Facebook--good or evil?
I had been resisting facebook for a long time, until Brooklynne recently pushed me to "get on the grid." Honestly, I've only logged on once since my profile was created about a month or two ago. However, there's something about facebook that I don't like, but that I haven't been able to articulate. Its the same feeling of invasion that I felt when I gave in and got a cell phone. I could no longer be unavailable. With facebook I can no longer be lost. But I'm a flexible guy, so I adapt to changing norms and try to find some way to make the new framework work for me.
But then I started reading about facebook's business plan, and how they plan to make millions by massaging the gray areas of privacy--and I got scared again. David Weinberger has a good article that explains some of my discomfort with FB.
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Thanks for sharing that, Miles. That's kind of disturbing... and unethical!
I just went on hiatus from facebook. Your post pushed me over the edge. Thank you. And I mean that.
I don't want to spoil people's fun just because I'm a curmudgeon, so I'm glad other people are nervous about this too. It makes me feel less paranoid.
Old Soul (Wise Man) and Curmudgeon are two different things. I hope you don't take offense to that ... it's meant as a compliment.
I remember being concerned about gmail's advertising based on the content of your emails, but now find that to be harmless. I do think facebook is pushing the envelope a little further, and I understand your concerns.
For the time being, though, the positives of facebook far outweigh those concerns for me, personally. I have enjoyed keeping up with people that I never would have (or thought to have) kept up with because of it. It has also been a means to rediscover long, lost friends.
That, and it is far less sketchier than Myspace.
That's part of why I don't even Facebook at all. A blog is about as far as I'm willing to go in giving up what little anonymity we have left!