Tag Archives: Facebook

Reason number 293

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Every other week or so, someone asks why I abandoned Facebook. My answer falls into a couple categories; those who post way too much personal information, those who post way too much irrelevant information, and those who stupidly post their house is going to be unoccupied and unprotected while they’re on vacation next week. Am I the only one who’s heard of PleaseRobMe.com?

(Sadly, PleaseRobMe.com has stopped posting actual location information. It was entertaining to watch the foolishness of users “Stuck at work for another three hours” or “Can’t wait to return home in three more days.”)

Fast forward to today when Facebook doesn’t just enable more privacy-robbing “features” (?), but also opts everyone in! The feature is called Places and essentially permits the user to tell his/her friends that he/she is at this or that bar, this or that concert, or wherever. Just think of all the spontaneous fun you can have running into friends at the grocery store! (Huge dose of cynicism in case you missed it.)

Posting that you’re at the repair shop, McDonalds, or the dentist falls into the ”way too much information” bucket, but it gets worse! Say you don’t have your iPhone with you and can’t tell your friends that you’re at the hardware store? Oh, no! Don’t worry, Facebook has enabled Places to accept location information from your friend. Yes, in case you can’t, your best friend can broadcast that you’re at the veterinarian picking up FiFi!

Which … Of course … Also means said friend can check you into a strip joint, or an insane asylum, or the county jail/drunk tank. Can you imagine all the mischief that can be brought down on your friends?

So Places just became reason number 293 why I abandoned Facebook, and you should too! But if you don’t, at least turn Places off … and here’s how:

please rob me dot com

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It’s not clear to me if I should post this as “I told you so!” or “Why didn’t I think of this?”

It was only a month or so ago that I gave up on Facebook, and one of my reasons was all the silly posts about people going someplace (usually a vacation) and posting publicly to everyone on Facebook. My question was not not just hang a sign on the front door to all burglars, “House unoccupied and available for burglary!”

Seems I wasn’t the only one with that thought – Some clever guys in the Netherlands have created a website (http://www.pleaserobme.com/) that scours twitterspace and Facebooks posts from idiots (can I call them that?) who announce they’re out of the house.

Now why didn’t I think of that first!?!?

Adios, Facebook

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“Ew, one of my coworkers just left the bathroom without washing her hands” was a recent status update from one of my “friends” who then went on to describe the bathroom environment in graphic detail. Way too much information. I decided to hide her updates.

Shortly before that, another of my friends clicked on the wrong link and was infected. Several of her friends urged turning up her privacy settings. <sigh>

Yesterday, women were posting their bra color to “raise awareness.” What, exactly, is “raising awareness?” Who does it help? Maybe the millions of Facebook posts would have had value if a link to some organization was published. No, the posts were just ”aqua” and “red” and “black” and so on. This wasn’t raising awareness – This was just another silly fad for the legions of Facebook lemmings.

Today another friend posted a bogus Haiti Relief update with phone numbers to “help.” Actually the phone number went to the Haitian consulate whose phones were completely overwhelmed. When this friend found out it was a prank to bring down the Haitian consulate’s phone number, did she take her post down to prevent more abuse? You already know the answer.

Another favorite are the users who post they’re going on vacation in Arizona for two weeks. Why not just post “Hello to all the thieves out there! My house will be unoccupied for two weeks. Help yourself!”

So I’m not playing any longer.

And in spite of my general distrust of Facebook applications, I’m going to recommend one link – The ACLU has published an application, that when run, shows how much information the application writers collect. If that doesn’t slow you down, I honesly don’t know what will.

Good luck, everyone!

Adult Pablum

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facebook_logoYesterday one of my President’s staff really blew it. In one of his Facebook posts (Yes, I’m a “fan” of President Obama), he asked everyone to put the following in their Facebook status update for a day:

No one should die because they cannot afford health care, and no one should go broke because they get sick. If you agree, please post this as your status for the rest of the day.

And quite a few did post it. And I’m repeating it here. But why did it annoy me?

My first reaction was based on sales experience – Don’t tell me what the problem is – The customer is doing a perfectly adequate job of complaining. Don’t just repeat it.  Instead bring me a solution. That’s what competent managers do!

But what was Obama’s staffer doing here? Megaphoning the problem to a million drones who repeated it. Great! But I already know the problem – I was expecting a solution or at least a plan.

My second reaction was “So what?” If I had posted that status update and it was seen by an Obama supporter friend, he/she would have “liked” the comment but nothing would have changed. If my status update had been seen by an Obama hater, he probably would have ignored it or offered some colorful (?) response. Either way, I still don’t see how anyone has been helped nor what good it did. It certainly didn’t convert anyone.

I do love my President, and I admire his work ethic, style and especially his pragmatism. I think he’s a pretty smart guy. I also hope he’s smart enough to find out who the staffer was who posted that adult pablum and fire him.

Mr. Obama, I already know what my problems are. I’m hoping to hear what what my opportunities and solutions are!