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Google's crawlers won't be able to index this information unless the folks working for facebook open it up to them. The privacy controls are of course only as trustworthy as the people working for facebook, and also if you're friending everybody under the sun you have removed the ability of the privacy controls to help anyway.

Not all users hate the News Feed. The first group in favor of the changes, I like the Facebook Facelift, was created about 30 minutes after the new features were added and uses the tagline: "Web 2.0 is cool."

http://umichigan.facebook.com/group.php?gid=220837 3781

I posted this to "My Notes" and to a few of the "OMG CHANGE IT BACK" groups:

--
News feed is one of the best features to happen to facebook. Facebook is for keeping up with friends. News feed allows you to see what is going with your friends.

You've been able to keep track of their statuses for a while now. Now you can see WHAT changed. "Profile Updated 30 minutes ago" is absolutely useless. Ah. Nice, Bob added "V for Vendetta" to his favorite movies; Tom is now free of his bitch of a girlfriend, I'll see if she wants to go out drinking; Jerry joined "Save the Peeps" group, I love peeps. I want to see them saved.

Everyone thinks that this is an invasion of their privacy. YOU put the information out there. YOU uploaded everything to FaceBook. The information's always been there. Now I can see what has changed.

You don't want people from your networks to stalk you?
My Privacy -> Edit Settings -> Change EVERYTHING to "Only my Friends" Poof. You're gone. You do not exist other than to your friends. You cannot be searched for. Any any groups you are in your photo does not show up in the member list. If you are the admin, only your name is shown, your name cannot be clicked. Any messages you leave on other peoples' wall don't show up to anyone that isn't your mutual friend. You have dissapeared to everyone but your friends.

Don't want everyone on your friend list stalking you?
Quit being a Facebook whore. Stop adding every guy or girl you met at the bar. Quit adding that hottie you sat next to hoping that you'll have an excuse to talk to them. There's a reason Facebook call it 'My Friends.' IT'S BECAUSE IT IS FOR YOUR FRIENDS. I have absolutely nobody on my list that I would mind seeing if I changed my relationship status, uploaded my picture, or anything else I could change on my profile.

I am upset about 2 things.
It's the home page. Toss another link on the side "My Feeds." It would have taken a month before most people figured it out. Look at that sidebar. A year ago it had My Profile, My Friends, My Parties, My Messages and My Account. So far it's improved. My News Feed clutters that.

You can't turn it off or limit what is shown. I don't care who wrote what on whose wall. I do care who changed relationship statuses, who added a friend, who changed interest, etc.

I'm all for News Feeds.

For everyone crying "OMG 1984:"

In the meantime, feel free to remove friends which you do not wish to share your information with here:
http://www.facebook.com/friends.php

You may also deactivate your Facebook account here:
http://www.facebook.com/deactivate.php

Also, you may find the copy of the Privacy Policy here:
http://www.facebook.com/policy.php

And everyone threatening "NOES! I"M GOING TO MYSPACE"
Go. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

I posted this to "My Notes" and to a few of the "OMG CHANGE IT BACK" groups:

--
News feed is one of the best features to happen to facebook. Facebook is for keeping up with friends. News feed allows you to see what is going with your friends.

You've been able to keep track of their statuses for a while now. Now you can see WHAT changed. "Profile Updated 30 minutes ago" is absolutely useless. Ah. Nice, Bob added "V for Vendetta" to his favorite movies; Tom is now free of his bitch of a girlfriend, I'll see if she wants to go out drinking; Jerry joined "Save the Peeps" group, I love peeps. I want to see them saved.

Everyone thinks that this is an invasion of their privacy. YOU put the information out there. YOU uploaded everything to FaceBook. The information's always been there. Now I can see what has changed.

You don't want people from your networks to stalk you?
My Privacy -> Edit Settings -> Change EVERYTHING to "Only my Friends" Poof. You're gone. You do not exist other than to your friends. You cannot be searched for. Any any groups you are in your photo does not show up in the member list. If you are the admin, only your name is shown, your name cannot be clicked. Any messages you leave on other peoples' wall don't show up to anyone that isn't your mutual friend. You have dissapeared to everyone but your friends.

Don't want everyone on your friend list stalking you?
Quit being a Facebook whore. Stop adding every guy or girl you met at the bar. Quit adding that hottie you sat next to hoping that you'll have an excuse to talk to them. There's a reason Facebook call it 'My Friends.' IT'S BECAUSE IT IS FOR YOUR FRIENDS. I have absolutely nobody on my list that I would mind seeing if I changed my relationship status, uploaded my picture, or anything else I could change on my profile.

I am upset about 2 things.
It's the home page. Toss another link on the side "My Feeds." It would have taken a month before most people figured it out. Look at that sidebar. A year ago it had My Profile, My Friends, My Parties, My Messages and My Account. So far it's improved. My News Feed clutters that.

You can't turn it off or limit what is shown. I don't care who wrote what on whose wall. I do care who changed relationship statuses, who added a friend, who changed interest, etc.

I'm all for News Feeds.

For everyone crying "OMG 1984:"

In the meantime, feel free to remove friends which you do not wish to share your information with here:
http://www.facebook.com/friends.php

You may also deactivate your Facebook account here:
http://www.facebook.com/deactivate.php

Also, you may find the copy of the Privacy Policy here:
http://www.facebook.com/policy.php

And everyone threatening "NOES! I"M GOING TO MYSPACE"
Go. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

I posted this to "My Notes" and to a few of the "OMG CHANGE IT BACK" groups:

--
News feed is one of the best features to happen to facebook. Facebook is for keeping up with friends. News feed allows you to see what is going with your friends.

You've been able to keep track of their statuses for a while now. Now you can see WHAT changed. "Profile Updated 30 minutes ago" is absolutely useless. Ah. Nice, Bob added "V for Vendetta" to his favorite movies; Tom is now free of his bitch of a girlfriend, I'll see if she wants to go out drinking; Jerry joined "Save the Peeps" group, I love peeps. I want to see them saved.

Everyone thinks that this is an invasion of their privacy. YOU put the information out there. YOU uploaded everything to FaceBook. The information's always been there. Now I can see what has changed.

You don't want people from your networks to stalk you?
My Privacy -> Edit Settings -> Change EVERYTHING to "Only my Friends" Poof. You're gone. You do not exist other than to your friends. You cannot be searched for. Any any groups you are in your photo does not show up in the member list. If you are the admin, only your name is shown, your name cannot be clicked. Any messages you leave on other peoples' wall don't show up to anyone that isn't your mutual friend. You have dissapeared to everyone but your friends.

Don't want everyone on your friend list stalking you?
Quit being a Facebook whore. Stop adding every guy or girl you met at the bar. Quit adding that hottie you sat next to hoping that you'll have an excuse to talk to them. There's a reason Facebook call it 'My Friends.' IT'S BECAUSE IT IS FOR YOUR FRIENDS. I have absolutely nobody on my list that I would mind seeing if I changed my relationship status, uploaded my picture, or anything else I could change on my profile.

I am upset about 2 things.
It's the home page. Toss another link on the side "My Feeds." It would have taken a month before most people figured it out. Look at that sidebar. A year ago it had My Profile, My Friends, My Parties, My Messages and My Account. So far it's improved. My News Feed clutters that.

You can't turn it off or limit what is shown. I don't care who wrote what on whose wall. I do care who changed relationship statuses, who added a friend, who changed interest, etc.

I'm all for News Feeds.

For everyone crying "OMG 1984:"

In the meantime, feel free to remove friends which you do not wish to share your information with here:
http://www.facebook.com/friends.php

You may also deactivate your Facebook account here:
http://www.facebook.com/deactivate.php

Also, you may find the copy of the Privacy Policy here:
http://www.facebook.com/policy.php

And everyone threatening "NOES! I"M GOING TO MYSPACE"
Go. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

The new facebook is in serious need of three things:
1. The ability to control what news appears on your homepage
2. The ability to control which friends can see your news
3. A less-ugly layout
That'll take care of the information-overload and stalking-too-easy complaints.

With those fixed, it's actually a really interesting feature. It nicely supplants certain blogs--I'm thinking the 'today I went to the doctor's then I broke up with my boyfriend lol" variety--making it really easy to keep tabs on the few close friends whose lives you really ARE interested in. I think it's an improvement.

If you're a facebook member and want to join the fun:
http://harvard.facebook.com/group.php?gid=22080939 52

Is it really too much not to expect a link to the site in question in a story about that site? Sheesh.

From The Facebook help page:

News Feed highlights what's going on in and around your Facebook network by listing the latest stories about your friends on your Facebook home page. You will only be notified of actions that you would have been able to see by clicking around the site. We also display external news articles that might be of interest to you. It's like we started delivering the mail to you instead of forcing you to pick it up on your own.

So, yeah, they're out to make more money

It's the implementation. As I posted at http://kettering.facebook.com/group.php?gid=220828 8769, I wouldn't have a problem with the news feeds IF:

1) It wasn't automatic. IF it had merely been a feature that you could "turn on" it would have been ok.

2) It could be turned off. IF I could decide that I didn't want anyone to see my actions, it would have been fine.

3) It was flexible. IF I could decide exactly WHICH actions I wanted others to see (not by clicking the X in the mini-feed, that's a terrible way to censor, plus there is debate that it even works), and WHO I wanted to see them, I wouldn't have much of a problem with it. Similarly, if I could decide exactly what information I wanted to see on MY feed, it could have been far far far less cluttered.

As it stands, this is the worst Facebook upgrade ever, and will be subject to an imminent self-destruction (how do you think everyone who has joined the posted group so far found out about it? that's right, the News Feeds).

Also, the group I linked to is amazing. It is growing at nearly 1,000 members per minute. In a single day it has garnered one tenth the support of "The Largest Facebook Group Ever". Shows what happens when you ruin their beloved social networking site.

The referenced 10,000 member group now numbers over 47,000 (if you have a facebook login, you can view it at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2208288769). There is also an online petition now, with more than 3,700 signatures located at http://www.petitiononline.com/faceb00k/petition.ht ml

See social sites aren't all bad!

Facebook
MySpace
OKCupid (free dating site)

Hell think of all the underaged girls & boys you can meet and stalk! Hell it might even get you famous on TV!! Yea, Dateline!! (okay the last part was a joke)

I created a MySpace back when it was brand new and never touched it. I also made another account (forgot about the old one) just to browse some indie music sites. I think MySpace is useful for garage bands until they break 100 fans. Other than that it irritates the hell out of me. Maybe that is because I am a college student with the wonders of Facebook.

Heh, one of my friends started a Facebook group along similar lines a couple weeks ago: Facebook sucks, but not as much as MySpace

I have a blog on Livejournal and I might hit the site 15 times for posting 1 entry and 1 comment with all the previews and re-edits.

Join my Facebook group: "MYSPACE is a Time Machine that takes you back to 1996."
Description: MYSPACE.COM is a Time Machine that takes you back to the Internet in 1996 in terms of web design (awful) and user gullibility (awful) and the mindless forwarding of unfounded nonsense.

We may be required to disclose user information pursuant to lawful requests, such as subpoenas or court orders, or in compliance with applicable laws. We do not reveal information until we have a good faith belief that an information request by law enforcement or private litigants meets applicable legal standards. Additionally, we may share account or other information when we believe it is necessary to comply with law, to protect our interests or property, to prevent fraud or other illegal activity perpetrated through the Facebook service or using the Facebook name, or to prevent imminent bodily harm. This may include sharing information with other companies, lawyers, agents or government agencies.

There are Conspiracy Theories claiming that Facebook's initial funding was from DOD connected venture capital, and that it is a remenant of Total Information Awareness.

Facebook links to eTrust from their privacy policy. Would it be effective if all of slashdot lodged complaints using the eTrust form? https://www.truste.org/pvr.php?page=complaint

I put this in my profile a couple of days ago:

-=[ README ]=-
If you're reading this profile while considering me for a job, internship, or other opportunity-to-succeed, please note that you are, or the person whose account you are using is, probably in violation of Facebook's terms of use and my personal privacy. This is a private profile and you have been granted permission to view it only if you are following Facebook's terms of use and thus respecting my privacy. Thank you. Please read the terms of use at http://www.facebook.com/terms.php if you haven't already, and read the Member Conduct section closely.

For those curious, it is against Facebook's Terms of Use (Member Conduct section, last bullet) to allow anyone to use your account but yourself. On top of that, employees of an institution who pose as students on Facebook violate it, as well (same section, second bullet).

How well would an argument of "You accessed my profile illegally to bring charges against me!" work?

eating whipped cream off a woman's belly

The poster neglected to link to the sites involved.

Here's a fully linked version:

"BusinessWeek reports that Facebook has just raised another $25M from Venture Capital. Along the same lines, Rupert Murdoch has bought a minority stake in SimplyHired and just two days ago the social networking site, Visible Path said it raised $17M from Venture Capitals."

Is Facebook worth $2 billion? I don't know. I do know that there are only two websites whose names I hear used as verbs every day: google and facebook. If you want to see what a sample facebook profile looks like, click here. This doesn't demonstrate the ajax-y goodness that constitutes a lot of the interface.

It's not even just education-related services... Anything that services the high school and college age crowd is going to get a renewable audience (thus able to include MySpace, and why it is so successful). http://www.student-manager.com/, http://www.facebook.com/, http://www.myspace.com/, http://www.blackboard.com/ all have one thing in common: They service the high school to college age crowd.

It's like myspace (social networking internet site, if you've lived under a rock at the bottom of a cave in the middle of Siberia for the past couple years), only themed more towards/integrated with college (and, more recently, high school, but not so much and separated from the college portion).

http://facebook.com/

While it may seem silly, the dangers explained in the article are reality. Myspace has 56 million users. With all of the personal information I have seen on profiles, it is only expectable that it is misused someday.

A few months ago, a friend of a student at my school experienced a horrible ordeal. Her best friend was murdered and raped by an assaulter who had obtained her personal information from her "Facebook" (another popular--mainly among college students--online community service).

Either way, I find it absurd how much people disclose on their profiles. I won't post any links, but people have their addresses, home phone numbers, and--the perfect appetizer for an attacker--half-dressed pictures. I don't know about you, but that smells like trouble to me.

I am amazed that no one has mentioned http://www.facebook.com/
facebook has had an increadable impact on the social lives of college students.

Not to mention, it is an increadable well designed web app.

Published Wednesday, December 14, 2005 by Jacob | Post to Del.icio.us

If you are an active Internet user and under the age of 25 (or 30), you probably fit in one of two categories; either [1] You have tried social networking, but didn't really get what the buzz was about, or [2] you get it, you dig it, and you sit for hours scouring, posting comments and photos, and clicking refresh obsessively.

Everyone has heard of Facebook. At almost 2 years old, it's growth is staggering.

Take a look at the Repeat Usage statistics, in particular and tell me that this isn't a craze bordering on obsession. 70 percent of users return on a daily basis to a site that really isn't all that dynamic. There are no blogs; just personal info, a place to post blurbs on users' "wall", and now pictures. With websites like Facebook and MySpace gaining an almost-disturbing amount of popularity, it seems that our desire for networking has trumped our sound-thinking, skepticism and desire for privacy.

I started thinking about this issue recently, and the question just keeps popping up: Why do we place so much trust in the creators of these websites? Since the emergence of "Web 2.0", it seems that with a simple "We're not evil, try our Beta" everyone is falling over themselves to shell out as much information as it takes.

Stop and think about Facebook for one minute. A 21-year-old Harvard student starts a networking site for college students, and now there are over 5 million users, many of which have probably never looked at the Privacy Policy. After all, Facebook is fun, so they freely post their name, address, school, concentration, political affiliation, friends, plans and even photos in which faces are linked to profiles. Comforted by the idea that this info isn't crawled by search engines, the fact remains that membership is only limited by the ownership of an ".edu" e-mail address (the Wall Street Journal expressed concerns about this, in fact).

What about the Privacy Policy? In the Help Section of Facebook it says, "Facebook respects your privacy. We don't distribute your user information to third parties" followed by "Read more about our Privacy Policy." Click the link and it says oh yeah, one more thing: we just might share your info, and it "may include sharing information with other companies, lawyers, agents or government agencies." This is a pretty typical policy, actually. It's in the section entitled "The Information We Collect" that it gets a little disconcerting.

When you visit the Web Site you may provide us with two types of information: personal information you knowingly choose to disclose that is collected by us and Web Site use information collected by us on an aggregate basis as you and others browse our Web Site.

It goes on to explain cookies, etc., but then ends with this vague third mode of data collection:

I'm not sure what that means, but I do remember something about AOL's updated terms of service.

I'm not usually big on conspiracy theories, but I point out Facebook's privacy policy to highlight some other interesting aspects of this company. It has been just a few months since Accel Partners anno

Published Wednesday, December 14, 2005 by Jacob | Post to Del.icio.us

If you are an active Internet user and under the age of 25 (or 30), you probably fit in one of two categories; either [1] You have tried social networking, but didn't really get what the buzz was about, or [2] you get it, you dig it, and you sit for hours scouring, posting comments and photos, and clicking refresh obsessively.

Everyone has heard of Facebook. At almost 2 years old, it's growth is staggering.

Take a look at the Repeat Usage statistics, in particular and tell me that this isn't a craze bordering on obsession. 70 percent of users return on a daily basis to a site that really isn't all that dynamic. There are no blogs; just personal info, a place to post blurbs on users' "wall", and now pictures. With websites like Facebook and MySpace gaining an almost-disturbing amount of popularity, it seems that our desire for networking has trumped our sound-thinking, skepticism and desire for privacy.

I started thinking about this issue recently, and the question just keeps popping up: Why do we place so much trust in the creators of these websites? Since the emergence of "Web 2.0", it seems that with a simple "We're not evil, try our Beta" everyone is falling over themselves to shell out as much information as it takes.

Stop and think about Facebook for one minute. A 21-year-old Harvard student starts a networking site for college students, and now there are over 5 million users, many of which have probably never looked at the Privacy Policy. After all, Facebook is fun, so they freely post their name, address, school, concentration, political affiliation, friends, plans and even photos in which faces are linked to profiles. Comforted by the idea that this info isn't crawled by search engines, the fact remains that membership is only limited by the ownership of an ".edu" e-mail address (the Wall Street Journal expressed concerns about this, in fact).

What about the Privacy Policy? In the Help Section of Facebook it says, "Facebook respects your privacy. We don't distribute your user information to third parties" followed by "Read more about our Privacy Policy." Click the link and it says oh yeah, one more thing: we just might share your info, and it "may include sharing information with other companies, lawyers, agents or government agencies." This is a pretty typical policy, actually. It's in the section entitled "The Information We Collect" that it gets a little disconcerting.

When you visit the Web Site you may provide us with two types of information: personal information you knowingly choose to disclose that is collected by us and Web Site use information collected by us on an aggregate basis as you and others browse our Web Site.

It goes on to explain cookies, etc., but then ends with this vague third mode of data collection:

I'm not sure what that means, but I do remember something about AOL's updated terms of service.

I'm not usually big on conspiracy theories, but I point out Facebook's privacy policy to highlight some other interesting aspects of this company. It has been just a few months since Accel Partners anno

Facebook, a site used by almost college student I know, uses SVG to display one's network of friends as a graph.

Anyone who's used Facebook (vaguely like MySpace for college students, so it's like MySpace minus emo thirteen year olds and middle school drama) recently has had access to something similar. You can upload photos, click on a person in the photo, and "tag" it with their name, so anyone who views the photo has a link to their profile. Pretty neat, really...and it doesn't require IE6. :)

Facebook You do however need to verify you go to a uni to be able to sign up and see them! Mmmmm... hot young co-eds. (Or you could always look at myspace)

sounds like you're describing facebook to the letter

the new stalker net, with pictures!