Updates Via Facebook iPhone App May Not Be Private.

As social networking gains in popularity so does concerns about privacy. One of the most widely adopted sites, Facebook, offers a lot of customization when it comes to who sees what on a member's profile. Recently, Facebook gave users the option to open up their profiles and allow any section to be visible by everyone on internet. They also added a publisher control so users could modify who is able and not able to see content published on their profiles.

On my Facebook profile, everything was set to either "Friends of Friends" or "Only Friends" except anything that had to do with promoting my blog. The website was visible by everyone who visited my profile as well as any announcements about new blog entries. My default publisher control setting was set to "Only Friends" and I selectively choose when something was supposed to be publicly available. Personal status updates that had nothing to do with my site had a tiny lock icon under the post indicating only friends were allowed to see it.

After I upgraded to the Facebook 3.0 iPhone app, I noticed that status updates via the app did not have the tiny lock under the post. At first, I figured these updates would follow my default publisher control setting and would only be viewable by friends. Eventually, my curiosity got the better of me and I created a dummy account to see what my Facebook profile looked like to non-friends. To my surprise, every update made via the iPhone app was visible on my wall and did not follow my privacy settings. Since there are no privacy controls on the Facebook iPhone app, the most logical thing would be for any update to follow the default publisher control setting unless given the option to choose otherwise.

After my discovery, I felt my only option was to lock down my Facebook profile and make all my status updates visible by only friends until Facebook allows me to have more control over who sees posts made via my iPhone. I conclude with a word of caution for those using the Facebook iPhone app: If your profile privacy is set to "Everyone" yet you want to selectively control which updates are visible on your wall by non-friends, just keep in mind any updates made on the iPhone offer no privacy control and are all public.

UPDATE: 9/8/09 - According to TechCrunch, Facebook has resolved this bug with a server-side fix, although I have not tested it myself. The article also addresses other privacy bugs on the Facebook iPhone app.

UPDATE: Poll Results 9/2/09 - 9/9/09

How open is your Facebook profile?
00% Open to everyone
40% Visible to friends only
60% Customized privacy
00% I don't use Facebook

Is Facebook A Place For Tweets?

It was brought to my attention that Facebook friends might not appreciate you allowing Twitter to update your Facebook status if you are a heavy tweeter. This news concerned me because I would never want to annoy my friends and be thought of as a post whore.

I'm not sure if I'm really a heavy tweeter, but on average I update my status about 18 times a day, not including any extra links or photos I may post on Facebook. My thought were, I like being able to update my status in one place instead or two (or three if you count Brightkite). I don't say anything on Twitter that I wouldn't also say on Facebook, and if I do, I delete that post on Facebook. Also, I figured if a Facebook friend didn't like what I had to say or how much I post, they have the option to hide my updates from their news feed. I posed a question on Facebook to get my friends' opponions on this matter and only got one response saying he didn't mind, so maybe all my friends have blocked my updates. LOL! Anyway, Facebook is trying their hardest to be like Twitter, so isn't it fitting to link your updates between the two sites?

One drawback could be seeing the same updates if you're friends with someone on Twitter and Facebook and they link their updates. I have a handful of friends that fall into this catagory. An easy solution I use to get around this is creating group lists in Facebook that exclude anyone whose updates I already see on Twitter. With some quick and easy tweaks in Facebook, I can't understand why anyone would have to be irritated because of a friend's quantity or quality of updates. Besides, I have plenty of friends who update their Facebook status as much as I do that don't even use Twitter.

So I'm curious, how do you feel about Facebook/Twitter linking? Does it bother you if someone posts a lot whether from Facebook or Twitter?

UPDATE: Poll Results 5/3/09 - 5/10/09

Do you allow Twitter to update your Facebook status?
30% Yes
38% No
15% It's annoying
15% Meh

It's Complicated?

On Facebook & many other sites there is a wide variety of relationship status options one can pick from to list on their profile. Facebook gives the following choices:

• Single
• In a Relationship
• Engaged
• Married
• It's Complicated
• In an Open Relationship

When it comes to relationship status, I am curious what "It's Complicated" means. As far as I know, you're either in a relationship or not.

Is this a choice for those actually in a relationship but still want to keep their options open? Maybe it's for divorsed couples who still live together to make ends meet. Why not just say you're single or in an open relationship? And why would someone want to hookup with someone who is in a complicated point in their life?

Can someone please share a good reason for selecting the "It's Complicated" relationship status?

UPDATE: Poll Results 1/20/09 - 1/27/09

Do you have a good understanding of the "It's Complicated"
relationship status?
40% I have first hand experience
00% I understand what it means
60% I don't get it
00% Meh