TIME Magazine's cover story this week is on Facebook and the privacy debate. Here's a link:
While I appreciate the neutral stance the author takes towards the evolution of Facebook, I still don't think he does enough to sound the alarms that it should. Though the article seems to see Facebook as something fascinating, perhaps a bit sinister, but nonetheless inevitable, its content made me want to run away even faster.
I became fed up with Facebook, when, a few weeks ago, I was forced to either publicly declare all my interests, favorite movies, books and bands, or have none at all. I chose the latter, and I'm glad I did. The recent changes to Facebook have all assumed that I want everyone I know to know everything I do. But I've never been like that, even in my everyday life. Not too long ago, it suddenly became hip to become a "fan" of anything and everything. You can be a "fan" of Tide detergent! What?! Now the "fan" button is gone entirely, replaced by and all-purpose "Like" button, which has been seeping into third-party sites as well. What Facebook is expecting we'll do is go around clicking "Like" buttons on everything on the internet. I suppose the real-world equivalent would be to leave sticky notes with your name on everywhere you go. Doesn't that sound ridiculous? It does to me.
The real problem for me, though, is that I'm really just an unpaid cog in Facebook's giant advertising machine. They want me to declare my approval things so they can tell my friends about it, and then tell the company that makes that thing that they deserve more money for publicizing it. Word-of-mouth publicity isn't bad per se. In fact, I prefer to hear about things that have a seal of approval from someone whose taste I know and trust. However, Facebook is just helping the awful talons of bandwagon propaganda sink deeper into our psyches and hearts. It's been slow, and it's been quiet, such that we hardly noticed. That's the creepy part.
Facebook is also trying to become the everything site. The article covers this as well. Eventually, the goal seems to be that the entire internet connect back to Facebook. This sounds like what AOL did ten years ago. Remember "keywords?" Already, products and movies put "become a fan on Facebook to learn more", or some such nonsense, in their ads. "Visit our Facebook page," they say. It's nice for them, because making a FB page is so much easier than making an actual website. I didn't like the AOL thing, and I don't like this.
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