a way to alleviate most of these concerns if only one would read.

[apologies if this is twice posted; i neither saw a notification that the comment was in moderation nor a confirmation of posting]

By: jon

jon — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 18:44:09 +0000

my only lament is that people would take personal responsibility. y’all act like facebook doesn’t have a way to alleviate most of these concerns if only one would read.

By: Cathy Dwyer

Cathy Dwyer — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 12:28:18 +0000

I agree that Facebook’s privacy policy is not as safe as you might think. If you don’t know who is in your “network,” then you don’t know who can see your profile. I have been to presentations attended by Facebook’s chief privacy officer, and they market Facebook as being more private than MySpace. Opening up the site to Google seems to be completely contrary to their “privacy” philosophy. The only reasons to do it are for economic benefit (for Facebook that is). Adding an opt out feature only papers over the problem.

By: Elaine Young

Elaine Young — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 18:00:42 +0000

I’m a FB user — and I also use it to support several of my classes. As a Professor I find it a great way to stay in touch with my students, and I am finding several of the applications to be quite useful.

The iRead application, for example is providing an opportunity for me to set up book discussion groups for my classes AND the added bonus of students showing off the books they are reading.

I have also plugged in the DivShare application which has allowed me to post my class syllabi on my profile.

As a marketing prof, I find the issues you raise to be fascinating. I am watching as FB continues to offer opportunities to widen their reach, and to provide ways to allow others to find their service. Again, it’s about connecting. I too wonder when there is a breaking point — it is clear that people can reject the applications and choose not to use them, so there in lies the sense of control that other posters have referenced.

I think that there is more to come and at my college, at least, many of the students are still engaging around it because it does provide a fast and easy way to see what your friends are up to.

Elaine Young
Associate Prof. e-Business Management and Marketing
Champlain College

By: Tom Cotton

Tom Cotton — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 17:28:01 +0000

This discussion got me asking why is FB so popular with 30+ crowd? From my own experience it’s a great way of being connected. My gen is probably the most internationally mobile gen ever.

We pick and move to wherever the next job is anywhere in the world. In my travels I make new friends and leave them as travel takes me away. My sister, brothers & parents live in different cities in different parts of the world.

* FB makes it easy to stay in touch in *more ways* than a chat can; & at times that convenient to me.
* FB means I can be lazy & not pimp my profile UI other than with ‘Apps’.

By: Rukia13

Rukia13 — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 23:44:52 +0000

Very interesting dialogue!

FB quickly lost its luster for me (I’m in the over 30 crowd). Those apps annoyed me to no end and the superficiality of it all grated on me.

Networking with people I’ve lost touch with? Ha! How can you call it networking when, as one poster mentioned, the activities there have little to do with work? How can it be networking if the extent of your contact is to read people’s status updates? Where’s the relationship building in that?

Danah is completely right in her assessment regarding the privacy settings. FB gives you the illusion of having more privacy settings, but that’s not the case.

I may have mentioned this in an earlier post. I found that although my privacy settings were set quite high, people I wanted no contact with ever again or people who should not have been able to see my profile, could.

One thing that hasn’t been mentioned yet is that although you can “deactivate” your FB account, all it means is that you can’t log in. Your profile is still visible and accessible by everyone in the FB network and potentially, the World Wide Web.

Unless you minimize the information in your profile before you “deactivate” your FB account, you will still be found.

Streamlined, I recommend you do this before you “deactivate” your account for your privacy and safety.

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