More FB hate...

[ebbomega]

I know I've been known to go on an anti-Facebook rant or two. A lot of my earlier concerns with facebook were the glossed-over seemingly brainwashed masses giving me a zombielike "join us" rant ad nauseum ("You can find your friends from High School!" "You can find out how many people are going to this event!" "EVERYBODY is on there!" - Just about anybody who spoke to me about facebook the first 6 months it got big)...

Well, now suddenly the idea of all this personal information being so ridiculously accessible has come up and bit a fair number of people in the ass, and somehow my fears for it seem just a little more justified.

Facebook can ruin your life. And so can MySpace, Bebo... - News, Gadgets & Tech - Independent.co.uk

A couple of juicy snippets:

Just ask the 27 workers at the Automobile Club of Southern California fired for messages about colleagues on their MySpace sites; the Florida sheriff's deputy whose MySpace page revealed his heavy drinking and fascination with female breasts – and swiftly found himself handing in his badge; the Argos worker in Wokingham fired for saying on Facebook that working at the firm was "shit"; the Las Vegas teacher at a Catholic school fired after he declared himself gay on his MySpace page; the staff of an Ottawa grocery chain fired for their "negative comments" on Facebook; the 19 Northampton police officers investigated for Facebook comments; and Kevin Colvin, an intern at Anglo Irish Bank, who told his employers he had a family emergency, but whose Facebook page revealed he had, in reality, been cavorting in drag at a Hallowe'en party.

At Cambridge, at least one don has admitted "discreetly" scanning applicants' pages – a practice now widespread in job recruitment. A survey released by Viadeo said that 62 per cent of British employers now check the Facebook, MySpace or Bebo pages of some applicants, and that a quarter had rejected candidates as a result. Reasons given by employers included concerns about "excess alcohol abuse", ethics and job "disrespect".

Few people bother to read the fine print of a social network site's agreement, and the consequences of using one can occur in the most unexpected ways. A Newport Pagnell man, for instance, was ordered by magistrates not to contact his estranged wife, but when he joined Facebook, an automatic "friend request" was sent to everyone on his email list, including his former partner. She contacted police; the man was arrested and got 10 days in jail.

[NinjaBoy]

So you're not going to accept my friend request...

[dabbler]

you need Hatebook

[yoko*]

Those problems aren't specific to facebook though. Anywhere on the internet, even on online message forums, you need to be careful what information you share about yourself. If you're careless, you run the risk of that carelessness biting you in the ass later.

I personally deactivated my myspace and recently, facebook though. Facebook, just because I hated finding out about OTHER PEOPLE'S lives over the internet.

I was thinking about how stupid it was that my own biological sister was sending me messages to "meet up" over facebook, my best friends was saying "hi" to me over facebook messaging, and I found out my close friend was going to Thailand through a facebook comment left on HIS page, rather than from him directly.

I decided that I don't need facebook for now.

[tiedye]

I used to (and really, still do) hold those same feelings of ire toward these social cybercults, but I buckled a couple of months ago with FB because of my transient lifestyle. I lose address books, my hard drive has crashed, and sometimes I just forget about people I enjoy altogether throughout my travels. Facebook at least gives me a sort of 'home base' where I can update and be updated on the ongoings of my scattered life regardless of where I am.

I really don't see how people spend so much time on it though.

[Revolver]

im really anti myspace.

but i dig facebook. fast becomming my primary form of internet communication and i can reach everyone in one nice interface....

as far as personal info gose....i dont use the last name of give any vitals but,i also dont have anything to hide and i dont really care if big brother knows that im a avid avdenture traveller and club go'er lol...

*edit* and i find the 'events' part of it BRILLIANT....keeps me organized on what comming up and what to do. and its super easy to get info/invites to upcomming shows.

[ebbomega]

I agree, that even wasting away hours on FNK could theoretically be detrimental. I had one boss back at an old job see me speak ill of a client here and he asked me to remove the post (just in case the client happened to notice it). So I've seen firsthand how this stuff can get you into trouble.

What irks me about facebook is the way that pictures are distributed. It's really easy for someone on your friends list to find pictures of you that you didn't even put that. That disturbs me, because all of a sudden now I'm no longer controlling my own content on the social network. It's like someone quoted you and now you can't go back and edit it without it being obvious that's what you've done.

Also, the key selling points for facebook aren't exactly selling points for me.
1) Frankly there's only 1 person I've lost contact to from High School that I'd like to get ahold of, and about 50 that I'm more than happy avoiding. Others I'm fairly apathetic towards or I wouldn't mind finding them and find out what's going on with them, but in all honesty it's a kitsch that would last about 30 minutes after finding them online and then I'd go right back to never talking to them again.
2) Picture hosting. Eh, Flickr does this and doesn't claim copyright on your images
3) Event planning - How many times have you had an event that you totally meant to go to but things just didn't work out? This means that the numbers of who's going to the event and who actually makes it are different. Usually I find the internet to be a horrible gauge of what's going to be good and what's going to be busy. A lot of shows that get a lot of hype online get sparse attendance IRL.

Just seems not worth the headache to me.

WE WANT YOUR SOUL!

[-evil-duerr-]

i only use facebook to see when that random jerk from highschool's relationship crumbles yet again... ha ha, that'll teach em for trying to find love.

[decypher]

Also don't forget they call us users the basis for a "gift economy." People who provide content for free so that they can generate money through hyper-targeted marketing campaigns that divvy us up in more specific demographics. IE, some people found out about their christmas presents this year by being marketed the present that their parents had bought them on 3rd party site. Facebook has multiple agreements like this with other businesses online.

but, on the other hand, i'm such a tech geek with questionable social skills that i still use facebook. I'm just careful not to list off my likes and dislikes as much.

[thebobman]

Social networking is just like any other social activity; if you run around at the office party giving out personal details and damaging personal secrets its gonna bite you in the ass. I still don't understand how people don't get that.

[Goodfellow]

I dunno seems like sitting there picking apart every detail and ranting about how horrible FB is , is a far bigger waste of time than just using it occasionally.

I don't use my real name or give out any kind of personal info really, I just catch up with people I haven't seen in a long time and it's easier than trying to msg people on msn, because so many people leave their thing on and don't respond.

[Sykonee]

Originally Posted by thebobman

Social networking is just like any other social activity; if you run around at the office party giving out personal details and damaging personal secrets its gonna bite you in the ass. I still don't understand how people don't get that.

Because everyone who signs up to Facebook assumes only cool people are on there, which theoretically should rule out all upper management.
:suspicious:

[Disco_Whore]

I like it.

Don't care enough to defend or complain about it, so that's that.

[prozac]

Originally Posted by ebbomega

I agree, that even wasting away hours on FNK could theoretically be detrimental. I had one boss back at an old job see me speak ill of a client here and he asked me to remove the post (just in case the client happened to notice it). So I've seen firsthand how this stuff can get you into trouble.

This is so true. I've had a few close calls with fnk, and I am more careful than many people.

I also once had a picture of me taken by a stranger put up on facebook and tagged that was extreeeeeeemly compromising. I had to ask the person to take down and thank goodness it was taken down.

I changed my last name for a while, but now I've just switched it so I am not searchable.

Its fair enough if you have control over what you say on the internet and what you choose to display. And even though many ppl say "my profile is private or they are on my limited profile" I still wouldnt trust facebook security 100%. Ive had ppl I like to keep my social life private from find me in groups and find pictures of me posted by strangers. But we cant just blame facebook, this is a sign that we now have to watch everything we do everywhere we go. With cell phone cameras and video recorders at the palm of everyones hand, we could be "caught" doing anything anywhere. Therefore it comes to the point of watching every move we make.

I dont think the hate rant should be blamed on facebook, I think it should be a rant about our generation being caught in the middle of a technologies/communication revolution.

Anyways I have co-workers and even one of my bosses as friends... In a way having them there reminds me how public facebook is and to second thought what I let on my page.

[DefJef]

I don't hate face-crack so much. I think its a very convenient networking hub. I just hate 'friends' that keep sending stupid application requests.

"One of your friends made a bid on your value, click here to find out how much you're worth and bid on other friends too"

What the hell is that?!

Regarding your work or potential employer screening facebook, I don't think thats ok, but if you lose your job because you were dumb enough to post those pics you took of you and your buddies snorting gaggers and getting shitfaced, on a public site, a public site which 90% of people you know access and are notified every time you fart behind your keyboard, you're an idiot to begin with and are likely too stupid for the internet, and the job you had.

[mikey]

facebook is the anti-christ

[SEAN!]

Originally Posted by tiedye

I used to (and really, still do) hold those same feelings of ire toward these social cybercults, but I buckled a couple of months ago with FB because of my transient lifestyle. I lose address books, my hard drive has crashed, and sometimes I just forget about people I enjoy altogether throughout my travels. Facebook at least gives me a sort of 'home base' where I can update and be updated on the ongoings of my scattered life regardless of where I am.

I really don't see how people spend so much time on it though.

werd up homie, but im also concerned about the information that i leave availible on my page which is why i restricted access to that shit.

if some recruiter goggled my name theyd find all about some shit minor league hockey player in MA

[Serotonin]

Just imagine how many of your webcams have been hacked? might as well be using telescreens. ps i don't mind people snooping on me.
No fear at all in fact. I am what i am it is what it is.
1984 take it from an ex big brother employee.

[ppcock]

I had supervisors spying on my facebook for a little while

I changed it a bit, i'm not going to hide the fact that i love drinking, smoking and working in bars.

but that's really all the bad things in my facebook.