Privacy in the age of Facebook
Monday, September 28, 2009 by Jess
Facebook introduced its New Feed in 2006. As I started using Facebook after this time, I have never experienced the site without this feature. boyd's essay on the topic takes a somewhat negative view of the News Feed feature, calling it a "privacy trainwreck". She claims that privacy is a sense of control over one's information; the context of it, and the audience who recieves this information (2008). For me, privacy is about the things that I choose to keep to myself, or that I reveal to only my closest friends and family members. boyd (2008), as well as many others, state that the introduction of News Feeds blows this sense of privacy out of the water because what you do on Facebook is then shown to everyone that you are connected to on the website.
boyd's essay mentions a Facebook group called Students Against Facebook News Feeds. With 177, 191 members of the group, it's easy to see that many people are against Facebook displaying their actions via News Feeds to everyone on their friend list. I stumbled on an article by the man who was behind this Facebook group. In the article (available here), Ben Parr (2008) writes that he has changed his opinion on privacy on the internet, even turning to Twitter, which arguably gives you less privacy than Facebook. Parr argues now, after having changed his mind on the News Feed that the feature actually allows more control over privacy; you choose what you want to post, knowing that others will see, and you keep what you want to keep private by not posting it at all.
I have never had a problem with Facebook's News Feed. Having always used Facebook with its News Feed, I am used to the fact that all the people on my friend list can see what I am doing. I know what I post may be read by everyone I am connected to. Yet, it does not bother me. I have nothing to hide, and if I did, why would I post it on Facebook anyway?
boyd's essay mentions a Facebook group called Students Against Facebook News Feeds. With 177, 191 members of the group, it's easy to see that many people are against Facebook displaying their actions via News Feeds to everyone on their friend list. I stumbled on an article by the man who was behind this Facebook group. In the article (available here), Ben Parr (2008) writes that he has changed his opinion on privacy on the internet, even turning to Twitter, which arguably gives you less privacy than Facebook. Parr argues now, after having changed his mind on the News Feed that the feature actually allows more control over privacy; you choose what you want to post, knowing that others will see, and you keep what you want to keep private by not posting it at all.
I have never had a problem with Facebook's News Feed. Having always used Facebook with its News Feed, I am used to the fact that all the people on my friend list can see what I am doing. I know what I post may be read by everyone I am connected to. Yet, it does not bother me. I have nothing to hide, and if I did, why would I post it on Facebook anyway?
I read the same article and remember having very similar feeling. I joined Facebook several years ago when it was still only intended for university students and can't even remember its original format. But remember that when they changed the format a while ago, putting news feeds in the side and only status updates in the centre there was also a huge uproar! I guess they cant please all 300 million members! Nevertheless I agree, when you think about it, it all comes down to it, its common sense. If you don't want people to know, don't put it on Facebook! It's not Facebook who's the enemy, but ourselves!