"Facebook" a.k.a. "How to be a stalker 101"...?
For those who are unaware of the popular college (and recently high school) networking website called "Facebook", it has been an easy way for students from many accredited colleges, universities as well as high schools to find other students in their area, with common interests, etc. It seems to be one of the easiest ways for students to waste time when they find themselves bored or tired of doing homework. Sure, it's been an easy way to get in touch with old friends, keep in touch with current ones, and share photos from group gatherings.
Of course, I'm sure many people (myself included) have been the target of random people sending messages commenting on how pretty or handsome they look in their pictures, trying to find out if he/she is single and, in what is an appropriate term for what goes on, virtually stalk them.
A couple of days ago, I happened to log onto facebook to find that it had undergone another one of it's occasional "face-lifts" as the facebook designers so call it. However, this time it was nothing ordinary. Facebook had been designed so that every time a user logged on, it gave them a rundown of the most recent activity of any and all of their facebook friends. And not even the simple activities such as an updated profile picture or a new photo album - it was now telling every "facebook friend" if a person had dropped out of a group, what he/she had written on someone else's wall, if he/she had a new friend, if he/she had a change in relationships, etc. As though facebook was not already a tool for stalkers! The "new" facebook just made it ridiculously easier for anyone to become a stalker through facebook...and that too, possibly even unintentionally!
A lot of the people I am friends with on facebook are not people I am in touch with on a very regular basis. Though I am with some, I talk very rarely to most. I don't think it's the most comfortable feeling for everyone to know that their every move on facebook, what is supposed to be a casual time pass for students and a way to keep in touch with friends, is being noted and watched by everyone who is on their list of friends.
Yes, Facebook designers can argue that this information is only being shared with those who had access to a users profile in the first place. However, I prefer to be able to choose whose profile and whose information I see, instead of knowing that the kid I went to high school with four years ago broke up with his girlfriend and knowing exactly how he feels about it. That is just strange.
My faithful Google toolbar happened to point out an article by the Financial Times on this very situation. It's located at: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/28decc88-3e92-11db-b4de-0000779e2340.html
Check it out!
Of course, I'm sure many people (myself included) have been the target of random people sending messages commenting on how pretty or handsome they look in their pictures, trying to find out if he/she is single and, in what is an appropriate term for what goes on, virtually stalk them.
A couple of days ago, I happened to log onto facebook to find that it had undergone another one of it's occasional "face-lifts" as the facebook designers so call it. However, this time it was nothing ordinary. Facebook had been designed so that every time a user logged on, it gave them a rundown of the most recent activity of any and all of their facebook friends. And not even the simple activities such as an updated profile picture or a new photo album - it was now telling every "facebook friend" if a person had dropped out of a group, what he/she had written on someone else's wall, if he/she had a new friend, if he/she had a change in relationships, etc. As though facebook was not already a tool for stalkers! The "new" facebook just made it ridiculously easier for anyone to become a stalker through facebook...and that too, possibly even unintentionally!
A lot of the people I am friends with on facebook are not people I am in touch with on a very regular basis. Though I am with some, I talk very rarely to most. I don't think it's the most comfortable feeling for everyone to know that their every move on facebook, what is supposed to be a casual time pass for students and a way to keep in touch with friends, is being noted and watched by everyone who is on their list of friends.
Yes, Facebook designers can argue that this information is only being shared with those who had access to a users profile in the first place. However, I prefer to be able to choose whose profile and whose information I see, instead of knowing that the kid I went to high school with four years ago broke up with his girlfriend and knowing exactly how he feels about it. That is just strange.
My faithful Google toolbar happened to point out an article by the Financial Times on this very situation. It's located at: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/28decc88-3e92-11db-b4de-0000779e2340.html
Check it out!
posted by Writer Through Life... at 2:51 PM
1 Comments:
yeah i dont even like logging onto facebook anymore. it feels wsy too creepy!
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