One week later
So, how are things one week later, after I left Facebook?
They’re pretty much the same. I don’t miss Facebook at all. I’ve spent some time padding out my LinkedIn contacts, and I’ve spent more time on Twitter. I like social networking, I just couldn’t support the ethics of it.
I’m a little worried about being less able to spread around my posts here and promoting my improv shows — Facebook is too important to OTI to justify pulling our presence on the site (plus, out 15,000+ fans are clearly very devoted to us and would miss us terribly and be unable to find us here), but it makes a difference when you put your name on something.
But that’s just it, isn’t it? Facebook uses your own personal stamp – your friends’ trust in you – to make that difference to its customers, even if you and your friends are oblivious to what they are doing in your name.
Anyway, enough ranting from me for now.
But, wait, one more thong … er, thing
Oh, this wouldn’t be finished if I didn’t mention Friendster.
So, I toyed with the idea of going back to Friendster, and then trying to convince my friends to follow me back. Contrary to popular belief, Friendster has neither disappeared nor failed as a business — it is a very successful site with more than 100 million users that was very recently bought out for a very healthy eight figures; more than Google offered it at the height of it’s U.S. popularity back in the early aughts.
The catch? It’s the #1 social networking site in Asia. Not a lot of my friends are in Asia.
Friendster was bought by a Malaysian payment services company called MOL Global just a few months ago – in December of 2009. So, yeah, if you want a free social networking app in Simplified Chinese or Filipino, go for it. Knock yourself out.
But be warned – Friendster and MySpace both lost the interest of U.S. users primarily because of the massive infiltration of porno spammers, and they’re probably still there.
It seems activity has died down recently, but when I logged back into my Friendster account after two years, I had 53 unread solicitations from porno people that had snuck through the spam filter, along with ten embedded videos of a Southeast Asian thong-clad butt that had been posted by a friend whose account was apparently compromised.
My girlfriend’s mom recently went to my Friendster page (probably because I deleted my Facebook page), and e-mailed my girlfriend, asking why this woman’s butt was all over my Friendster. She was pretty alarmed. It was pretty hilarious, but also somewhat regrettable.
Nostalgia, really. Ah, to have the social networking problems we used to have. Not only were they transparent, they weren’t wearing any clothes!
By the way, one of the ways MOL Global makes money is by enabling transactions with online video games in Asia.
So, Friendster was basically bought with World of Warcraft Gold, which is pretty hilarious.
What say you all?
The OTI audience is pretty smart — what do all a y’all think of this Facebook mess? I know a lot of people who have left, but it’s mostly early adopters and tech-heads, not really day-to-day users. Anybody else here quit it? Thinking about it?
Oh, and Google Buzz did eventually apologize for pulling its crap during its launch, and changed its policies, unlike Facebook. But does anybody actually use Google Buzz?
It ain’t the finale of Lost, but it’s something. Sound off in the comments!
I’ll get back to the Juggalos in two weeks — there’s a lot more to say, especially with all this in mind.
Now, THIS is a social network.
I deleted my Facebook and my Twitter back in late December or early January but for different reasons. I was compulsively checking the two services for updates (as I had some friends who used one, the other or both) and that needed to stop. Now I’m able to justify my account deletion with Facebook’s less-than-principled privacy policies. I never had a MySpace or a Friendster and Facebook was my first Social Networking experience and while it wasn’t bad…it definitely got worse as time went on. I believe the “You have 0 friends” episode of South Park really drove the point home with how inane social networking has gotten.
I would join you, Fenzel, on your exodus from Facebook were it not for the fact that Facebook is literally the only way I’m connected to roughly 2/3 of my friends (actual friends, not people who just clicked the ‘friend’ button). I’ve become very wary of what I post on my Facebook page now that I’m entering the magical world of job-hunting.
@Rider
Good work. It’s important to recognize what we don’t want and not waste time on it.
@Wade
Once you are among the workers and out in the world, socializing is quite bit different. I suspect your social life will change and adjust on its own quite a bit. For one, in-person interactions become more important, because you have to make more of an effort for them to happen, and you have less time to do it in. I think that naturally leads to people having smaller, inner circles of close friends when they are out in the world than when they are in school.
Also, weekends matter more, if you get them. That makes social planning a lot more important and useful, and dulls the utility of the instantaneous connections on Facebook.
But regardless, the more dependent you are on Facebook, the smarter it is, I think, to consider at least adding some other options — so that if you _can’t_ use Facebook (say you get a job that blocks it that has very long hours), you aren’t cut off from social support and get super lonely.
As for your other friends, I recommend writing down or recording their phone numbers or e-mail addresses somewhere. I have Gmail and a G-1 phone, so I use Google contacts a lot (that has its own issues, but not nearly as troublesome as Facebook).
But even then, it’s a good idea to go through your lists of contacts offline at least every year or two, figure out which ones matter, and remind yourself who is there. The main reason to do this is in the even you lose your cell phone or something else happens — that way, you can still get in touch with people.
Facebook is okay for this, but having your own contact list is better. Not everybody is on Facebook, not everybody on it uses it all the time, and for certain things (both business and pleasure) you’re really going to want to call people directly, or at least e-mail them. It gives you a lot more options.
It just wouldn’t be an OTI article without a graph, now would it? This came through my Twitter feed today:
http://mattmckeon.com/facebook-privacy/
I guess it’s never bothered me because I’ve always treated my Facebook page like I’ve treated my blog and any e-mails. I don’t post anything that I’d be humiliated about if it was read out loud in open court.
I never assumed anything on there would be kept private, regardless of their promises.
…and, in an eerie bit of confluence, from yesterday’s NYT:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/nyregion/12about.html
Open Sauce!
@Fenzel:
Real world coordination is the main reason that I really use facebook. It is easier than keeping up with a million email addresses of people, and if I’m throwing a party or something, this makes it a lot simpler to use than something like evite or a mass email.
Given your stance, I think you will appreciate this tidbit:
http://gawker.com/5538216/facebook-ceo-slammed-dumb-users-who-trusted-him-in-college
And I quote:
Zuck: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard
Zuck: Just ask.
Zuck: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS
[Redacted Friend’s Name]: What? How’d you manage that one?
Zuck: People just submitted it.
Zuck: I don’t know why.
Zuck: They “trust me”
Zuck: Dumb fucks.
See, this all *could* have been done right…probably even by the people that Zuckerberg took the idea from in the first place. :-/
@Fenzel:
Thanks for the advice! I didn’t mean to come off like a weird shut-in who lives on the internet. I’m just in that awkward period where most everyone I know has moved back to wherever it is they came from before college, so Facebook’s become the de facto network for the time being. I’m not wholly dependent on it to keep tabs on people, its just the only social networking site I use outside of Twitter.
Writing down a tangible contact list is a very good idea, though, so thanks for that.
Also in the process of deleting my FaceBook account, this was recommended to me. It’s a start up by four NY students that shows great promise, in my opinion and apparently a number of investors that believe this is the way to go.
http://joindiaspora.com/
The idea is essential thus: Each user owns a ‘node’, their own node. This node is a desktop in their home or a server in a data center, and it holds all their information, tightly encrypted i might add. The idea is that only friends that know each other can share their information, and they choose what information to share. It’s a very distributed type of idea, and does away with the idea of a centralized mainframe where everyone’s information is kept. The technology is there, and it seems that the interest is great enough that they stand a chance to step up and into the social networking field.
The first public release is slated for September, so we’ll see then, hm?
Here’s another Facebook related link, which mentions that the Facebook Privacy Policy is longer than the Constitution sans amendments: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/12/business/facebook-privacy.html
Personally, I gave up on Facebook in 2005, since it didn’t appeal to me. Though, to be fair, I only know about five people. From what I gather, however, it’s grown into a hideous, unwieldy behemoth.
I left Facebook around November last year, with the attitude “If Facebook is the only place where we’re ‘friends’, then we’re not really friends.” There were only about 5 people whose updates really mattered to me, and I follow them on Twitter anyway. I also just got sick of more and more pointless crap showing up in my feed, I really don’t care if so-and-so adopted a chicken on Farmville.
Sad, we never got to be friends, Fenzel…
In all seriousness, I have contemplated leaving a number of times because of what you bring up. It may be better to beg forgiveness than ask permission for the one doing the wrong, but what about the one being wronged? Right? But alack, alas, I’m in the same boat as you, Wade, in that friends have geographically changed, and it makes keeping up with them easier. Now, adding a bunch of names to a FB message is no different than sending a mass-email, I realize, but it’s easier to have that and some of the other stuff available on the same site. I like dinking around on the internet, but I like things as simple as possible because I’m not very good with technology or computers- so for me, the consolidation factor is what keeps me signed up. It was the first social networking website I joined, and I only did so because of how tight the stipulations for signing up used to be (a legitimate email address from a college allowed to participate). Were it then the way it is now, I wouldn’t have made an account.
Interestingly enough, Google has done something I consider somewhat lamesauce, too. If you ever created an account on Blogger, it’s impossible to delete the profile. Sure, you can get rid of any blog posts and render the profile invisible, but you can’t get rid of the profile itself- thereby making it impossible to delete the account. Rather irksome, especially since I no longer have access to the email address it thinks I used to set up the account
@Gab
That’s a fairly common problem with web based message boards (particularly VBulletin ones in my experience). There’s two reasons for this. The first is that if your delete your account, the system removes your username and then someone can sign up for an account using that same name and could start masquerading as you. The second is that it’s possible that you return to the service if you still have an account even if you’re dissatsified with site for whatever reason.
Google’s GMail service handles it the right way. You can delete your account and the system deletes your account BUT does not allow the reuse of your username (at least as far as I know).
Fascinating read, as usual but I do have to take issue with the personal story.
“…taking something extra from a customer without their permission and without giving them a fair chance to say no is wrong.”
Yes, that is wrong for a business to do. But it’s not what you did. The fact that the woman whom you were serving didn’t specify which wine is on her, not you. It’s her fault for either being ignorant or lazy.
@Steve
You’ve probably never worked at a restaurant that serves booze. Not specifying what kind of wine or liquor you want always means the house wine or the house liquor. It’s an unwritten rule, but it’s a rule nonetheless.
I didn’t understand how pervasive this rule is at the time, either. That’s why I thought I could get away with it. But realizing that the customer, my manager and the other servers all had the same understanding about the rule.
When a customer gives you tacit permission to do something for them based on a reasonable expectation, it is not on them to make their expectation explicit. It is on you to not twist their intention and bilk them out of money by abusing shorthands.
In other words, a business is not a genie of the lamp. It has an obligation to honor the social expectations and shorthands around what its customers ask for. It’s not customers being vague — it’s the business being wilfully ignorant of widely understood semiotics.
As a business, if my customer pays me to give them a potion that will make sure they never age, it is fraudulent for me to turn them to stone. As a genie, it’s merely hilarious.
Eh, early in the morning, made some typos on the last one. But you get the idea.
@Gab
I thought we were facebook friends! If we weren’t it’s an oversight on my part. You were the first overthinking it reader to friend me, so it’s possible that, at the time, I kind of balked at friending people I didn’t know personally. I had loosened up over the years. Sorry if I inadvertently hurt your feelings.
@ Emily
Good on ya, Emily! Well put!
@ “Economists Do It with Models”
Hi Jodi! ;-)
People should check out Jodi’s blog, by the way, linked from her name. It’s very good.
Also, that exchange is hilarious — and telling. One of the things about Facebook’s response to this that is very unsettling is their lack of candor.
Elliot Schrage, the Facebook Public Policy Officer is a toolbag and a shill, but I don’t know what else you’d expect from a guy they brought over from the Gap.
Like a previous commenter, Tom, I too generally assumed they would try to profit from your personal information, no matter what they claimed. Everybody else does. That’s why my facebook page has never contained any personal information–the “about you” sections I filled in with jokes: I’m a demigod, Daniel Radcliffe started the Spanish-American War, etc. I never understood those people (everybody, apparently) who feel it necessary to be honest on these things, as if advertising one’s love of some musician or movie was an important facet of their “digital selves.”
Daniel Radcliffe started the Spanish-American War? That is funny. As we all know, it’s actually the Sino-Japanese War that he started.
I’m very careful when it comes to filling out forms or information for any website. I don’t even give my real name or e-mail address unless I have to. You can’t trust anybody.
@RiderIon: Now I find that part about Gmail fascinating, since Blogger is a Google service and shows up when you’re editing stuff from your Google homepage. If they allow you to delete it in once service, why not another? Silly Google, silly, silly Google.
@Fenzel: Uh, I friend-requested you? When? I don’t even remember this. And actually, I thought I avoided asking you and the other OTI writers to avoid any awkwardness/ to not seem like a stalker/crayzay fangirl ZOMG the Overthinkers EEEEEEEE!!!! etc. Maybe I had a moment of weakness…? Ack. I was just giving you a hard time, I’m sorry!
I deleted my Facebook account too, due to their ever changing privacy policy and third party partnerships. (And their habit of changing/adding privacy options that default to “everyone” can see.)
If Facebook was straight forward about their intentions, business direction, and partnerships I’d feel differently. I want to make informed decisions about my privacy.
I see Facebook as a pimp, selling users’ information to advertisers and whomever else will pay for the data.
Not a useful service to me. Not an equitable trade.
I’m always on it. I’m at that stage where i’ve got a few close friends and alot of loose social acquaintances, and everyone kinda lives around each other… it’s easier to use Facebook to let everyone know i’ll be seeing X band or Y pub or whatever
http://tahamaniac.blogspot.com/2010/05/why-i-left-facebook.html
Eh, I’m pretty sure that what Facebook is doing is illegal and Zuckerberg’s an idiot with a big head who thinks Facebook’s more important than it actually is, so my money is on him going to jail and us all getting our info back, so why leave Facebook and not be able to keep in contact easily with my friends from high school, college, grad school, and from different places I live? Not gonna let Z-berg affect my life. Meanwhile I just deleted all my stupid “likes.” So sorry Miley Cyrus, I am no longer your fan. Ironically, of course. ;-)
A few more links — now we learn that Facebook is indeed passing personally identifiable information onto advertisers, in contravention of its own privacy policies:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704513104575256701215465596.html
http://www.benedelman.org/news/052010-1.html
Unfortunately this sort of thing is really quite common in Web 2.0 type companies. They think they’re Masters Of The Universe because their lawyers cooked up a weasel TOS that basically reads “we can do whatever the hell we want and you guys can suck it” and users are too clueless or easily cowed to care. Some video game publishers have been exhibiting a similar attitude lately with respect to shady DRM practices, but it’s starting to bite them on the ass.
I only use Facebook for the lols; there’s no “personal information” beyond what could be found off a simple Google search and I only log on maybe once a month to clean the dirty laundry.