Facebook just launched another update to their site and added some new features and changes to what we all get to see when we log in. For the most part, I think the changes are pretty good. I get a little annoyed by hearing people complain about the changes by just saying “CHANGE IT BACK FACEBOOK!” The Facebook developers spent a lot of time on these updates and likely planned a while before implementing them, so give them the benefit of the doubt and try them out before screaming and whining. And remember, Facebook is free, if you don’t like it, leave. Maybe go try out Diaspora!
All that being said, my wife and I are seeing things in the new update that are quite concerning, so I thought that I would try and document them here for others to comment on and spread the word.
It appears that I am seeing things that my friends post on other peoples pages who I don’t know. I believe this is because the friend had a post that was visible to Friends of Friends or Public, so when my friend posts a comment on that, I see it in my ticker/news feed. This is HORRIBLE!
Let me give you a hypothetical scenario inspired by the Cable Guy:
- I’m friends with my boss and I’m friends with my wife (I hope!).
- My wife posts a story about bad bosses at work or something and makes it visible to Friends of Friends
- I comments on that story “Ya, that is totally like Hal my boss, he just like Mr. Magoo! And those Hair Plugs!!”
- This comment will show up in my bosses Ticker and his News Feed!
- Sigh…Now I get fired because of Facebook
No that didn’t happen, BUT IT COULD!!! Just because I could dig and dig and find that same thing (because of privacy settings), it doesn’t mean that Facebook should be throwing it in peoples face. Facebook, you are taking eavesdropping to a whole new level: You are promoting it and saying it is OK! You are helping people stalk other people. This is not good!
My comments and likes, etc should have MY default privacy setting, not the friends (or their post)! Facebook seems to understand the fact that humans share differently with different groups, so why would I want everyone I’m friends with to see something I may only want that group of people to see?? I have seen no privacy setting to fix this gaping hole!! Some have mentioned that the “Privacy Setting->How you Share->Who can see Wall posts by others on your profile” would fix this, but I don’t believe it will because they aren’t on my wall, they are on other peoples walls.
So Facebook, please fix this problem! Until you do, everyone better be careful with what they say because ALL YOUR FRIENDS ARE LISTENING!
If you agree with this, let Facebook know by going here and submitting feedback with a Privacy Concern!! Don’t just yell about it on your Facebook status, tell Facebook you don’t like it! And this is just another reminder that you all should take a look again at your Privacy Settings on Facebook and make sure you are sharing with who you think you are.
This entry was posted on Thursday, September 22nd, 2011 at 10:52 am
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You started off your piece, by saying “I get a little annoyed by hearing people complain about the changes by just saying “CHANGE IT BACK FACEBOOK!” Then go on to basically reprimand those that do {myself included}. You finish by saying “And remember, Facebook is free, if you don’t like it, leave.”
May I remind you that yes, Facebook IS free, BUT, they are making their BILLIONS of dollars off of all of us-the ones who have these, free accounts.. Do you think they are being all nice and just giving this to the world? It sure sounds like that to me, when anyone uses that tired, lame reason, to tell people they need to stop complaining.
It also seems to always prove out, that once the people who “get annoyed” at those of us who don’t like the changes, see that, uh ohhhhh, this could cause ME some harm, so now it’s OK to complain and whine about the changes.
Are you OK with the cookies that they place in your computer so they can track you? And don’t be fooled, they haven’t fixed any issues, as they were never issues. They knew exactly what they were doing when they started this. Again, it’s all for the money they get from advertisers.
I sure wish the people that are fast to run to tell all the complainers and whiners that we have to remember this is a free service, would THINK before they rush to judge. It would save us all time and aggravation, while waiting for those people to, *get it*, and come over to the *dark side* HA!
That’s all, I’m very happy you came around. Have a lovely day : )
You can see at the bottom of a friend’s post whether they’ve shared it with friends or everyone or what have you. If they’ve only shared it with their friends you *should* be safe… but, yeah, the whole thing has made me gunshy of commenting. Which is sad.
I have seen my friends asking to change settings on what to show on them (on my wall) and stuff, I have yet to clearly understand the actual “benefit” of auto-sharing. Why do I have to “control” my friend’s post being shared on my wall (I mean why do I even have that power) and that I have to rely on my friends to keep my privacy?!
Don’t get me wrong, I really like the design of the new timeline, I am just very confused by the “home” page stories and the ticker on the right, they look like they are doing the same thing and yet they are not… I have no clue why there is a difference and why cwertain things are shown twice and how I can change my facebook feed…
[…] At first you wonder why there are so many updates compared to the old News Feed – are people posting more or did Facebook previously hide content? Neither – the ticker shows you all of your friends’ activity even with people who aren’t your friends. Now if you post on somebody’s wall or they post on yours, all of your friends and all of their friends can see your post and subsequent comments. Here’s a humorous example of how that could get you in trouble. […]
Good article Andrew… not just for comments on status updates, but photos. That has REALLY been bothering me lately. If my “friends” choose to be friends with questionable people, that’s up to them. But when those questionable people post horrible HORRIBLE photos on Facebook, and then my friends comment, it’s now showing on my feed. The PHOTO. Last night it was a murdered dog – that’s AWFUL. What if Kaden was sitting next to me when I opened Facebook? He likes to play on my farm, and now that’s something that I have to be concerned about? I screen my own friends for this reason, and now I’m seeing content from people that aren’t my friends? I’m NOT happy about it and will be submitting a complaint.
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