Social networking has risen to be the premier method of communication among our generation. Even our parents are getting involved in “Facebooking” and “tweeting.” Recently Facebook became the most visited site surpassing Google in number of hits per day. People like the Facebook approach to communication for many reasons. Some enjoy being in pseudo-contact with old friends without the need to be actively communicative. For others it is a convenient method of sharing thoughts, videos, and pictures in a single location. Lastly, it has a user interface that doesn’t require any real internet-savoir.
I however have issues with Facebook that have lead me to a decision to abandon my account, and risk the ostracism of my friends and colleagues by not being accessible by social networking.
Privacy
As I have used Facebook, I have had concerns with privacy. I am not particularly a security-freak, but I am at least security conscious. Facebook is a wonderful location to share information with your friends, as well as with strangers. Zuckerberg, Facebooks founder/creator, has openly stated that he regrets allowing privacy settings when he initially created Facebook. It seems that he would prefer to live in a world where all information is public. Sharing information with the entire world can be a dangerous prospect. Identity theft is increasingly common, and Facebook can lead to more occurrences of that. Unfortunately, many online passwords allow retrieval by security questions (ie: favorite pet, first car, etc.), and many of these questions can be divined by a scan of a person’s profile. A lot of personal information such as Birth Dates and Home Towns are left visible for all to see by default.
Additionally, many people will talk about plans (ie “I’m going to Vegas for the weekend,” or “Going to Fro-Yo tonight, meet us there at 8”). These are easy ways to get stalked and burglarized. Yes, I know this sounds paranoid, but it frightens me even more as I move closer into parenthood.
Self-Interest
The second reason that compels me to leave Facebook is the nature of the culture that has arisen due to the ability to say what is on one’s mind to an audience at any time. Surely this is a good thing to express one’s self? Unfortunately, it breeds a society of individuals who are more interested in expressing themselves rather than conversing with others. It feels as though the content I face each day dwindles as I hear about bejeweled, farmville, and people’s exploits and purchases. It’s nice to know people are having fun, but getting one way conversations blips from hundreds of people talking about themselves gets old. Perhaps I’m old fashioned, but I’d rather talk to the people I care about in person.
Data Collection
Another reason that makes it so I cannot trust Facebook is Facebook’s habit of data storage. They consume all the data we throw at them, but have no way of removing it. Sure we can remove information from our profiles, and delete photos, but the information will forever reside on their servers. For what purpose? I don’t know, but I don’t like it.
Manipulative UI
Lastly, Facebook makes it very difficult to remove information from the public. They use bad UI techniques in order to trick you into not deleting or not hiding your personal information. Many check-boxes that remove privacy are clicked by default, very well hidden, and not advertised in any way (such as the “Show Friend List to Everyone”). Have you ever tried deleting an account? It’s not easy. In fact, for a long time, I thought “deactivating” an account was as much as one could do. It turns out that if you finagle your way through the account options enough there is a way to delete an account. Of course, you have to answer lots of questions and get through lots of pages begging you to reconsider. This opposition to the users to actually control their personal information is just more reason to not put your life in Facebook’s controlling hands.
Basically I find that Facebook, although convenient, is a redundant and too-open method of social communication in our technological society. I am happy with using phone, email, jabber, and blogs to communicate and share ideas with my friends. I realize the role that Facebook fills in today’s society for many people, however I no longer wish to be a part of it.
I find it quite an interesting coincidence that while I was writing this post I came across the article, Top Ten Reasons You Should Quit Facebook. At any rate, I apologize for this strongly opinionated rant. I do not mean to discount other’s appreciation and love of Facebook, but to give reasons as to my rejection of this tool.