In making a move meant to enhance user privacy, Facebook went about things in a kind of intrusive way this week. As you know, the site started out as a college-kids-only social network, and the content you’d find on Facebook at that time reflected the demographic in all its boozy glory. But now Facebook’s for everyone, and it’s a serious enterprise, so the company felt compelled to give a stern lecture to all of its members, regardless of age, reminding them to grow up and review their privacy settings, lest the photos of their silly antics with a bottle of Captain Morgan be exposed to the world at large.
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Thanks for writing in. In regard to Facebook requiring its members to review their privacy settings, that "skip for now" option you saw on the pop-up only appeared so many times before users were given no other choice than to review their settings. Personally, I was allowed to "skip for now" only once. The second time, my only option was to look at the privacy page.
In other words, whether users chose to take care of matters the first time (as you did), or whether they chose to procrastinate until no longer given a choice (my experience), the end result was that all users were required to review their settings. This was mentioned in the article in question, and it has been reported elsewhere.
Of course, in a broader sense, you are right: Nobody was physically forced to do anything. If users really didn't want to do any of this, they could just abandon Facebook altogether.
Man, I wish journalists could stick to the facts but on the otherhand, I'm sure this journalist didn't even want this story... regardless, facts are still important.
I changed my privace settings yesterday when I logged on because a window popped up after I signed in but I was not "required" to do so. As always, there was a "skip for now" option at the bottom of the window; so no, I wasn't "required" to take action. Stick to the facts!
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Facebook's Bossy, Cagey Privacy Maneuvers
Posted by: Paul Hartsock December 11, 2009 09:00 AMIn making a move meant to enhance user privacy, Facebook went about things in a kind of intrusive way this week. As you know, the site started out as a college-kids-only social network, and the content you’d find on Facebook at that time reflected the demographic in all its boozy glory. But now Facebook’s for everyone, and it’s a serious enterprise, so the company felt compelled to give a stern lecture to all of its members, regardless of age, reminding them to grow up and review their privacy settings, lest the photos of their silly antics with a bottle of Captain Morgan be exposed to the world at large.
Thanks for writing in. In regard to Facebook requiring its members to review their privacy settings, that "skip for now" option you saw on the pop-up only appeared so many times before users were given no other choice than to review their settings. Personally, I was allowed to "skip for now" only once. The second time, my only option was to look at the privacy page.
In other words, whether users chose to take care of matters the first time (as you did), or whether they chose to procrastinate until no longer given a choice (my experience), the end result was that all users were required to review their settings. This was mentioned in the article in question, and it has been reported elsewhere.
Of course, in a broader sense, you are right: Nobody was physically forced to do anything. If users really didn't want to do any of this, they could just abandon Facebook altogether.
I changed my privace settings yesterday when I logged on because a window popped up after I signed in but I was not "required" to do so. As always, there was a "skip for now" option at the bottom of the window; so no, I wasn't "required" to take action. Stick to the facts!