Two-Faced-Book

[FluffyMcDeath]

There's the profile you know about on Facebook, the one where you volunteer information and let them track everything you do on or thought the site, and then there's the other one - th one Facebook compiles on you from sources on the net or third party databases or ... NSA? who knows ... but, due to a bug, it started leaking recently.

 

[Glaucus]

I'm guessing that this "shadow" account is data collected from sites that use Facebook login. Doesn't Whyzzat use that? I believe it does. If so, I'm still not sure if that's better or not, but there may be something about it in the terms and conditions that no one ever reads.

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

I'm guessing that this "shadow" account is data collected from sites that use Facebook login. Doesn't Whyzzat use that? I believe it does. If so, I'm still not sure if that's better or not, but there may be something about it in the terms and conditions that no one ever reads.

There is probably some sort of snail trail you leave through their login but that's likely legitimate since you are "using facebook" and you already signed away all content you create for facebook. I think the article referred to phone numbers and emails when you allow them to use your address book as being one of the things that leaked. That would be stuff you may not realize you gave them and that should have been kept private (mostly so you wouldn't know ).

But I remember reading a terms of service that seemed to imply that they own everything you post to facebook and you allowed them to scour the web for any other information on you ... so they could enhance the service, I suppose.

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

more

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

Norton busts facebook app.

 

[Robert]

Norton busts facebook app.

From the article:

The former chief security officer for Facebook ​

left the internet giant for the NSA​

and the company quite clearly works with ​

government​

as the latest leaks have shown.​

​

How cozy.​

 

[Glaucus]

I guess Facebook doesn't understand that safeguarding their users privacy is kinda important for their long term viability.

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

I guess Facebook doesn't understand that safeguarding their users privacy is kinda important for their long term viability.

Nah. People don't really care about that. Not SUCKING is what's important for long term viability - but then again, who really cares. The founders made their fortunes already. Continued operations is just gravy but the stock buyers have already been suckered so it could end tomorrow and the Zuckster won't have to give any money back.

facebook is actually in a great position to manage its leaks. First, like I said, most people don't care - they already know they are giving up a lot of information to get the service so they've already pre-volunteered for a lot of the "cost". Second is that facebook can pretty quickly identify the squeaky wheels on their own network and propagandize them or counter propagandize their audience in a focused and efficient way. facebook can control the message on its own network and has sufficient reach to influence a large part of the population and gauge the effectiveness of out of band information (nightly news etc) in near real time.
Third, play the "technology" card. It was a bug, a programming error, etc. It's always plausible and people are used to stuff being full of bugs.

 

[Glaucus]

I don't think it's really all that. The ace that FB has up it's sleeve is that it's really hard to take your social network and go somewhere else. People do move from forums and news sites quite easily and even whimsically. But a deeply rooted social network doesn't follow you around like you'd want. If I had my way all my friends and relatives would be on G+ instead, but that's just not the case.

 

[Robert]

If I had my way all my friends and relatives would be on G+ instead, but that's just not the case.

I'm not sure I prefer one over the other, to be honest; two handily-useful peas in a nevertheless manky, data-hoovering pod.

 

[Glaucus]

I'm not sure I prefer one over the other, to be honest; two handily-useful peas in a nevertheless manky, data-hoovering pod.

I wasn't suggesting one is better in terms of privacy or whatever, I was just pointing out that FB is very well entrenched and those who enjoy it's service would have a hard time finding the same level of service anywhere - mainly because the service also depends on who else is using it. Sorta like going to the same bar your friends are at. You could go to a different bar but you might not have as much fun.

The funny thing about both FB and G+ is that I'm on both but use them very differently. I use FB strictly to keep on touch with some friends and relatives abroad (it just works better than email or phone calls). G+ I tend to use more like a glorified twitter which I use to follow certain groups such as Android Developers and a few other things. I also use G+ to backup all my photos but share them only with the few close relatives who are on G+. Where as on FB I post only a select set of photos and those are shared with all my friends. I use FB to manage my ball hockey team and G+ my Android app. I check FB maybe once a week or less and I check G+ daily, but that might be just because the G+ Android app is light years ahead of the FB app.

 

[Robert]

I wasn't suggesting one is better in terms of privacy or whatever, I was just pointing out that FB is very well entrenched and those who enjoy it's service would have a hard time finding the same level of service anywhere - mainly because the service also depends on who else is using it. Sorta like going to the same bar your friends are at. You could go to a different bar but you might not have as much fun.

Got you now and yes, I can't disagree with any of that.

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

The ace that FB has up it's sleeve is that it's really hard to take your social network and go somewhere else. People do move from forums and news sites quite easily and even whimsically. But a deeply rooted social network doesn't follow you around like you'd want.

facebook is more sticky than a lot of other sites but things can still change faster than you'd think. I know quite a few people who used to facebook. Those were people who joined because of friends IRL who used facebook but in the end went back to phone calls and email because they didn't like facebook. They did't even leave for a competing service.
In the same way that fb grew as key people in social circles joined up until their friends all followed those key people can migrate and take whole social circles with them. Teens and young adults seem very mobile in this respect and they can platform hop very quickly before they become stodgy adults stuck in their habits. Those are people that are easy to lose but very much needed for future revenue and to replace attrition. A few years of missing out on those people can turn a site into a backwater of old fogies that's so un-hip its pants won't sty up without suspenders (braces).
Then there are all the straddlers like you. You guys are the sleeper cells of social networking. As more and more people run duplicate networks on multiple services then abandoning one of them becomes easier. Whoever figures out how to help you do what you want done best can switch those people over very quickly. While fb could still count them use members their hours would drop precipitously within days.

 

[Glaucus]

Oh I agree Fluffy. But like you said, it's not the sort of thing that tends to happen quickly or at will. I've heard for some time now that young kids are jumping on to G+ because their parents are on FB. I can't say if that's true or not, I haven't really noticed a youth jump. But I doubt that would be effective as the parents would jump after their kids anyway as many parents are on there just to keep tabs on their kids. And G+ might be the long term winner as your G+ account is useful in so many other ways, where as FB is just FB. If that happens it'll be a slow transition until it becomes fast.

I think people will simply use different social networks and for different reasons. FB and G+ are old school social networks, but we're seeing some newer ones popup that are more special interest. Sorta like Pinterest. And no I'm not trying to rhyme 'cause that's just a waste of time. Err...

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

If that happens it'll be a slow transition until it becomes fast.

I think that's the key point and the problem is that it is very difficult to know where you are in relation to the cliff because when it gets fast it can get VERY fast, but while it's slow it's really difficult to see. FB pretty much needs to know what other sites it's users are on and what they do there to have any idea where they are on this curve and what they should do about it. And even then ...

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

Not quite on topic, but, someone thinks facebook is important.