A typical teenage Internet user. Or a monster. Almost the same thing....I knew it well. Or at least I thought I did. I have learnt in the last few weeks that Facebook is a lot nastier than the innocent little social networking site that it shows itself as. I thought I knew you, Facebook! (sob, sob, cue cheesy violin music.) But seriously, this has shown me just how contradictory, intrusive and insidious Facebook can be. I have told you mostly the good so far; now some other stuff which is mostly bad and ugly.
Last week we established that it is perilously easy to hack an account through an application. A bit more on these applications. These are essentially things that provide a service, such as games. However, applications such as quizzes and "top friends" require access to your account information. This, if you are not quite careful, then gives them access to your friends' account information as well. Such applications do come up with a warning at the start, but most people will tell you not to be so boring if you actually pay attention to such things. Not only this, but some are horribly intrusive. Things like asking the question "Do You Like So-and-So?" as part of an application and then telling them essentially whether or not you like them through a notification is, in my opinion, awful. How are you supposed to respond when you are effectively told "I don't like you" across the internet by someone you thought was your friend? Oh wait, that's right! There are hardly any real friends on Facebook. Sorry, I am a little angry, but my point stands.
Very few people bother to adjust their default privacy settings, not realising how dangerous this can be. Letting the whole world and his dog see practically everything about you, especially intimate things only meant to be seen by your friends, is sheer madness. Here is a link to a decent set of guidelines by Nick O'Neill, a Facebook expert, and another one from the security company Sophos. Reading through these two and putting them into practice, it seems as if they are pretty much diametrically opposed to the use of my peers. I have done the recommended things and I am not allowed by my parents to put photos of me on Facebook. By doing these things I have pretty much been rendered a Facebook vegetable. Any Facebook user will tell you that Facebook is all about putting photos up and laughing with people at them. Unfortunately future employers and university registrars disagree. However, what annoys me the most is that Facebook gives its own recommendations for privacy and a safety policy, and then condones the use of applications such as "So-and-So is having Sex! Click here for more or try it for yourself!" That really irritates me.
Last week we established that it is perilously easy to hack an account through an application. A bit more on these applications. These are essentially things that provide a service, such as games. However, applications such as quizzes and "top friends" require access to your account information. This, if you are not quite careful, then gives them access to your friends' account information as well. Such applications do come up with a warning at the start, but most people will tell you not to be so boring if you actually pay attention to such things. Not only this, but some are horribly intrusive. Things like asking the question "Do You Like So-and-So?" as part of an application and then telling them essentially whether or not you like them through a notification is, in my opinion, awful. How are you supposed to respond when you are effectively told "I don't like you" across the internet by someone you thought was your friend? Oh wait, that's right! There are hardly any real friends on Facebook. Sorry, I am a little angry, but my point stands.
Very few people bother to adjust their default privacy settings, not realising how dangerous this can be. Letting the whole world and his dog see practically everything about you, especially intimate things only meant to be seen by your friends, is sheer madness. Here is a link to a decent set of guidelines by Nick O'Neill, a Facebook expert, and another one from the security company Sophos. Reading through these two and putting them into practice, it seems as if they are pretty much diametrically opposed to the use of my peers. I have done the recommended things and I am not allowed by my parents to put photos of me on Facebook. By doing these things I have pretty much been rendered a Facebook vegetable. Any Facebook user will tell you that Facebook is all about putting photos up and laughing with people at them. Unfortunately future employers and university registrars disagree. However, what annoys me the most is that Facebook gives its own recommendations for privacy and a safety policy, and then condones the use of applications such as "So-and-So is having Sex! Click here for more or try it for yourself!" That really irritates me.
Facebook and the like are a parallel society. A society where the governors reserve the right to take over your affairs after you die. A society where things that are inappropriate for good reasons in the real world do not turn a head. A society where an image of mob rule is projected and officials do whatever they please, regardless of hypocrisy. A society where sick comments and jokes are suddenly transmogrified into desperately funny comments and jokes just because they are on the internet. But it isn't all bad. It can bring people back together and can be a great way to network with friends. Facebook is a service, not a tool, which means that it is not simply a means to an end, it is also a body that is "intelligent" in its own right.
I also worry about identity online. If I am "tagged" in a silly photo and it is seen out of context, then it might be taken the wrong way. What does that say about me to a stranger? There was a controversy over the online photo-sharing service Flickr when two girls posted a photo of them in Australia and this was used by Virgin in an advertising campaign without the permission of the girls who were in it. While I am all for technology, I don't like the way that it makes it easier to take advantage of you.
This has made me think about why I got Facebook in the first place - to be in the loop. Essentially I was just going with the grain, following the crowd. The trouble is that when absolutely everyone follows a trend it is nigh on impossible to do anything except do the same for fear of complete ostracism. Maybe I am being vain and like many others wildly overestimate people's desire to be near me and even then, half the people I am "friends" with now will not want anything to do with me in twenty years' time, and friend lists are well-meaning but seem a little difficult to manage - every time I try to set one up whatever internet provider I am using doesn't respond. Deeply unhelpful. However, that lady Danah Boyd has again some sensible stuff to say on the subject which you can read here. Basically as long as we have a fairly reasonable self-contained identity online we can make sure that we don't end up looking rather foolish. Here is her blog, which is supposedly very good, and here is Sam Jackson's site, a student who she mentions. It is all good stuff, so read it if you have the time. Maybe Facebook isn't so bad after all, but I am still very frightened by it. I suppose I have a choice: either roll with everything Facebook can throw at me or delete it and ignore it completely. The overall message is, although I have got angry this time round, is that it isn't necessarily the right thing to do if you scream and run from all social sites, even though they are pretty scary. Just have a care. Make like a paranoid android and DON'T PANIC!
Here are a couple more videos, funny but true (especially the last one):
Excellent.
ReplyDeleteSpot on. A really mature and well reasoned view, backed up by good research and brilliantly written as always.
A+