Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Facebook Finds A New Way To Liberate Your Gmail Contact Data

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 84 posts

Re: Facebook Finds A New Way To Liberate Your Gmail Contact Data

#21

Post by dododo »

johns wrote: post #6
dododo wrote: post #3

or "facebook won't let you liberate your facebook data to alternate providers". i don't understand why people tolerate facebook. they don't seem deserving of the trust people give them. first opt-in/opt-out privacy issues, now this... plus it doesn't seem like they're really trying to make money yet. i suppose this is what the initial "exclusivity" of the facebook brand got them: loyalty without needing trust.

I wish I could make it seem like I wasn't trying to make money but pull in ~$1.2-2B this year[0][1] [0] http://www.allfacebook.com/facebooks-ad-revenue-to-surpass-1... [1] http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/01/facebook-will-hit-2-billion...

they have ~500 million users[0]. that's ~$4/user/year.

[0] http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics

Re: Facebook Finds A New Way To Liberate Your Gmail Contact Data

#22

Post by sgift »

konad wrote: post #12
michaelhart wrote: post #2

Google could easily fix this w/o impacting other services: block Facebook's referrer. And then present them with an opt-in page for Google.me... BOOM! Instant win? High five.

You do know the referer header is optional don't you, I mean, you'd look pretty dumb relying on it for any web service because, you know, some crazy people turn them off altogether, perhaps with the Firefox add-on RefControl.

I have seen various websites which use referrers despite this drawback. They will simply block you if your browser doesn't send a referrer.

Re: Facebook Finds A New Way To Liberate Your Gmail Contact Data

#23

Post by mattmanser »

wh-uws wrote: post #7
dododo wrote: post #3

or "facebook won't let you liberate your facebook data to alternate providers". i don't understand why people tolerate facebook. they don't seem deserving of the trust people give them. first opt-in/opt-out privacy issues, now this... plus it doesn't seem like they're really trying to make money yet. i suppose this is what the initial "exclusivity" of the facebook brand got them: loyalty without needing trust.

Most non-technical average users (read: the majority of their users ) just don't really understand / care about the privacy issues. They just love the experience they can find at and pretty much only at the facebook site. The tech press and media make an initial fuss about all of it but by the time they figure out a way to bring it down to a level the masses can understand facebook has put a notification on the top o…

Most users...don't really understand / care about the privacy issues

You are completely and utterly wrong.

I was surprised too, but check out the slides that were posted by the Google UX guy the other day showing their research.

http://www.slideshare.net/padday/bridging-the-gap-between-ou...

Users are circumventing Facebook to protect their privacy, using email and self-censoring (this is further along in the presentation). There is also anecdotal evidence presented at the beginning of when they are presented with the not-so obvious consequence of general sharing they are actually quite horrified.

Re: Facebook Finds A New Way To Liberate Your Gmail Contact Data

#24

Post by konad »

adambyrtek wrote: post #20
konad wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do know the referer header is optional don't you, I mean, you'd look pretty dumb relying on it for any web service because, you know, some crazy people turn them off altogether, perhaps with the Firefox add-on RefControl.

You're missing the point. It's not about disallowing importing the address book from Gmail to Facebook, it's about making it more difficult in order to force Facebook to offer reciprocity. You will always be able to export the CSV version of your Gmail address book yourself and feed it wherever you like. It's just slightly less convenient and the experience is not so smooth anymore.

What does that have to do with http referer headers ?

Re: Facebook Finds A New Way To Liberate Your Gmail Contact Data

#25

Post by daleharvey »

mattmanser wrote: post #23
wh-uws wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most non-technical average users (read: the majority of their users ) just don't really understand / care about the privacy issues. They just love the experience they can find at and pretty much only at the facebook site. The tech press and media make an initial fuss about all of it but by the time they figure out a way to bring it down to a level the masses can understand facebook has put a notification on the top o…

Most users...don't really understand / care about the privacy issues You are completely and utterly wrong. I was surprised too, but check out the slides that were posted by the Google UX guy the other day showing their research. http://www.slideshare.net/padday/bridging-the-gap-between-ou... Users are circumventing Facebook to protect their privacy, using email and self-censoring (this is further along in the present…

urm, that slidedeck is from google employee, so fairly obviously bias plus the "proof" it provides is one slide with an anecdotal quote.

I cant provide any stronger proof aside from their 500+ million users, but anecdotally, outside this hacker news / techcrunch esque commmunity, nobody cares about the facebook privacy issues. At the very least its in question enough to not be "completely and utterly wrong"

Re: Facebook Finds A New Way To Liberate Your Gmail Contact Data

#26

Post by michael_dorfman »

dododo wrote: post #21
johns wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish I could make it seem like I wasn't trying to make money but pull in ~$1.2-2B this year[0][1] [0] http://www.allfacebook.com/facebooks-ad-revenue-to-surpass-1... [1] http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/01/facebook-will-hit-2-billion...

they have ~500 million users[0]. that's ~$4/user/year. [0] http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics

You know, I'd settle for $1/user/year, if I had 500 million users.

Re: Facebook Finds A New Way To Liberate Your Gmail Contact Data

#27

Post by ck2 »

What really upsets me about Facebook is I refuse to start an account there but they already know everything about me because they tricked all my AOL/gmail-using friends into giving them full access to their contact lists.

So I constantly get spam from Facebook personalized with my name, location and list of friends, based on all the stupid data they have sucked up. It's borderline stalking.

Re: Facebook Finds A New Way To Liberate Your Gmail Contact Data

#30

Post by michaelhart »

adambyrtek wrote: post #20
konad wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do know the referer header is optional don't you, I mean, you'd look pretty dumb relying on it for any web service because, you know, some crazy people turn them off altogether, perhaps with the Firefox add-on RefControl.

You're missing the point. It's not about disallowing importing the address book from Gmail to Facebook, it's about making it more difficult in order to force Facebook to offer reciprocity. You will always be able to export the CSV version of your Gmail address book yourself and feed it wherever you like. It's just slightly less convenient and the experience is not so smooth anymore.

I'm so glad someone understands.
Post reply on HN