Facebook's Privacy Strip Tease

Facebook is pushing its users to make their profile information public, and as with any change the popular site makes, there is a lot of controversy surrounding it. As a member of numerous social networking sites, some public and some private, I have mixed feelings surrounding my privacy settings on Facebook.

First, to begin with the all too over-used comparison between Facebook and Twitter. On Twitter, I know my updates are public, therefore I don't post all my business there, and I don't use my full name on my profile because I don't want my tweets to showing up in Google search results above my portfolio site when I do a vanity search. Facebook on the other hand, advertises itself as a place to share your life with your family and friends. Maybe some people use the term "friend" more loosely, but to me, a friend is someone I would want to hang out with in real life, hence 95% of my Facebook friends are people I know outside of the interwebs. The privacy of Facebook allows me to post more intimate details of my life, as well as photos of my son to those I am comfortable showing that information to. Twitter and Facebook serve two different purposes for me and they do it well just the way they are.

I understand that Facebook is a free service that has the right to make changes to their site and policies as they please, but if they continue to knock down the walled garden, there is a lot of personal data I will have to delete and status updates and photos I will no longer be able to post, making it useless for how I want to use my account. And yes, I understand that Facebook has update by update privacy control, but those controls are not available on the iPhone app which is my main way of using the service.

Twitter provides simplicity. You sign up and can start tweeting away instantly. Facebook is the PC of the social networking world. You sign up, and have to spend some time setting up privacy settings for each section of your profile and creating friend lists to control who can see various parts of your profile before you ever post your first update.

My biggest problem with Facebook's privacy strip tease is: What are their plans for any publicly shared information? Will all my updates and photos eventually show up in Google search results attached to my full name? Will my profile picture be used in an advertisement on another friend's page? I would be more open to making more of my profile public if Facebook would be more open with me.

UPDATE: Poll Results 1/12/10 - 1/19/10

Is public the new social norm?
20% Yes
60% No
20% Meh

Is The Workplace A Place For Friends?

I am a very social person and love making new friends. I highly value my friendships and want friends who return the sediment. After becoming a mom, my social activities reduced greatly making it harder to hang out with old friends or meet new cool people. The easiest solution seemed to be making friends with coworkers since that's where I spend the majority of my time these days. But, is the workplace the best place to be making friends? Are coworkers trustworthy enough to be considered friends when you're working in a competitive environment? Or, should work and personal relationships be kept separate?

Personally, I tend to get too comfortable around my coworkers and I say things I probably shouldn't. I think I'm talking to people who are my friends but who actually might be just looking out for their own best interest.

I'm curious, have you ever run into a scenario where workmate friendships turned ugly? Would you recommend making friends at work? Are you friends with coworkers and is it same as the friendships who have outside the company?

UPDATE: Poll Result 4/30/09 - 5/7/09

Do you make friends with coworkers?
28% Close friends
72% Acquaintances
00% No
00% Meh

Social Networking Or Social Notworking?

Recently, there has been lot of coverage about a study by the University of Melbourne that states the casual usage of sites like Twitter and Facebook increases productivity at work. The study shows that short breaks allow the mind to rest and thus increase the total concentrate on the days' assignments. While this study makes me feel better about all the times my boss has caught me online, I'm curious what has happened to old fashioned water cooler talk at work?

Would we rather spend our escape from the daily grind catching up on tweets or playing a quick round of Mob Wars instead of having a little face to face conversation with the people we spend 8 hours a day with?

Personally, I enjoy chatting it up with coworkers, but in the age of the iPod, it's hard to find anyone who isn't pumping music into their ear at a ridiculous volume and virtually unable to hear the phone on their desk ring much less engage in idle conversation. Therefor, I get my mental break online as do a lot of employees who have a computer and Internet access. This raises another question: What will become of our social skills? Do we lose the ability to strike up conversation without being in front of a screen? Are we more or less social when our main form of communication with our friends is Facebook?

One factor may be more people these days are keeping their personal and business lives separate and not thinking of the workplace as a setting for making new friends. As I do, more people are eating their lunches at their desks and avoiding the break room in order to do personal browsing. While all this social networking may be good for productivity, is it the best thing for us?

UPDATE: Poll Results 4/6/09 - 4/13/09

Do you feel social networking makes you more productive at work?
55% Yes, it helps
11% No, it interferes with work
33% My job restricts sites
00% Meh

How does social networking affect our ability to communicate in real life?
11% Has no effect
22% People are more social
22% People are less social
44% Meh

Camera Shy?

Sorry about the delay in writing a new blog post! It's been a crazy couple of weeks as the latest flu bug has passed through our house. Everyone is feeling better now and it's back to business as usual :-)

Last Sunday was my husband's birthday as well as The Big Game, so naturally, we threw a party. It was blast! I love hosting and enjoy good food, good drinks, and good friends.

I was hoping to take a few photos to capture the day and share on Facebook. However, my friends did not seem to be as enthusiastic about having their photos taken as I would have thought. Most of my photos were of the back of people's heads because no one was interested in smiling for the camera. In fact, one friend grabbed my iPhone to look at every photo with him in it and proceeded to delete the ones he didn't like. At the end of the day, I was a little sad as I looked over all the photos I had taken. I was hoping for a few more exciting photos. Maybe a couple of goofy shots and some showing people having a good time.

I'm curious, in this day when almost everyone has a camera on them from a cell phone camera to a digital SLR, how do people really few about candid photos taken of them?

UPDATE: Poll Results 2/4/09 - 2/11/09

How do you feel about having your picture taken?
00% Love it
33% Don't mind
66% Sometimes
00% Please don't