Facebook Privacy Fiasco and the Reasons I Like Facebook

There has been a lot of negative press lately regarding Facebook and their institution of Open Graph and their changes to privacy. People seem to be in an uproar over Facebook messing with “their” information and privacy even to the point of users deleting their Facebook account and writing their opinions on blogs.

Let me be clear, this post is not one of those “How to delete your Facebook account” or a “Facebook privacy damages users” posts. I’m writing this post to inform you of my reasons and rationalizations for KEEPING my Facebook account.

1) OPEN GRAPH:
Open Graph is a good thing. There, I said it. I agree with Zuckerberg when he said this is a new way to build communities, measure influence, meet new people and bring the world closer together. I believe Open Graph is just the tip of the social media 2.0 iceberg. What you are going to see in the coming year(s) is more integration of sites. I personally want that. I know that some of my interests will be made public, but only interests I decide to post.

2) PRIVACY:
I have done my due diligence and education of privacy settings on Facebook. I understand how to limit the flow of information on my profile to other users, corporations and the public. Since I understand that, I’m fine with the adjustment to the settings because I understand them. In the social networking landscape, it’s a little unreasonable to have a 100% expectation of privacy. Zuckerberg also said it best, if you don’t like it, leave. It’s a little brash, I know, but it makes sense. Facebook profiles are not owned by the users, the users borrow space on Facebook’s servers.

—> Sidebar: However, I do get discouraged when Facebook has bugs and makes mistakes when it comes to privacy. An example would be when you could view other user’s chats. That is unacceptable, but was immediately remedied.

3) NETWORKING:
Facebook is a very valuable tool when it comes to networking. I am a social media guy, this is my job and a little bit of my life. For me to do away with a major social networking site would be an idiotic decision. Plus, I like meeting new people, learning what we have in common and finding out information from brands.

4) MY JOB:
Like I said in #3, social networking is my job. I have to be on there.

5) INFORMATION:
Facebook has a massive, MASSIVE flow of information running through it. It’s easy to keep up on current events, what your friends are doing, where they go, what businesses are doing, where the next networking event is, etc. I’m a sucker for information, I always want more.

6) PROMOTION:
If you use it properly, it’s great way to promote a business or yourself.

7) MYSPACE:
It’s not MySpace

8) SEO:
Being on Facebook adds to my search engine results.

9) FRIENDS:
I enjoy the fact that my friends are on there sharing what they are doing day-to-day.

10) MYSPACE:
It’s not MySpace

I know this may sound a bit over the top, but in all seriousness, being on Facebook isn’t a bad thing. The change in privacy isn’t a bad thing. The introduction of Open Graph isn’t a bad thing. Ignorance breeds malcontent. I’m sure that once some users do their due-diligence on understanding how to use the Facebook privacy settings and what Open Graph really is, like I have, opinions may change.