The Latest Facebook Fuss

Remember the kids in school who would dress half naked and then turn to you and say “whatdaya think you’re looking at?” when you’d stare at them?   I’m not saying you shouldn’t dress half naked, but if you’re going to do it, you shouldn’t get all bent out of shape when people stare at you.

And so it goes with Facebook, the social networking website so dear to college students, who share their personal profiles there. It seems that the Facebook community is up in arms because of a new feature called “news feeds” that the site implemented. It lets everyone keep up to date with any changes in their friend’s profiles – even if they don’t actively go and check out those changes or it’s not an especially close friend.  A growing number of Facebook users are joining groups (groups are part of the Facebook social scene to meet like minded individuals) to protest the new feature.  Some say it messes up the clean page (agreed) and others say it violates their privacy.

Here’s how it works. On my profile, if I change my status from married to single you can find out about it on a “news feed” – a summary compilation of all profile changes from all of your friends. They can change schools, change favorite sports, add a new friend, have a new thought. If they change it on their page, you’re alerted on your personal profile page. Now, it’s easier to keep up on the intimate details of your friends changing lives than ever; you don’t even have to visit their pages.

From an aesthetic perspective it’s a mess and it’s pretty shocking. As a matter of fact, it’s so shocking that I’m not even going to show you a screen shot of my son’s news feed (he graciously allowed me to look) for fear of incriminating half of the known college world.

Seriously though, what Facebook has done is made it easier for you to see what your friends have already told you. If you don’t want someone to see it, well… you should limit who your friends are using the site’s privacy settings or leave Facebook entirely.

As Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook’s creator says in his blog to his assuage the community, “We didn’t take away any privacy options. [Your privacy options remain the same.] The privacy rules haven’t changed. None of your information is visible to anyone who couldn’t see it before the changes. If you turned off your wall to non-friends, no one who is not your friend will be able to see a post on your wall. Your friends can still see it; it hasn’t changed. Secret groups and secret events remain secret from other people. Pokes and messages remain as private interactions. Nothing you do is being broadcast; rather, it is being shared with people who care about what you do—your friends.”

If I were Facebook I’d respect the users’ voice and dial back on this new feature. Maybe make it an option for your profile changes to appear on the news feed, not a requirement. After all, it’s supposed to be all about options, isn’t it?

That said, Zuckerberg said exactly what social networking users, both kids and adults, need to hear. If you wouldn’t want it blasted on every newspaper, shouted from the roofs, and broadcast to people everywhere, don’t say it in your personal profile. And for goodness sake, don’t be shocked when someone takes what you’ve said and makes it easier for others to find. That is the nature of information.

Think I’m being too hard on the kids? On Facebook? Let me know.