Not a Fan of Facebook
Apr 22nd, 2010 by Alex
I’m not a fan of Facebook.
For many people, Facebook is social glue; a social networking magnate that ties disparate groups and individuals together, sorted out in a neat little (and aesthetically pleasing) package. I admit that it can be difficult living without it. I know that I’ve sacrificed social opportunities by being out of the loop, living in the dark, and requiring friends to email me or pick up the phone if they want to reach me.
Here’s a few reasons why I abstain.
A Horrible Record
Over the past couple years Facebook has routinely made sweeping changes that affect the privacy of their users. Beacon was just the beginning. It seems like there’s a new outcry every month due to changes in the way Facebook shares data or with whom, in many cases without notifying users ahead of time or offering a way to opt out.
My problem isn’t that Facebook has privacy issues. Any large site that enables the sharing of data is going to have these sorts of growing pains; the need to balance the user experience and revenue, for one. My problem is with how the issues are handled. Recent attempts to simplify privacy settings have arguably made it worse. When you can opt-out of data sharing, many times the controls are buried within varied configuration panels.
It just doesn’t seem to get any better.
Lately Mark Zuckerman has decided that people aren’t interested in privacy anymore. If he were to do it all again, everything would be public. That’s all well and good, and it probably would have been better in that users would have to think about what they’re putting out there, but I doubt Facebook would have grown in popularity as much as it has. There’s still plenty of room for walled gardens.
One argument is that “they can’t expose what you don’t share to begin with.” That’s true, but isn’t that what makes the service great? Shouldn’t we have a reasonable expectation for a company to be consistent in the way they handle our data? I think we should.
But it seems to be heading in the opposite direction. A few days ago Facebook removed users’ ability to control some of their personal information. The details are still being fleshed out, but it’s possible that the whole thing is just a way for data mining firms to get at us in new ways.
Time will tell, but considering Facebook’s track record it doesn’t look good.
The API
The open API has long been a boon to Facebook, allowing 3rd party developers to write applications, quizzes, and games that can be seamlessly integrated into the site. But when it comes to your personal data, it’s a sieve.
What’s required to be a 3rd party developer? Oversight? An agreement to handle data in a sensible way? A trial period? An application? According to an August 2009 article (What Facebook Quizzes Know About You), not much.
“Facebook also doesn’t screen developers for trustworthiness, nor do they require the developer to comply with a privacy policy. It’s also noted that Facebook does not use any technical measures to limit how developers can collect and use personal information.”
If it were just Facebook that had access to my information, I wouldn’t care. But it isn’t. It’s any game, quiz, or widget that utilizes the API. The article mentions the ACLU Privacy Quiz. By taking it, you can see examples of what sort of API users can see about you and your friends. Live data, straight from your account. Your friends don’t even need to access the quiz for the authors to retrieve their information. You might be surprised.
Cash Flow
My biggest concern with Facebook is their means to generate profit.
Aside from showing advertisements, they haven’t figured out a way to make money. While the same could be said for Twitter, Vimeo and YouTube, the only thing that Facebook possess that has any marketable value is the personal information that you share, the relationships that you document, and your usage of the service. For a partial glimpse of the internals of what Facebook tracks, there’s an interesting interview with an anonymous Facebook employee.
The bottom line: it is only a matter of time until advertising revenue comes up short and they sell your personal information to cover, whether it’s in aggregate or bit by seemingly inconsequential bit.
I wonder if Facebook has ever considered charging a fee for its services. If it enables so much and makes life so much more vibrant and enjoyable, would you pay $1 each year for it? Many would. I might, if that charge assured that I was in control of my data. Such a minute charge could raise hundreds of millions of dollars per year, but I don’t see it happening anytime soon. People have an irrational aversion for paying for online services, even if they’re useful and reasonably priced.
More importantly, it would leave Facebook on the hook. No longer to it’s users-of-a-free-service, but to its customers. Responsible.
Idle Thoughts
When you use Facebook, all the bells and whistles of social interaction come at a price. Not knowing what’s going to happen with all that you share. You only need to look at Facebook’s numbers — something like 400,000,000 users presently — to realize that lots of people think it’s worth it. I just don’t happen to be one of them.
It’s good to know that I’m not the only IT-paranoid weirdo out there.
I DO use facebook, though. I get head shakes all the time when I mention that no, I won’t be putting pictures of my child on facebook, and no, I hardly ever post anything other than the occasional comment. I keep virtually zero personal information on facebook, and they got a single-use email from me (thanks qmail and dot-files!), so when the whole beacon controversy thing erupted, I just didn’t have to worry about it.
What it boils down to is that Facebook knows that a person with my name exists, and that’s about it.
I have the same sort of concerns as you, but mine were rooted further in the future. In 2 years, when the Next Big Thing™ comes along, and Facebook is discarded, or sold, and then sold again, then sold to a less reputable company, then sold to a creepy Russian guy, I don’t want my permanently-time-capsuled data to suddenly explode on the internet for all to see.
While I also use Facebook, I have taken a bit more care to only share information with the folks I want to share it with, and I have been a bit more careful when it comes to applications–presuming I even allow it in the first place.
That said, Facebook has had an interesting string of fiascoes when it comes to features and its care for its users’ privacy.
Then again, I ascribe to Scott McNealy’s maxim about privacy in the Internet age: There is none–get over it.
I understand your concerns, bro.
I use Facebook fairly regularly, and I have for about 5 years now. I am not particularly concerned with the privacy issues since I control what I post and who can post things about me. Before I was allowed to control alot of that, I was just careful about what information I allowed on the site to begin with.
I also have very little shame.