Tech Blog

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Love it or hate it (or hate to love it), Facebook is a huge force on the Internet right now. The problem (and not just "of late") has been how Facebook handles (or mis-handles) your privacy. To combat and make a statement about this, a group started a campaign that today (May 31st) is: Quit Facebook Day to quit Facebook in protest of Facebook's (perceived) disrespect of your privacy. The open questions are: will you quit and does it even matter if you do?

I'll answer for myself right off. As much as I really, really don't like Facebook, I have to acknowledge that a huge number of people who I would like to learn about my books are on Facebook. So I have a Facebook page for my first book— Create Your Own Blog —and shall for my second and third. So love it or hate it, Facebook is something I can't ignore. That doesn't mean that I don't agree with what the folks behind Quit Facebook are saying, because I think they right. Facebook needs to make managing your privacy on FB easier and educate people about privacy better.

It's the education part that is one that there is a fine line between what Facebook needs to do better and "you're joining something that is built on sharing stuff, so what did you think would happen." Honestly, you join Facebook to share "stuff" about yourself. You connect with people you know and share pictures, thoughts, annoying games, etc with them. It's about sharing. And because a lot of these people are friends, you want them to have your phone number, email address, maybe your birthdate and home address. The problem is that you don't want the whole world to know these things. So here's what I do: If you're not a friend, you're not going to learn a lot about me on Facebook. And if I don't want the possibility of something being shared publicly (say my exact birthday or home address) I don't put it on Facebook at all.

So in the end, I doubt that many people will quit Facebook today. I also bet that a lot of the folks who quit Facebook today will be back in short order (peer pressure ain't just for High School anymore). However, I know that the discussion and issues raised by Quit Facebook Day are having an impact on what Facebook (at least publicly) is doing and saying. So, Facebook changing some things and people learning more about how to protect and preserve their own privacy online. I'd say that's a win.

Mike Vardy at Work Awesome and PCWorld both have good discussions on this topic today….for your reading pleasure.