Tue
Jun 8 2010
08:30 am

I no longer have a Facebook account, so I can't see you and you can't see me there. Nothing personal, I'm just opting out of the future of the internets where my personal information is a commodity. (Yeah, I know, it's too late for that, but you gotta draw the line somewhere.)

Note to businesses and others using Facebook for your forward facing online presence: consider setting up a static page that anyone, including the Facebook challenged, can see without registering and logging in. You can link to your Facebook page, your Twitter page, etc. etc. from there for those who are into that sort of thing. I suggest Google Sites. They have lots of nice templates to get you started, it's free, and not too evil.

bizgrrl's picture

opting out of the future of

opting out of the future of the internets

Man, guess I never considered the future of the internets. Never had a Facebook page, unless something drastic changes never will. I just don't see how Facebook participants keep up with so many friends.

jah's picture

I don't get it

I mean I'm all for an open source alternative, but really I'm just going on FB and saying "damn, I love a good cup of coffee." I'm not really concerned that advertisers will steal that data. Hell, I don't pay any attention to advertisers anyway. My real personal information isn't on FB and won't be.

FB is a great way to stay connected with my friends scattered about the country. It's worth it until something better comes along.

Andy Axel's picture

It is a far more impressive

It is a far more impressive and engaging vehicle than MySpace ever had dreamed of being. That said, I believe I should have forsaken a few "friend" requests early on in the proceedings. Discovering which of your former classmates have turned into glennbeckian babbling morons was a little too much for this INFP to bear.

R. Neal's picture

Yep on the politics of some

Yep on the politics of some of my "long lost friends."

I'm also annoyed by the "friend" requests from people I've never even heard of.

And the constant email bombardments about birthdays and events and invitations and fan requests etc. etc. etc.

jah's picture

well, the problem is that

well, the problem is that you're somewhat of a celebrity in this town, and lots more people will know you than you know. That's not facebook's fault.

And you can always click ignore. And turning off email notifications isn't difficult.

talidapali's picture

I just reconnected with a lot of old ...

classmates myself on Facebook. I ignore the Glenn Beck crap they send and I post my own raging liberal thoughts when I feel like it. If they don't like it, they don't have to read it...or they can unfriend me. If they make a nasty comment I delete it...on my personal page I believe in the right of censorship.

R. Neal's picture

Yeah, I didn't put any

Yeah, I didn't put any personal info on there, either. But they can tell a lot just by who your "friends" are.

Then the other day I was on another website, and a little box showed up with stuff from my Facebook account and "friends" comments on the topic I was reading about or something. Creepy! Too creepy for me.

Google isn't totally innocent here, either. Searches are now showing results from my "social circle." How do they know that?

jah's picture

Super creepy. I've been

Super creepy. I've been thinking about keeping FB in a different browser than my main browser. The other benefit is it'd be less of a distraction.

Or you can do this or something similar to stop that.

But again, the pros outweigh the cons for me, especially as more and more content is being moved to FB.

R. Neal's picture

But again, the pros outweigh

But again, the pros outweigh the cons for me, especially as more and more content is being moved to FB.

Nothing wrong with that or with anyone who understands it and how to manage all the various aspects of using it and getting whatever benefit they can from it. It just doesn't appeal to me.

I think there's probably a generational thing, too. Seems like youngsters are more comfortable living out in the digital open and sharing every little detail about everything.

Consumers seem more willing to give up some privacy to save a few pennies, too, like with grocery discount cards, or signing up with an email and demographic info to get coupons or special offers.

Anyway, the other point about content moving to Facebook and Twitter is very true. It's observable in terms of how it affects blog traffic and participation. Now when you say "internet" people assume you to mean Facebook and Twitter. The problem is the depth of the content, which isn't so much.

Anyway, I'm not criticizing anyone for wanting to participate in the "social media revolution." It's just not headed in a direction that suits me. I don't play video games, either, or download MP3 music. I'm a fossil!

Russ's picture

Fossil

I'm a fossil!

Yes, but you're a fossil who'd network a 33 1/3 turntable and control it remotely via your home media server.

redmondkr's picture

I put very little personal

I put very little personal information on Facebook and limited who is (supposedly) allowed access to it.

I use Firefox with the Adblock Plus and No Script extensions so the only sites who display ads to me are those I allow (such as KnoxViews).

I also 'friended' a very limited number of people and I too see a lot of glenbeckian attitudes among them.

I'm not surprised though. I have a lot of friends who pretty gullible.

Brian A.'s picture

As far as harvesting

As far as harvesting information I'm more worried about what Google has.

Oh well.

Pam Strickland's picture

personal vs not

I'm with jah. I don't put anything on there that I don't care for the world knowing, and I've gotten in touch with some folks on there that I'm glad to be back in touch with or in better touch with. But, I can understand if you don't want to be bothered with it. You do have a higher profile than most, so the constant bombardment with friend requests could be aggravating. I, personally, don't friend anyone who I either haven't met or don't have a good connection with online already. And one of the things I really like about it is the various fake scrabble games.

Rachel's picture

What Pam said. Except for

What Pam said. Except for the part about the scrabble games.

Factchecker's picture

I'm mostly a fossil, but FB

I'm mostly a fossil, but FB is eerily powerful for reconnecting. A large number of people I've known since grade school, really, got active on FB within a few months, it seemed. If ever there was an example of going viral, FB is it. I do share your privacy concerns, though. I have a pretty limited amount of personal info. on there and I ignore without hitting the ignore button dubious friend requests. (Funny story: just last night FB "suggested" Bela Fleck as a friend request. I figured I didn't have much to lose, but didn't send it.) I do follow some of my favorite musicians, like Larkin Poe and The Greencards, and that's fun.

I also ignore and hide every dumb game that pops up: Mafia Wars, passing along the red balloon, etc. That traffic is rarer now.

Discovering which of your former classmates have turned into glennbeckian babbling morons was a little too much for this INFP to bear.

You ain't kiddin'! And religious types who are always asking to "pray for" this/that and talking about how "blessed" they/we are. Both practices that are getting really tired! That talk, and people who just babble about every detail of painting their kids' rooms or whatever has prompted me to hide a number of "friends" and that has pretty much cured that.

I like FB, but not that much. When there's occasional talk about moving en masse to a more secure upstart, I somewhat hope that would happen. It probably can't, though, and all's probably gonna be OK.

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