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Facebook Ticker/New Feed Privacy Concern
12 years, 6 months ago Posted in: Blog 7

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.