Even though Facebook by itself doesn't seem to provide much value anymore, it's incredible how much of a platform lock-in the have. For example, Facebook login becoming essentially a universal identity provider. The worst thing is even when you create a new account under a different name they still manage to track you down, and start suggesting adding friends from the old account. I wonder how they do this, by tracking cookies and fingerprinting your browser?
What should you think about when using Facebook?
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Re: What should you think about when using Facebook?
#12Start using other apps with better privacy for communication. Get a real website or blog for your PR needs.
That said, WhatsApp is a pretty good secure messaging app even though they got bought by Facebook.
Can you trust anything by FB? Signal seems ok. Haven't looked too closely at it though.
Re: What should you think about when using Facebook?
#13Even though Facebook by itself doesn't seem to provide much value anymore, it's incredible how much of a platform lock-in the have. For example, Facebook login becoming essentially a universal identity provider. The worst thing is even when you create a new account under a different name they still manage to track you down, and start suggesting adding friends from the old account. I wonder how they do this, by tracki…
I've wondered this too. I have friend suggestions for my work colleagues, even though my Facebook email is my own private address and I've never emailed them from that address. It's amazing and bothersome
Re: What should you think about when using Facebook?
#14Many people in the tech industry don't realize the tradeoffs they are making by participating on FB. This is to say nothing of the nontechnical crowd who make up the overwhelming majority of the site.
My wish is that mainstream news media would cover these issues. It'd be great if most of FB's users thought about the troves of personal info that they are providing not just about themselves but their friends as well.
Re: What should you think about when using Facebook?
#15A related question is "Should you sign up for Facebook today?". Five years ago I killed my Facebook account (and LinkedIn and G+) and it hasn't bothered me, but... am I missing out on something?
Re: What should you think about when using Facebook?
#16Start using other apps with better privacy for communication. Get a real website or blog for your PR needs.
>Get a real website or blog for your PR needs.
Btw if you weren't already aware... a lot of small businesses (e.g. mom & pop restaurants, handymen contractors, yoga studios, etc) actually did have a real website but they abandoned them and only maintained their Facebook pages.
The behavior pattern is the same: the "real website" whether it was a CMS built on PHP-Drupal or a Wordpress blog was too complicated for owners to mess with. (e.g. "uh, what's this domain renewal email I just got from Godaddy have to do with my website?!?") The real website then suffers "digital rot" or they expire.
Facebook pages are easier. Therefore, advising them to maintain real websites isn't going to convince them. They've already "been there done that" and saw no value in it. As far as privacy and data collection, businesses don't care -- it's their public storefront.
Re: What should you think about when using Facebook?
#17Related: Now Facebook has been pushing the Moments app to share photos. I don't want to use it but a lot of people around me do.
Can anyone recommend an alternative photo sharing app?
Re: What should you think about when using Facebook?
#18Even though Facebook by itself doesn't seem to provide much value anymore, it's incredible how much of a platform lock-in the have. For example, Facebook login becoming essentially a universal identity provider. The worst thing is even when you create a new account under a different name they still manage to track you down, and start suggesting adding friends from the old account. I wonder how they do this, by tracki…
I've wondered this too. I have friend suggestions for my work colleagues, even though my Facebook email is my own private address and I've never emailed them from that address. It's amazing and bothersome
Have you used it on mobile and shared your contacts? Might they have had access to your location(GPS or maybe to which wifi you're connected).
Interesting article: http://fusion.net/story/339018/facebook-psychiatrist-privacy...
Re: What should you think about when using Facebook?
#19A related question is "Should you sign up for Facebook today?". Five years ago I killed my Facebook account (and LinkedIn and G+) and it hasn't bothered me, but... am I missing out on something?
I log into Facebook once a year or so. Twitter, never. HN and Reddit I enjoy. Am 30. Don't feel bad.
Re: What should you think about when using Facebook?
#20I left Facebook three years ago or so. It did not offer any value for me - and I couldn't stand the quality of "information" on that platform. To much crazy stuff in my stream, things I am not interested in, stupid games, ads, click bait, and so on.
I also left twitter months ago. The people seem to be better there, but I have the image of twitter being a bad company. And the time spent there didn't provide enough value to me. It was too easy to get disrupted at work. And after keeping apps closed, the service became useless for me.
Most of the people I have contact with are developers, and like 99% don't have a Facebook account either.