Get ready to change your privacy settings on Facebook again. Possibly in answer to the popularity of location based networks such as the rapidly growing Foursquare, Facebook has made some changes to the language in its privacy policy from “add a location to something you post” to “place” meaning you can refer to a page such as a local bar or restaurant.
Another change that is causing a lot of negative sentiment towards the site is the sharing of information with “carefully selected” partner sites, Facebook say that this will make these sites “offer a more personalized experience”, this will work using the Facebook Connect function, the partner site will then hold the information about you, this will include your photo, name, friend list and any other information you have not made private within your privacy settings.
It is the new policy on the sharing of information that has resulted in 678 mostly negative comments on Michael Richter’s, who is Facebook’s deputy general counsel, recent blog on the changes. The reason behind most of the negative comments is the fact that this service when launched will be an opt out service, people believe they should be opting into this service that basically gives the “carefully selected” partner sites access to you public information. If you do not opt out and then decide you do not want a site to have your info then, at present, it is down to you to contact the site and ask them to remove your details from its servers.
What do you think, do you want your details being shared by default or would you prefer to opt into this service? Let us know here.
As Facebook heads towards its sixth birthday next month, The Economist special report takes an in-depth look at social media.
One of the most interesting parts of this excellent article is the section on the future of social media. The future, it would seem, is mobile. Sharing is one of the main draws of current social media and this will continue in the future at every opportunity. We already update our status from our mobiles, but how about letting your friends see a picture of what you are about to buy, letting your sat-nav tell your loved ones you are heading home, or recording the TV program that all your friends have been talking about online?
Apps like Foursquare already allow us to share our favourite places and ideas of what to do in our cities, as we know, things move fast in this day and age so this extending sharing is only just around the corner. Poker is already looking into the upcoming technologies and how we can integrate them into our services.
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