Your Ex-CoWorkers Will Kill Facebook 267
Random BedHead Ed writes "Cory Doctorow writes about the downside of social networking on the Information Week site, with a focus on Facebook. While he starts with some minor but insightful quibbles, he quickly moves to a critique of the core of social networking: 'Imagine how creepy it would be to wander into a co-worker's cubicle and discover the wall covered with tiny photos of everyone in the office, ranked by 'friend' and 'foe,' with the top eight friends elevated to a small shrine decorated with Post-It roses and hearts.' Do you really want to add your boss and coworkers to your friends list? (And more to the point, do you really have a choice?)"
Re:this is old news... (Score:5, Interesting)
Schizophrenia is a perfectly reasonable response to modern society, if you've accepted that you can't change it and you want to live at any cost, I suppose...
Hmm. I don't seem to care. (Score:3, Interesting)
I do recognize that some people have the kind of boss that demand to be added to my profile. I'd simply have ignored him. If I was really pushed, I'd either let him fire me (fun times ahead!) or give him access to the limited profile.
Again, though, my boss isn't an ankle-dragging technical cretin.
Re:People are stupid? (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm amazed there are people who don't do this.
Re:People are stupid? (Score:3, Interesting)
in the real world... (Score:4, Interesting)
What is Facebook? (Score:3, Interesting)
Here were are at the obvious end conclusion. Social networking sites are not bad just for children, they are bad, period. Diary books normally come with a lock and key, social network sites come with an invitation for you to share your personal diary with the rest of the world, whether the rest of the world has any desire to read it or not. Social networking is to the Internet what reality tv is to video based entertainment. If we could get the pages judged by American Idol judges, perhaps it would be a bit better, but as long as bright neon spandex clothing continues to be sold in XXXL sizes, social networking sites will continue to plague society.
I personally think it is a bonus feature for my next job interview that I don't have a social networking account.
Re:uh, dont use it? (Score:4, Interesting)
My Fiancee and I went to the same high school but were in different grades. Despite being in a musical together, we only talked on perhaps two occasions. One day she wondered what I had been up to (people at my old high school still talked about me after I left due to my NASA work) and sent me a message. Less than a week later, I visited her at her school and discovered someone absolutely amazing.
So, despite all I might disagree with, I owe much of my current happiness to both NASA and Facebook. May they both live long and prosper
Re:People are stupid? (Score:3, Interesting)
maintain... separate online identities for Work and Recreation
You'll notice from my /. nickname that I did this...
...and now sort of regret it, now that I'm consulting and wish I could tie together the various sites at which I lurk, as part of an effort at building a coherent brand...
...something which I would surely regret 5 years from now, when I move on to project X.
Wanna know what's really funny? I chose "myvirtualid" as a quasi-ironic meaningless handle and decided to use it as a throwaway at all the sites I "really didn't care about", the sites I figured would generate the most spam, etc.
Then, when I got tired of the spam, I would tank myvirtualid and move on....
Except it didn't work out that way - over time, the one email ID that got the least spam was myvirtualid, and the sites that I've maintained the {l|str}ongest association with are those sites where myvirtualid is myHandleOfChoice.
And the only reason I don't get more spam at pwwnow@TheGreat2GBSearchEngineEmailPalace.com is decent spam filtering. I won't even mention pww@MyCorporateConsultingIdentity.com, which just shows how bad the spam filtering is in Evolution (after months of training).
Let's face it: Identity is fluid. Friendships are fluid. And our understanding of them is fluid as well, at least from the perspective of different generations.
There was a good story reprinted in the Gardner Dozois annual a few years ago about a furture virtual world where identity and skins were completely user selectable, and where, after a few years or decades in one place and one skin, it was socially acceptable to "burn down" one's "house" and move on, no forwarding address.
And all that prevented anyone from following and learning the new ID or new location was the simple desire to one day move along one's self. And that was enough.
Let's face it. As wise as the Red Caped Ballooning Blogger may be, none of us really yet understands the implications of the new networking. It's far more pervasive and far more sinister and far more powerful and far more enabling than we yet realize.
And generation ++(++(++(++(++(++X))))) will work within it with an ease lost on them's of us still around trying to puzzle it all out.
Prognosticate all you will, Jack, you don't know jack 'bout what's next.
Re:Facebook will Adapt (Score:4, Interesting)
Someone else posted a satirical story [pttbt.ca] about Facebook implementing multiple profiles for different facets of your life. In the grand tradition of satirical stories that later prove true, [theonion.com] this is a feature that Facebook desperately needs to implement, to secure their own viability going forward if nothing else.
Re:People are stupid? (Score:3, Interesting)
Same thing applies to social networking sites. You give trusted co-worker Roger your screen name, next thing you know you got Bob in accounting sending you a friend request, saying "hey man we work together!" because he's the one exception to Roger's one exception.
Yeah, you don't have to accept it, but then you're just the rude guy in the office.
I've gone so far (in the past, I don't care anymore since I freelance) as to have my linked in account, a facebook account, and a separate facebook account just for those i'm working with. When I leave the place of employment, I delete the account.
Yeah, it was a bit of a hassle...that's why I stopped though. I have 2 social sites and linked in. My clients only get my LinkedIn account (no exceptions), my friends get all three.
Ironically, in reference to the above Seinfeld quote, my name is George.
Already and issue on the 360 (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Coworkers? (Score:4, Interesting)
I always abstained from Facebook under the assumption it was a waste of time and just made stalking that much easier. Little did I know that it would be so much more detrimental to users AFTER graduation. I have many friends who ended up becoming teachers and they are having a tough time. One was an idiot and didn't have any access controls on his account at all. His high school students found his page and had a great time making their teacher miserable for all of the drunk pictures and videos and all of the other stuff that makes an authority figure look more like a joke. He learned from his mistake and locked everything down and tried to eliminate his online footprint until his younger brother posted a video on YouTube. Yeah the kids found that one too and he nearly got fired. Another teacher friend has learned from others. She's even taking it a step further. She is urgently asking friends to remove her name tag from all of the pictures of her posted on their accounts, but that is proving difficult. It turns out that even if you lock down your own account, there is still the matter of your friends' accounts that have all kinds of references to you, especially pictures. It is nearly impossible to remove your internet footprint. To this end, I don't see why those with careers bother with it since it has become such a liability now. Office politics are bad enough without merging your social life in the mix. The only way to have a "safe" profile is to keep it completely boring. No goofy pictures, no oddball friends, and absolutely no postings by friends on your wall. This of course defeats the purpose of social networking because no one wants to be friends with a boring loser.
I guess the old adage is still holds true: The only way to win is to not play at all.
Re:Facebook will Adapt (Score:3, Interesting)
Besides that, it's also like some surreal real-people version of The Sims, with regards to the social interaction. "So-and-so updated their mood and noticed you haven't updated yours in awhile". Aww shit, more stuff for me to go click on. Or So-and-so poked me, so I better poke them back or they'll think I don't care for them anymore. Or the worst things, those stupid chain-letter spams that start with "I really hope I get this back!". I don't really feel that I should be obligated to forward *anything*, particularly a chain letter than claims I'm going to get all kinds of bad luck if I don't send it on, or that I'm a bad friend if I'm too busy to do it. Yeah I already get that with email, but isn't that enough?
And it's just weird to click checkboxes to interact with people. Recruiting them as pirates or ninjas seemed fun at first. But apparently I could also fling poo at them if I wanted to. WTF?
Groups... (Score:3, Interesting)
So I pruned my list down to mainly people I am actively friends with, or with whom I keep some lines of communication open.
It'd be nice to be able to put users into categories with different features; I don't want to see status updates for former co-workers, and so forth.
(And on a side note, please kill Funwall.