They thought News Feeds were bad...
Wednesday, October 14, 2009 by Anonymous
Danah Boyd's title to her 2008 article, "Facebook's Privacy Trainwreck", is, now a year later, quite the amusing hyperbole on par with 'video nasties' and the like.
As a refresher, her article recounts Facebook's 2006 inception of 'News Feeds', the application that publishes everything you, your 'friends' and your 'friends' ' 'friends' have been doing on the site. These News Feeds range from quiz results you made public to the little thank you note someone left on your Aunt's Dog's Walker's Cousin-you-met-once-in-May-last-year's page. Danah then goes on the recount the enourmous negative reaction the new service recieved, claiming users at the time were 'outraged' and felt their privacy had been breeched.
Facebook's founder Mark Zuckerberg was quick to reply, insisting only information already public was being revealed. Instead of looking at your Aunt's Dog's Walker's Cousin-you-met-once-in-May-last-year's page for details on what they are doing and who appreciates the gesture, the information is all together in one convenient place. This, Zuckerberg claimed, "helped people keep tabs on their friends"(Boyd 2008. 14)
It wouldn't be long before the scandal was over, the outrage subsided and the New Feeds an accepted part of Facebook, and daily life. Even myself, a techno-sceptic by virtue of the fact my head can't process all the information thrown at me from my various techno-portals, must admit, when I check my Facebook (which is becoming more and more regular) I breeze through the New Feeds before I do anything else. I look at this article, and it's terror inspiring hyperbole of a title and laugh. Or I did, till I found myself in a similar predicament.
Just for a laugh, I thought I'd Google myself. I'd heard it was the thing to do...who wouldn't love to see if they're famous enough to find themselves on the net? So I tapped my name into Google's search bar, expecting nothing but a White Pages entry and maybe, if I was really lucky, some archived article from the local paper I was quoted in.
Turns out I was more famous than I thought. Googling myself returned 8 pages related to me.
Only problem was, most of these had nothing to do with that local paper that interviewed me and everything to do with who I was 'friends' with on Facebook. Friends and aquaintences on mine popped up in my search results, their descriptions stating : "Here are some of ['friend']'s friends: ...Gina Minahan...". Two of these search results were even in another language!
I laughed at people's outrage to News Feeds, whole heartedly agreeing with Zuckerberg when he insisted all that is published is "public anyhow", (Boyd 2008. 14) little knowing that I would find myself in the same situation.
Turns out it wasn't long after the News Feeds fiasco that Facebook made all it's listings searchable on sites like Google, Yahoo and MSN search. In October 2007 limited information from member's profiles was made publicly available through search engines. (Cashmore 2007). The amount of data searchable is, of course, very limited. A profile photo, list of friends (and their photos) and all that I am a 'fan' of is listed, with all other information restricted to members I approve.
Members do also have the option to op-out of the search as it were, by changing their privacy setting in Facebook to restrcict their profile to only those they approve.
Some could argue then that, like the News Feeds drama, this is no bigger deal, and it is as much ancient history as the News Feeds themselves. Yet I still have concerns. When I signed up to Facebook, (which I admit was only in the last year) I was aware of News Feeds, but comfortable with the fact that they remained within the realms of Facebook. My behaviour on Facebook then, was dictated by the norms that operated within the site. I wasn't aware that some of what I did within the boundaries of Facebook was searchable by the entire world.
The concern here is not so much I'm out there in the world, but what could I and my data be used for.
To make matters worse, search result number one happens to be a glorified advertisment for Facebook. In place of the gorgeous starlet, there is me. The result reads: "Gina Minahan is on Facebook. Join Facebook to connect with Gina Minahan and others you know."
Already I am being used as a brand for advertising Facebook. This goes beyond an issue of Privacy and begins to cross identity lines as well.
References
Boyd, Danah 2008. Facebook's Privacy Trainwreck, Exposure, Invasion and Social Convergence. Los Angeles: Sage Publications
Cashmore, Pete 2007. "Facebook Profiles will Appear in Google Results Next Month" on Mashable, The Social Media Guide http://mashable.com/2007/09/05/facebook-search/
As a refresher, her article recounts Facebook's 2006 inception of 'News Feeds', the application that publishes everything you, your 'friends' and your 'friends' ' 'friends' have been doing on the site. These News Feeds range from quiz results you made public to the little thank you note someone left on your Aunt's Dog's Walker's Cousin-you-met-once-in-May-last-year's page. Danah then goes on the recount the enourmous negative reaction the new service recieved, claiming users at the time were 'outraged' and felt their privacy had been breeched.
Facebook's founder Mark Zuckerberg was quick to reply, insisting only information already public was being revealed. Instead of looking at your Aunt's Dog's Walker's Cousin-you-met-once-in-May-last-year's page for details on what they are doing and who appreciates the gesture, the information is all together in one convenient place. This, Zuckerberg claimed, "helped people keep tabs on their friends"(Boyd 2008. 14)
It wouldn't be long before the scandal was over, the outrage subsided and the New Feeds an accepted part of Facebook, and daily life. Even myself, a techno-sceptic by virtue of the fact my head can't process all the information thrown at me from my various techno-portals, must admit, when I check my Facebook (which is becoming more and more regular) I breeze through the New Feeds before I do anything else. I look at this article, and it's terror inspiring hyperbole of a title and laugh. Or I did, till I found myself in a similar predicament.
Just for a laugh, I thought I'd Google myself. I'd heard it was the thing to do...who wouldn't love to see if they're famous enough to find themselves on the net? So I tapped my name into Google's search bar, expecting nothing but a White Pages entry and maybe, if I was really lucky, some archived article from the local paper I was quoted in.
Turns out I was more famous than I thought. Googling myself returned 8 pages related to me.
Only problem was, most of these had nothing to do with that local paper that interviewed me and everything to do with who I was 'friends' with on Facebook. Friends and aquaintences on mine popped up in my search results, their descriptions stating : "Here are some of ['friend']'s friends: ...Gina Minahan...". Two of these search results were even in another language!
I laughed at people's outrage to News Feeds, whole heartedly agreeing with Zuckerberg when he insisted all that is published is "public anyhow", (Boyd 2008. 14) little knowing that I would find myself in the same situation.
Turns out it wasn't long after the News Feeds fiasco that Facebook made all it's listings searchable on sites like Google, Yahoo and MSN search. In October 2007 limited information from member's profiles was made publicly available through search engines. (Cashmore 2007). The amount of data searchable is, of course, very limited. A profile photo, list of friends (and their photos) and all that I am a 'fan' of is listed, with all other information restricted to members I approve.
Members do also have the option to op-out of the search as it were, by changing their privacy setting in Facebook to restrcict their profile to only those they approve.
Some could argue then that, like the News Feeds drama, this is no bigger deal, and it is as much ancient history as the News Feeds themselves. Yet I still have concerns. When I signed up to Facebook, (which I admit was only in the last year) I was aware of News Feeds, but comfortable with the fact that they remained within the realms of Facebook. My behaviour on Facebook then, was dictated by the norms that operated within the site. I wasn't aware that some of what I did within the boundaries of Facebook was searchable by the entire world.
The concern here is not so much I'm out there in the world, but what could I and my data be used for.
To make matters worse, search result number one happens to be a glorified advertisment for Facebook. In place of the gorgeous starlet, there is me. The result reads: "Gina Minahan is on Facebook. Join Facebook to connect with Gina Minahan and others you know."
Already I am being used as a brand for advertising Facebook. This goes beyond an issue of Privacy and begins to cross identity lines as well.
References
Boyd, Danah 2008. Facebook's Privacy Trainwreck, Exposure, Invasion and Social Convergence. Los Angeles: Sage Publications
Cashmore, Pete 2007. "Facebook Profiles will Appear in Google Results Next Month" on Mashable, The Social Media Guide http://mashable.com/2007/09/05/facebook-search/