Facebook, anyone?

[Annette]

We just opened a company page at Facebook this morning. Anyone here a member? Still working to get the page to look the way we want, and haven't added all the features we're hoping will work...but please take a look and let me know what you think. We need some folks on our fans list! Please?

Here's the link:
Shrapnel's Facebook Page

Thanks!
Annette

[B0rsuk]

No. Facebook is evil. They sell your personal data.

We may use information about you that we collect from other sources, including but not limited to newspapers and Internet sources such as blogs, instant messaging services and other users of Facebook, to supplement your profile.

We may share your information with third parties, including responsible companies with which we have a relationship.

[Dedas]

I hate facebook for just that reason.

[kasnavada]

Woah...

I don't hold facebook in my heart either (actually, I find this kind of site completely useless) but some people like it : no need to bash it that much.

[Shovah32]

Bash it that much? Other than B0rsuk saying it was evil, and Dedas saying he hated it, all that happened was the posting of some quotes from the site.

I'm not a huge fan, but I don't hate it - I just don't use it.

[Annette]

As a social networking site, I think it does a great job of controlling spam and protecting privacy. I don't interpret their terms of use as meaning they sell my private information to outside parties. My understanding is they collect the personal information I provide (and I can provide as much or as little as I choose) to help people find me.

They also collect statistical data to help people and businesses network. As a potential advertiser on Facebook, I can select a target group from their entire audience who will see my ad. For example, they can target my ad to females between ages 18 and 24 who live in Brazil. This is more meaningful and economical than paying to have my banner ad displayed to every person who visits a particular website. I take the quote from their terms to mean that the type of information they share is a gathering of statistics about their users - the same type of statistics collected by virtually every commercial website out there magnified by 100, of course, because most users provide much more personal information than on a typical forum such as this.

For example, we know how many people visiting our store are using which internet browsers. We couldn't say that visitor x uses browser c, but we can say what percentage of our visitors use browser c. Now, if we used those statistics for profit by selling outside advertising on our store's website, we would have to tell you that we were distributing that information. Facebook, on the other hand, knows how many of their users claim being Christian, or Republican, or a college graduates. Pretty powerful information in the world of advertising. I may be wrong, and I've been wrong before, but I think that's all I am agreeing to by using their site.

I'm not an avid advocate of Facebook, but I do think it has merit. Of course, if you're not into the idea of social networking online, then Facebook will have no value to you. But as such website's go, I think they're one of the safer sites as compared to, say, MySpace.

[B0rsuk]

I prefer the last.fm way: you don't even have to provide email if you don't want to.

[Dedas]

I'm totally positive to the idea of social networking. I'm just not a fan of an organization selling your personal information to any one they please. Facebook is not free (as it should be), you are of course paying with what you put up on their site. For most people that is a part of your private life. And the scary thing is that people are led to believe that what they upload on the site is something that they have control over.

Ah yes, everything is of course written in the terms of agreement you "must" read before you sign. But alas, how many teenagers (or adults for that matter) do you think read them before clicking?

So what Facebook does is perfectly legal in every sense. In my eyes it is just not very moral.

[moderation]

I get the feeling that most people here, myself included don't care much for Facebook. There's plenty of social networking alternatives besides Facebook and Myspace. Granted they may not have as many users, but they may have better privacy practices. Why not try one of those as a replacement or an another option?

[lch]

Dom3 gamers don't seem the social networking type, is all.