[Dare Obasanjo] Some Thoughts On The Facebook Beacon
This is stupid. It’s not just that, it’s really stupid. Facebook screwed up. AGAIN!
I’ve not really embraced the Social Networking revolution in the past couple of years with open arms like many people in my age bracket (I might sound 55 but I’m actually only in my mid-20s). The reason? Overriding concerns about my privacy (oh and that MySpace, the site that really started all this crap, sucks really badly and belongs to NewsCorp). I eventually caved in earlier this year and opened a Facebook account and thought ‘this is not so bad’. I deliberately limited the private info I inputted where possible to avoid exposing myself. I made a point to seem open bout what I liked etc however.
It’s truthfully not a bad website. It’s a bit clumsy and muddled in places, and it’s a touch-and-go experience when it’s busy, but the combination of a convenient 1-stop for my friends network (well, part of it) and the interesting range of Apps makes for some fun (although the overload of app invites gets frightfully annoying after a while). It’s helped me remember 3 birthdays alone already - something I’m singly terrible at.
Imagine my horror then when I read about this new Facebook Beacon thing via the huge buzz it was causing on the great Techmeme. I knew when people like Dave Winer, Robert Scoble and Om Malick, fir chris-sakes eve CNN, get upset by it then you know it’s serious. I’ll leave you to muse over the linked post - I personally find it really nasty, I’m considering quitting Facebook if UK companies start adopting the Beacon.
I’m with Dave Winer - it’s my data - I want to control it, not some cynical ad-hound. Suddenly all the reasons I wouldn’t dive into social networking are coming to the fore…
