A story about Facebook went around twitter last night that provoked quite a reaction in privacy advocates like me: Facebook, it seems, is experimenting with getting people to 'snitch' on any of their friends who don't use their real names. Take a look at this:
Facebook has had a 'real names' policy for a while: this is what their 'Help Center' says on the subject:
Just emailed this post to family and friends on FB, INTENTIONALLY via FB. Suspecting that doing so is a huge no, no, I expect FB to retaliate by closing or blocking my account. Oh well, it wouldn't be the first time.
I found this post on Freshly Pressed too, bydesign. I e-mailed to a long-distance friend who just the day before was asking “Are you EVER going to get a FaceBook account?” And then she went on to say that I didn’t have to use my real name (because she knows my biggest beef with FB is privacy).
I have a big beef with corporations who now seem to use FB as their primary means of marketing. I understand the appeal, but they are losing out on reaching more consumers by not giving alternatives. (I’m speaking primarily of contests companies run or even to place complaints).
Good morning Freedom, I intentionally use my tag names on my FB page for my blog and on my FB page for family and friends.
Two weeks ago, I clicked on my niece’s FB page and noticed in the right side bar a note from FB asking her if she knew me “by my name.” This dummy clicked friend me although I never opened an account.
I told her to unfriend that page and to respond (like a puppet) to FB’s delving into our privacy.
That being said, I assume that it is just a matter of time before they cancel my FB accounts. So be it.
How frustrating. I am not tech-savvy like you which is another reason I do not want to have to fool with a social networking site, making sure that I have all the right privacy things in place and THEN having to monitor who I’m connected to. I know FB is a great way to promote your blog…so I lose out there. But honsetly, I have limited time to keep up with family and friends on a regular basis. I don’t need a bunch of extraneous “frends” from my past seeking me out. Who;’s got time for that nonsense? (Obviously, a lot of people).
That is the name of your site so it must be your real name.
LMAO.
I hear you Freedom. I do not have any young children (or teenagers) in my home and as for my great-niece who moved in with me July of 2011, July of 2012 I sent her back home to her mother.
I am not as tech savvy though as I am OCD when it comes to my laptop and my privacy which is why I try to stay ahead of the loop with FB. I hate FB but thankfully w/Wordpress, allows bloggers to automatically post their work on FB once it has been published. That makes it easy enough but one must be careful when visiting other third-party sites where one would leave comments. FB often links under your tag or email to those sites which is why I go into FB every couple of weeks to scrub the links.
As for my “personal” FB site, I have friended only 20 friends or family members, no one else. Oh yes and a few Conservative sites just to annoy the liberals in my life.
Someone folks list every moment of their day on FB. I don’t get it. If they break a nail, everyone will know about it because they post it on FB. Not cool.