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Facebook Now Allows You To “Download Your Information”

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Re: Facebook Now Allows You To “Download Your Information”

#61

Post by jlgbecom »

frisco wrote: post #7

People seem to be intepreting this as "OMG now we can build a new social network and convert users easily!" Users still aren't going to leave Facebook. Facebook realizes this, which is why they can do this now. Your mother's cousin is on Facebook. She won't be on Diaspora or (X). That said, this is pretty cool for its own reasons. Like waterlesscloud said, it looks like they "want to be the source of all social inter…

The combined size of social networks that aren't Facebook is over 1.5 billion people, probably more.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websi...

Facebook has the most users in one place, but the dust is nowhere near settled on where everyone will end up.

This bodes very well for a decentralized solution. I doubt Diaspora will be the first (I think Appleseed (http://opensource.appleseedproject.org) is much more likely), but ultimately, it will be an easily implemented protocol with mature cross-platform libraries that'll really take it down.

This is a good PR move on Facebook's part, because it willfully misinterprets people's frustrations with Facebook. It's not that you didn't have a local copy of your data, it's that you had no control over your data when it was out in the wild. This will take some wind out of the sails of the decentralized solutions, but the armada is still coming.

Re: Facebook Now Allows You To “Download Your Information”

#62

Post by qjz »

It's a smart move to offer a backup tool, especially when enforcing a TOS that's subject to interpretation and causes (alleged) violators to complain very loudly in public forums when their accounts are permanently canceled and their data becomes inaccessible. They'll get less sympathy this way ("You backed up your data, didn't you?"), although the most important thing here is that all users are given a chance to feel that they own their own data. That's more than a mere PR move, it's a perceived right.

Re: Facebook Now Allows You To “Download Your Information”

#63

Post by David »

jacquesm wrote: post #55
David wrote: post #47

Question for you all. A bit ago, I posted the following, which was in minutes at -5 and counting: ----------------------------------- This is disturbing. Yes, Facebook was sharing your information before -- it was the source of all their ad revenue. But now, instead of individual pieces of data (location, specific interests, etc.), they have the potential to share (read:sell) an entire person's worth of data in a lum…

I didn't downvote you, but here is what I think may have motivated the downvoters: Assuming facebook is using some form of SQL doing that would be as simple as "SELECT INTO OUTFILE" with the appropriate clauses, so this doesn't add anything whatsoever to the threat from the direction of facebook. If someone manages to hack in to your facebook account it's become marginally easier, but a well written bot would have a…

Had an exam earlier... hasn't done well for my brainpower. Of course they already have the data, and as you mention, exporting it is fantastically easy from their end.

My line of thinking probably evolved from the ease with which Facebook could just push the entire zipped file to purchasers, instead of just the relevant info. This is incorrect in that 1) I wouldn't imagine facebook shares its actual data, just uses it to allow advertisers to target their ads, and 2) even if they did, I seriously doubt they would group data by user thoroughly enough to be identifiable.

Half of my concern was what would be accessible via facebook connect, and the ability of a malicious website to harvest scary amounts of personal information via this + cross-site user tracking (about which, admittedly, I know almost nothing). Again, the data dump is only about ease of access, not a totally new ability.

I'm also talking about things I don't really know about. I've never used fb connect, nor do I have experience with cross-site user tracking. But I'm certainly under the impression that it would be possible to combine these two concepts into something disturbing. (http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1250497 would seem to imply that a large advertising network could do this sort of thing (though I'm not sure where the fbconnect info would come from, exactly).

Re: Facebook Now Allows You To “Download Your Information”

#64

Post by lwhi »

moultano wrote: post #49
lwhi wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Facebook probably is trying to quell critics, rather than become more culturally open on a wider scale. A disingenuous response is usually designed as a full stop, rather than way to carry on a conversation. If they're truly into the idea of promoting user-ownership of data, there will be more done to allow it (i.e. this will be first step).

Sure, but isn't the purpose of critics to be quelled?

No: the purpose of a critic is to provide critical insight - having criticism silenced is not part of that purpose.

Re: Facebook Now Allows You To “Download Your Information”

#65

Post by avar »

scott_s wrote: post #57
avar wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what I mean, they have the data of 500 million people. But if those people want to move on having an easy export feature will make things much easier. When everyone moved from MySpace to Facebook they had to re-do their profile in the new system. Hopefully when FooThingy replaces Facebook importing will be just a click away.

I don't think you agree with his point. Most people have no desire to move on from Facebook not because moving their data is a hassle, but because everyone they know is on Facebook. Everyone didn't move from MySpace to Facebook. Facebook pulled in many, many new people.

I really didn't mean to speculate on whether Facebook would be replaced by something else. Maybe they'll become big enough that nothing will ever replace them.

But if something does replace them having an API to export the existing data will be critical to the adoption of the new system.

Even if all your friends use Facebook now, having an export API is the difference between them clicking on one link (and "approve") to move your data to the new system, and having to start all over again.

Lowering the barrier of entry will do a lot to increase competition in this area. Hopefully Facebook will institute meaningful data export policies like Google has done.

Re: Facebook Now Allows You To “Download Your Information”

#67

Post by frisco »

jlgbecom wrote: post #61
frisco wrote: post #7

People seem to be intepreting this as "OMG now we can build a new social network and convert users easily!" Users still aren't going to leave Facebook. Facebook realizes this, which is why they can do this now. Your mother's cousin is on Facebook. She won't be on Diaspora or (X). That said, this is pretty cool for its own reasons. Like waterlesscloud said, it looks like they "want to be the source of all social inter…

The combined size of social networks that aren't Facebook is over 1.5 billion people, probably more. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websi... Facebook has the most users in one place, but the dust is nowhere near settled on where everyone will end up. This bodes very well for a decentralized solution. I doubt Diaspora will be the first (I think Appleseed ( http://opensource.appleseedproject.org…

> The combined size of social networks that aren't Facebook is over 1.5 billion people, probably more.

How much of that overlaps with Facebook? Approximately 500 million? Also, they're measuring total registrations: FB has probably close to a billion registrations on their 500 million actives. All that statistic tells you is that FB has room to grow.

Re: Facebook Now Allows You To “Download Your Information”

#69

Post by Goladus »

philwelch wrote: post #56
mkinsella wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what people said about MySpace

And people have been making your point ever since Facebook opened up to the general population. But MySpace, even in its heyday, wasn't nearly as big as Facebook was a year or two ago.

It's not the number of people using it that matters so much as who those people are and how they use it.

Myspace was most popular among high school kids, indie music culture, and people looking for dates. Many people in their 20s and 30s started using it to keep in touch with old friends and make new contacts but it never grew beyond that. By the time they implemented the news feed, it was too late. Facebook had already gotten the momentum.

Now, people (and organizations) of all sorts have Facebook profiles and pages. Families, adults, colleagues, friends, new acquaintances, all use Facebook to stay connected. Sure, the kids will almost certainly find something new to play with soon, but that won't matter anymore.

Facebook is huge, and now pretty clearly shows enormous potential to continue growing.

Re: Facebook Now Allows You To “Download Your Information”

#70

Post by jlgbecom »

frisco wrote: post #67
jlgbecom wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The combined size of social networks that aren't Facebook is over 1.5 billion people, probably more. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websi... Facebook has the most users in one place, but the dust is nowhere near settled on where everyone will end up. This bodes very well for a decentralized solution. I doubt Diaspora will be the first (I think Appleseed ( http://opensource.appleseedproject.org…

> The combined size of social networks that aren't Facebook is over 1.5 billion people, probably more. How much of that overlaps with Facebook? Approximately 500 million? Also, they're measuring total registrations: FB has probably close to a billion registrations on their 500 million actives. All that statistic tells you is that FB has room to grow.

Let's assume there's total overlap, meaning everyone who has a non-FB account also has a FB account. Now let's assume all of those smaller, but substantially sized, networks started inter-communicating. Who would stay on Facebook? Why would you stay on the centralized network with 500 million people when you can spend all your time on the open network with 1.5 - 2 billion people?

As for active versus registrations, we can't be sure of that from anyone, but rest assured, a decentralized network has much greater potential than Facebook does. Especially in the rest of the world where Facebook isn't nearly as popular.

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