How about deleting your information after downloading that zip file?
Facebook Now Allows You To “Download Your Information”
41–50 of 117 posts
Re: Facebook Now Allows You To “Download Your Information”
#42But you still can't delete the data they have about you right?
Re: Facebook Now Allows You To “Download Your Information”
#43I wrote a similar Python script[1] a couple of months ago that crawls the Graph API and downloads all your Facebook notes and photos. I recently started work on the script again, but after today's announcement, I will probably stop development. Oh well.
Re: Facebook Now Allows You To “Download Your Information”
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
They might leave Facebook if something comes along that's much better, and importing your data is one click away. The biggest advantage Facebook has is that it has your data, being able to export it changes the game.
You’ve got it backwards. The biggest advantage Facebook has is that 500 million people have an account. Facebook would be utterly useless if nobody was using it. Network effects make Facebook hard to beat, not your data. They need your data only to make money but they get your data because you and your mom and everyone else have an account.
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.
Re: Facebook Now Allows You To “Download Your Information”
#45People 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 majority of MS windows users don't use Linux either, and the fact that Linux did not run MS apps did not keep a community from pushing forward what an OS and app ecosystem can do.
I'm not thinking 'OMG now I can convert users!', I'm saying, 'Cool, I can possibly evolve what a social network can do for me and a group of friends, while working with the FB ecosystem.'
Facebook will have to build features for the masses - we can build social networks for the subsets of users. We can convince users to download their piece of the social graph by offering a unique niche experience, and getting creative about what it means to interact socially online for the subsets of the masses.
Today's announcement was more than a 'high-road' PR stunt. To extend the linux analogy, FB just made it easy for each user to create a virtual machine where we can run a niche social network side by side with the gigantic ecosystem that is facebook.
Re: Facebook Now Allows You To “Download Your Information”
#46Data export is nice... now if only I can delete the data I don't want Facebook to have, like phone numbers of people who aren't even on Facebook.
You didn't look very hard... http://www.facebook.com/contact_importer/remove_uploads.php?...
Too bad a lot of people have already pointed out that it doesn't even work.
Re: Facebook Now Allows You To “Download Your Information”
#47Question for you all.
A bit ago, I posted the following, which was in minutes at -5 and counting:
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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 lump. Not saying it will happen immediately, or at all, but I see some serious possibility for harm here. (Cross-site behavior tracking just got a whole lot scarier, if you can link it to a FB profile...) Of course, there could be some serious academic applications to this, too. And it makes them look more open, and access to your own data is good.
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I'm on HN to learn, but the downvotes told me nothing. (No child comments.) So in the interest of writing better comments (and hopefully improving my own analyses), what's wrong with this one?
Is it the cynical outlook? Is there something factually incorrect? Is mine just an unpopular opinion? I'm looking for feedback, because I didn't expect my comment to bomb like it did.
Anything you can offer is appreciated!
Re: Facebook Now Allows You To “Download Your Information”
#48People 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…
That's what people said about MySpace
At its height, how big was MySpace compared to where Facebook is at now?
Somebody has always said something like this about some predecessor.
Re: Facebook Now Allows You To “Download Your Information”
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
If their PR department influences their engineers to implement features that I want, good for them. I'm not inclined to care which part of the organization made the proposal.
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?
Re: Facebook Now Allows You To “Download Your Information”
#50Question 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…
Your comment just didn't make any sense. They already have all of this information. How on earth does giving it to you in a zip file make it more likely for them to sell it to other people?