Facebook Denied
Everyone probably saw the picture on the front page and to the left here, so yes, Facebook denied, why?
Well, it's not as if I hate Facebook or social networking, personally I wouldn't want to put all my info on a site like Facebook but hey, it's not like what I do with this site is so different, I put loads of pictures here and give some information about my self and what I like or don't like. Now I even started blogging, it's not so different.
So why then do I think Facebook is bad? Well, again, it's not Facebook itself which is bad, the things I get annoyed by are things like the story I am about to tell you.
It's clear I do not have an account on Facebook nor will I have one in the foreseeable future. So one day I get an email from a site where I subscribed to their monthly news letters and info because I liked the sites subject and considered their articles valuable and related to my political views. This site did not have a user account system, only a possibility to subscribe to their newsletters and get general info about the subject. So, I subscribed, and one day got an email about a survey, the subject of this survey was something which was closely related to things I was thinking about at that moment and I had a strong opinion about the subject, so of course I decided to take the survey in the hopes I could make a difference in this world, again, it was a political survey of which the results would be presented to the Dutch government.
So, I click on the URL taking me to the survey and get a screen stating that I have to logon before I can take the survey, ok, fine, but I don't have an account, what are my logon options? Well, Facebook was the primary option, but luckily, the people who were hired to manage the survey (an external company specialized in organizing surveys) had thought of that problem, so I could go to their own website and create an account there, fine, let's do that. So I go to their website, click on create account and get directed to a page telling me that if I want an account I first have to logon to this site with Facebook.
Can you understand my frustration? I mean, even if I had an account with Facebook, do you really think I will enter my username and password on a third party website? That's a huge security risk. And even if the website is completely safe and they actually mean well, do I really want to link my political opinion to a Facebook profile where people can see who my friends are and how drunk they got last night?
The things you post on Facebook can have a tremendous impact on your life, is it really wise to link this to official things you do online? Is it really necessary to link this to the tech site where you want to read an article for your work? There are enough stories on the internet about people getting fired for saying something bad about a colleague or boss on Facebook, stories about peoples house getting robbed when they are on holiday, etc. In my opinion it is very wise to limit the number of people who know your Facebook profile and can read your posts, that's why I urge websites and the people running them to ALWAYS keep a seperate logon system for people who do not wish their Facebook profile known all over the world. And, of course, also for people like me, who just don't have Facebook nor want it.
Next to this story there are ofcourse more factors, things like Prism, Facebook trying to force people to use real names instead of nicknames while historically the internet has been a place of nicknames and anonimity. And why would they want to force people to take away profiles of their pets? Pets are cute and I can understand people wanting to show the world their beloved pet.
Update 2013/07/20: Of course it is possible to secure your Facebook profile, if you pay attention to not post private details and if you check you security settings.
Update 09-09-2013: Ok I have caved, I have made a Facebook account, everyone is dumping MSN so I kinda needed the chat, it's scary though to see how much I already posted and how happy I was to join the big Look At Me party.