Facebook Opening Up For The Public

This is differnt? by Siberwulf · 2006-09-12 00:49 · Score: 4, Funny

How is this different than MySpace now? other than the fact that now sexual predators know that a majority of the memebers are coeds?

Re:This is differnt? by jimstapleton · 2006-09-12 00:54 · Score: 1

Facebook helps them by only allowing them to see people who "share groups"

So no more having to travel 5000 miles to find their prey, FB autocategorizes it for them already!

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Re:This is differnt? by Anonymous Coward · 2006-09-12 00:54 · Score: 0

How is this different than MySpace now? other than the fact that now sexual predators know that a majority of the memebers are coeds?

It's called age of consent.
Re:This is differnt? by Siberwulf · 2006-09-12 00:57 · Score: 1

There's quite a few states out there with age of consent still at 18 years old. Many of the freshmen I went to college with were 17 still.
Re:This is differnt? by keyshawn632 · 2006-09-12 01:30 · Score: 5, Insightful

Eh, besides the ability to make your profile really tacky by having a god-awful color scheme, flash, and a music stream; only noticible difference [between facebook and myspace] that I see is that you must 'friend' the other person in order to see their entire profile.

However, If you're not their 'friend', their name still comes up in the search engine and you can still see their name, school, a profile picture/avatar, and who they have listed as their friends. Although the information coming up in the search engine seems like a bit much, you can configure it so that your information does not come up in the search engine.
The caveat with that, though, is that no one outside of your school network can make a friend request to you. You would have to initiate all friend requests.

As a college student and facebook user, Facebook jumped the shark a long time ago .
(adding high school, companies onto there, the status updates...)

I'm not looking forward to having random middle-aged men sending me friend requests on facebook (I got these even as a male on myspace, and the college ladies will have their inboxes filled... *shudders*)
Re:This is differnt? by Garse+Janacek · 2006-09-12 01:38 · Score: 5, Funny

Well, facebook generally doesn't make the backs of my eyeballs feel like they're on fire, the way the page design on myspace usually does...

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Re:This is differnt? by dfghjk · 2006-09-12 01:39 · Score: 4, Insightful

Didn't know the victim had to be underage for someone to be a "sexual predator".
Re:This is differnt? by PrescriptionWarning · 2006-09-12 01:45 · Score: 1

Its been my experience as of late that myspace has gotten sloppy, slow, and quite simply stupid. I get tons of friend requests from Advertisement profiles, and even though there's less stuff filling the screen it still seems to be clunkier than facebook. Myspace is going to die a slow, painful death in my opinion simply because facebook really does have more going for it.
Re:This is differnt? by B11 · 2006-09-12 02:48 · Score: 1

Yeah, myspace pages can get pretty bad, although many of us have been using CSS techniques and div overlays to make the pages decent. And for me, being on myspace is more of a matter of convenience. I can send a bulletin out to friends all out once quickly (and vise-versa), and if I meet someone, I can tell them to send me a "myspace." Little commitment or risk, and a universal medium. Pls I don't have my cell phone number out there to the world.

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Re:This is differnt? by Anonymous Coward · 2006-09-12 03:34 · Score: 0

and the college ladies will have their inboxes filled...

I'd love to fill their inboxes. Giggity giggity giggity!
Re:This is differnt? by Gyppo · 2006-09-12 05:07 · Score: 1

only noticible difference [between facebook and myspace] that I see is that you must 'friend' the other person in order to see their entire profile.

That's actually not true. By default, myspace profiles are visible by everybody, even non-logged in users. You have to explicitly set your profile to private to prevent non-friends from viewing your profile.
Re:This is differnt? by Firehed · 2006-09-12 07:28 · Score: 1

The caveat with that, though, is that no one outside of your school network can make a friend request to you. You would have to initiate all friend requests.

That a new policy? I can try to friend request whomever I want, at least as of a few hours ago.

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Re:This is differnt? by AnyoneEB · 2006-09-12 07:29 · Score: 1

And on Facebook the profile is by default "private" to anyone not on the same network(s) that you are. I believe you and the GP are agreeing.

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Centralization breaks the internet.
Re:This is differnt? by keyshawn632 · 2006-09-12 07:50 · Score: 1

Yeah, but how do you know that they exist on the facebook network (it's because you clicked on their name in a group, someone's wall, or found them in the search engine) ?

The option that I described (you have to go a bit deep into your privacy settings to change it) is that your name will no longer come up in the search engine and if your name is displayed in a group, someone else's wall or friend's list, your name will be displayed in black text instead of a blue hyperlink that directs you to their small page that contains their friend list, avatar, name, avatar/pic.
It's been around for some time, I think.

/first sentence reminds me too much of the matrix.
Re:This is differnt? by ottothecow · 2006-09-12 16:07 · Score: 1

Alright, so I am deeply sad that I cant share the exact cut and paste with you but today I open up facebook and there is a message from the administrators (like they sent during the news feed deal) and part of it was talking about privacy and how only people who were in your school and suck would be able to see you. An exact quote went something like "no random people will be able to see your profile".
To me, letting anyone join sounds like random people. You see a person you want to look at and it says tehy are in baltimore...you set it to baltimore (the current system lets you switch without any sort of proof or restriction...) and you can see their profile...way to go facebook.

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Bottles.

um.... by Anonymous Coward · 2006-09-12 00:52 · Score: 0

"No one can browse all 9 million registered users."

Don't be too sure about that...

Re:um.... by ZeroExistenZ · 2006-09-12 01:20 · Score: 1

well, not without RSI!

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I think we can keep recursing like this until someone returns 1

No more open than it was before by finkployd · 2006-09-12 00:54 · Score: 4, Insightful

People, if you have no caught on to this yet, a lot of employers have people at a lot of schools pulling facebook profiles for their HR dept. Some undergrad they pay, nephew of the CEO attending classes, a staff member, whatever. Your facebook profile WILL be seen outside of the fantasy restrictions you think facebook puts on it. They are under no obligation to honor those restrictions anyway, they could open up the whole thing tomorrow to the world and there is nothing you can do about it. The content you put on it is theirs, not yours, and they can license it to whomever they want or distribute it as they see fit. Read the ToS agreement.

Finkployd

Re:No more open than it was before by Anonymous Coward · 2006-09-12 01:14 · Score: 0

Do you have evidence? This has a lot of credibility coming from random home starrunner fan on the internet. And by a lot i mean not a lot.
Re:No more open than it was before by garcia · 2006-09-12 01:19 · Score: 5, Insightful

This goes for anything that you post publically including your blog, your gallery, your Slashdot posts, your old usenet posts, your random Dodgeball history, etc.

Be aware of what you are posting out there and that it is likely that it will be archived *forever* in some way for others to look at.

We're not all going to get off as scott free as Arnold, Bill, and George when we're looking for a job and someone has evidence of our past history in hand.
Re:No more open than it was before by Jacer · 2006-09-12 01:30 · Score: 3, Informative

It's true... I have a friend that finished school two years ago. His employer asked him to create a facebook account and check the profiles of a handful of applicants from my school. Scary prospect.

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Re:No more open than it was before by Anonymous Coward · 2006-09-12 01:37 · Score: 0

That's all nice and good of you to say that, but besides making a small reference to the privacy concerns that people had a few days ago with the "news feed", this article really isn't focusing on privacy. It's about how Facebook is making sweeping changes to the policies that only allowed students in College, High School, or notable companies to use their web site.

Although to your credit, when someone is the first to make a comment to this article along the lines of "Would someone PLEASE think of the PRIVACY!?" you can copy and paste.
Re:No more open than it was before by finkployd · 2006-09-12 01:39 · Score: 1

Do you have evidence?

Not sure what you are requesting evidence about...

That employers have people checking facebook accounts?

A more relevent question is "what evidence can a random homestarrunner fan on the internet provide that a skeptic cannot easily dismiss?"

You can believe me or not, my happiness does not depend on it. You might want to ask yourself this though: "how could someone possibly believe this is NOT happening?"

Do I have evidence about Facebook's ToS? Yes: Facebook's ToS.

Finkployd
Re:No more open than it was before by mdwh2 · 2006-09-12 02:10 · Score: 2

This goes for anything that you post publically including your blog, your gallery, your Slashdot posts, your old usenet posts, your random Dodgeball history, etc.

True, but the thing about Facebook is the information is not public in the sense of viewable by all - so if it turns out that they then retain the right to publish the information to all, then that is something to be worried about. This isn't the same as Slashdot making your Slashdot posts public, because they're already public, and you know that when you post.
Re:No more open than it was before by garcia · 2006-09-12 02:16 · Score: 1

True, but the thing about Facebook is the information is not public in the sense of viewable by all - so if it turns out that they then retain the right to publish the information to all, then that is something to be worried about.

It's the Internet. Anyone and everyone can get the information that is out there regardless of the easily circumvented restrictions put in place by the website.
Re:No more open than it was before by Typingsux · 2006-09-12 03:12 · Score: 1

So you're going to tell your employer about your alias finkployd?

None need to know mine that I use here and other places, besides I've stumbled upon it being used by others.

Tinfoil hat, check

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The above post is an editorial, the poster cannot and will not be held responsible for all or in part for it's contents
Re:No more open than it was before by theundergroundman · 2006-09-12 03:13 · Score: 1

Speaking as someone who has taken an epistemology class, skeptics are major bitches and will not be dismissed themselves under any circumstances.
Re:No more open than it was before by jZnat · 2006-09-12 03:28 · Score: 1

This goes for anything that you post publically including your blog, your gallery, your Slashdot posts, your old usenet posts, your random Dodgeball history, etc.
At least you continue to own the copyright to these things.

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'Yes, firefox is indeed greater than women. Can women block pops up for you? No. Can Firefox show you naked women? Yes.'
Re:No more open than it was before by finkployd · 2006-09-12 03:35 · Score: 0, Offtopic

So you're going to tell your employer about your alias finkployd?

Everyone up to the CIO knows this alias is me :)

Finkployd
Re:No more open than it was before by finkployd · 2006-09-12 03:37 · Score: 1

I find it disappointing that I did not know the meaning of the word "epistemology" only to find out it means "theory of knowledge". Talk about a double smack in the face.

Oh well, thanks wikipedia.

Finkployd
Re:No more open than it was before by Cid+Highwind · 2006-09-12 03:52 · Score: 1

...so if it turns out that they then retain the right to publish the information to all, then that is something to be worried about.

Gentlemen, start your worrying.

By posting Member Content to any part of the Web site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, perform, display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such information and content and to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such information and content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing.
Facebook TOS, you don't have to be a member or provide a .edu email address to see them.

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Re:No more open than it was before by gcr278s · 2006-09-12 04:27 · Score: 1

It depends on your privacy settings. As it is for me only my friends can view my profile. If you go look for me you will get my default pic and what school I go to and when I graduate. If people are worried then they just need to click one box.
Re:No more open than it was before by Quaoar · 2006-09-12 05:00 · Score: 2, Interesting

Funny story:

We were looking for a room-mate to replace a roomie of mine who was moving out. We post an ad on Craigslist, this dude responds and comes over to meet us. Everything seems fine...the guy is nice, polite, seems like he would have no problem playing the rent...

We tell the guy that we'll probably let you move in, but we have to talk to our other room-mate first to make sure he was cool with it (he wasn't home at the time). On a hunch, I type in the guy's name on Google...

First hit turns up a lot of dirt. Turns out the guy was a full-fledged lawyer, but had his bar certification stripped for multiple counts of fraud, perjury, filing false documents, etc etc. In addition, the guy starred in a soft-core gay porn that came out about 6 months prior. We promptly called the guy back and told him the room had been rented to someone else...

So I guess the lesson is, the Internet can completely ruin your reputation, and close doors where you wouldn't expect it to.

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I'll form my OWN solar system! With blackjack! And hookers!
Re:No more open than it was before by aussersterne · 2006-09-12 05:05 · Score: 4, Insightful

Ahhh, once again someone suggests that we should all hide our personhood behind the facade of "vanilla-flavored, grey-colored worker" in order to sustain a living. Well you don't live forever, folks. So if you make nothing to leave behind you now but the pinstripes on your suit, that's all that will remain of you once you're gone.

I got on the subway this morning with just such a pack of yes-men. I couldn't tell them apart. Suits, hairdos, shiny little shoes, bland ties. They are all dead, unimportant, lost to history, no matter how big their bank accounts. They don't even matter to their friends or families beyond being "breadwinner." They could just as easily be any other hollow suit.

No thanks. If you want me to be a hollow suit, I don't want to work for you. Take your money and go rape the third world somewhere.

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STOP . AMERICA . NOW
Re:No more open than it was before by Breakfast+Pants · 2006-09-12 06:06 · Score: 1

I find it hard to believe that you aren't lost to history as well (I know I am).

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WHO ATE MY BREAKFAST PANTS?
Re:No more open than it was before by FormOfActionBanana · 2006-09-12 06:10 · Score: 1

Was his name John Smith?

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Re:No more open than it was before by ericspinder · 2006-09-12 06:27 · Score: 2, Insightful

So I guess the lesson is, the Internet can completely ruin your reputation, and close doors where you wouldn't expect it to.
The second lesson is that names are not unique. If you didn't have corroborating evidence of his identity, such as SS number, age, previous addresses, it's just as likely that you held one man to account for another man's poor reputation.
There are background checks available on the Internet which are fairly 'cheap' (well, a lot cheaper than 2 months of back rent), and I would highly suggest one before you take a random stranger off of the street. Just before you have the right information, such as age and previous addresses.

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The grass is only greener, if you don't take care of your own lawn.
Re:No more open than it was before by garcia · 2006-09-12 06:48 · Score: 1

Obviously you haven't read my site that's linked to my profile but if you had you would have realized that I don't make my writings and gallery posts "vanilla".

I'm just reminding people that they shouldn't be surprised if they get spit out of a job interview because they talk about their weeknight drinking habbits, fuck buddies, and allude to "inappropriate" behavior.
Re:No more open than it was before by AnyoneEB · 2006-09-12 07:35 · Score: 1

Darn, I really should stop e-banking and shopping online, then.

But, seriously, Facebook profiles are (by default) visible to a lot of people, but not everyone. That does not mean one can reasonably expect the information to be kept from a specific person: we are talking about how easy it is to simply ask someone on that person's school network to look at their profile. On the other hand, Facebook has a Privacy Policy, and it is reasonable to expect them to folow it.

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Centralization breaks the internet.
Re:No more open than it was before by Quaoar · 2006-09-12 09:45 · Score: 1

Except that we knew his full name (which was rather uncommon) from the check he wrote us, his age, his profession (law), and his city of origin. The report which explains why his bar certification was stripped contains all of these details, which he corraborated with his own words.

I'd agree with you if his name was "John Smith" and that's all we knew about him, but in this case, there was no doubt that this was the same person.

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I'll form my OWN solar system! With blackjack! And hookers!
Re:No more open than it was before by bogjobber · 2006-09-12 09:57 · Score: 1

Yeah, that's a pretty logical response. Straw Man
Re:No more open than it was before by SteveAyre · 2006-09-12 11:15 · Score: 1

As you do on Facebook, you just grant them a licence to use it.
Re:No more open than it was before by mdwh2 · 2006-09-12 12:22 · Score: 1

It's the Internet. Anyone and everyone can get the information that is out there regardless of the easily circumvented restrictions put in place by the website.

So if your ISP started publishing your private emails publically, that'd be okay because "it's the Internet"?

I fail to see what is so special about "The Internet" anyway. By this logic, if I can find out information about you, it's okay to publish it worldwide.
Re:No more open than it was before by Anonymous Coward · 2006-09-12 13:44 · Score: 0

You were able to tell all that about these people just based on seeing them on the subway? Incredible!
Re:No more open than it was before by JourneymanMereel · 2006-09-13 04:50 · Score: 1

Of course it's OK

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Re:No more open than it was before by Lord_Dweomer · 2006-09-13 17:51 · Score: 1

Um...I'm assuming that if you found dirt on someone saying they were in a porno you would at least investigate as far as looking at a box cover to make match a face. So yes, names are not unique, but faces and penises sure are.

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Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
Re:No more open than it was before by Lord_Dweomer · 2006-09-13 17:58 · Score: 1

"I got on the subway this morning with just such a pack of yes-men. I couldn't tell them apart. Suits, hairdos, shiny little shoes, bland ties. They are all dead, unimportant, lost to history, no matter how big their bank accounts. They don't even matter to their friends or families beyond being "breadwinner." They could just as easily be any other hollow suit."
Just out of curiosity, what were you basing your sweeping assumptions of their personal lives, their bank accounts, their friends and their family relationships on besides what they were wearing? And please don't tell me it was "a vacant stare". It was the subway, in the morning.
Its funny, I dress fairly bland when I go to work, yeah, I try to mix it up with something stylish every now and then, but I honestly don't care what I wear to work, whatever is cheapest works since they're my work clothes, as long as they look presentable. But you wouldn't guess for a moment that I'm listening to some pounding drum & bass music on my iPod, or that when I'm staring out the window vacantly I'm actually daydreaming about last night and the wild time I had with my girlfriend. Nor would you know that while I dress well and my clothes and watch LOOK expensive, its actually stuff I acquired from my family who insist on buying me the best even if I can't afford it myself yet.
I don't know whats worse, the people who truly are hollow suits, or you, who assumes that everybody who is not a unique and idiotically quirky snowflake like yourself is a mindless drone that nobody cares about. Perhaps they don't put any effort into seeming less hollow when on the subway because they don't care about YOU.

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Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!

"An alumni"? by Simon+Garlick · 2006-09-12 00:58 · Score: 4, Funny

Latin, motherf*cker, do you speak it?!

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Re:"An alumni"? by Anonymous Coward · 2006-09-12 02:01 · Score: 0

glad someone else caught it, well done =)
Re:"An alumni"? by operagost · 2006-09-12 02:57 · Score: 3, Insightful

Not only that, but you don't need to be an alumnus-- you can be an undergraduate. It was my impression that most of the Facebook users are undergrads.

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Re:"An alumni"? by Anonymous Coward · 2006-09-12 03:46 · Score: 0

Krishna Dagli probably doesn't speak much english either.

I can just imagine the expertsexchange.com post: Please for the helping me of using Hibernate to the connecting of J2EE to database on Microsoft Small Business server. Please email me the code today. Have big enterprise contract due tomorrow.
Re:"An alumni"? by Anonymous Coward · 2006-09-12 03:47 · Score: 0

generally, latin isn't spoken. :P
Re:"An alumni"? by Anonymous Coward · 2006-09-12 11:22 · Score: 0

The reason for that is at the moment you prove which university you're at by having a university email account. Most graduates won't have one anymore, so can't join - the ones on there tend to have signed up while an undergraduate.

No one? by cerberusss · 2006-09-12 01:02 · Score: 2, Insightful

No one can browse all 9 million registered users."

No one, except the owning company.

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Re:No one? by monsted · 2006-09-12 01:05 · Score: 0, Troll

And that has changed, how?
Re:No one? by finkployd · 2006-09-12 01:15 · Score: 0, Flamebait

No one, except the owning company.

And anyone they let do it. Government orgs, companies, scientology, whoever. The content on it is theirs, they can distribute it or allow access to it as they see fit.

Finkployd
Re:No one? by cerberusss · 2006-09-12 01:25 · Score: 1

Did I say it changed?

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8 of 13 people found this answer helpful. Did you?
Re:No one? by yoinkgush · 2006-09-12 02:59 · Score: 1

They don't know me.

We don't need another Myspace by thoriphes · 2006-09-12 01:05 · Score: 5, Insightful

There are already sites like MySpace and Friendster in the scene, we don't need Facebook to become one of them. The beauty of Facebook was that it was somewhat of a closed community where people were on the same level, if you will. College is a society on its own and Facebook allows the sharing of a lot of commonalities and close-knit ties with people in your campus as well as others. If you open the floodgates for the public, you'll just bring in an onslaught of stalkers (the newsfeed only makes things worse). There's already been quite the resentment for allowing high-schoolers to sign up for Facebook, what now for the common public?

Re:We don't need another Myspace by OakDragon · 2006-09-12 01:27 · Score: 3, Interesting

The beauty of Facebook was that it was somewhat of a closed community where people were on the same level, if you will. College is a society on its own and Facebook allows the sharing of a lot of commonalities and close-knit ties with people in your campus as well as others.

I think you hit the nail on the head here. (I know you're right; you agree with me!) This is the way I have observed college students using Facebook. (I haven't been a student for a few years, but I know some.) I think this might actually hurt Facebook in the long run. Call it over-reaching, feature creep or what have you. Companies often kill the golden-egged goose because they begin to want silver and ruby eggs, too.

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Dark Reflection
Re:We don't need another Myspace by dorango · 2006-09-12 02:43 · Score: 1

There students who are already working on an alternative to Facebook that truly is college only. It's only been up a week, but the site is decent for what they've had to work with. http://www.replacefacebook.com./ Their claim is that the site is to be run by the students through use of in site voting/discussion mechanisms.
Re:We don't need another Myspace by MooUK · 2006-09-12 03:21 · Score: 1

Seems to be slashdotted.
Re:We don't need another Myspace by smallpaul · 2006-09-12 07:41 · Score: 1

If you open the floodgates for the public, you'll just bring in an onslaught of stalkers (the newsfeed only makes things worse). There's already been quite the resentment for allowing high-schoolers to sign up for Facebook, what now for the common public?

I have no interest in or love for facebook. But I find it intensely irritating that people in this thread are not even reading nor responding to the Slashdot summary, much less the article:
For the average student at New York University, for instance, little changes. The only people who can browse his profile before were other NYU students and that will stay the same. The change simply allows for 500 new groups to form that all operate independently on the Facebook platform. No one can browse all 9 million registered users."

In other words, there will be 500 independent facebooks on the same software platform. Not a single unified one with stalkers and students together.
Re:We don't need another Myspace by Anonymous Coward · 2006-09-12 08:16 · Score: 0

The beauty of Facebook was that it was somewhat of a closed community where people were on the same level, if you will. College is a society on its own and Facebook allows the sharing of a lot of commonalities and close-knit ties with people in your campus as well as others.
So what you're saying is that Facebook should be reserved for elitists who want to exclude those who aren't on "their level"
Re:We don't need another Myspace by Karthikkito · 2006-09-12 11:29 · Score: 1

If you remove the trailing period, it works. http://replacefacebook.com/
Re:We don't need another Myspace by ocdude · 2006-09-12 17:06 · Score: 1

This is exactly why I tolerate facebook. When I first joined, it was only open to college students and faculty/staff. This "walled garden" of sorts kept most of the spam, kids, and old creepy people out, for the most part. If they do open it up to the public, I will promptly cancel my account. I had an instance of an old girlfriend stalking me on myspace (long story short, I had an account from back when it first started which I thought I deleted) and I don't need the same thing off of facebook. I don't want to have my profile open to the public. I don't need 3 to 4 (or more) e-mails a day from random people asking me to add them as friends when I've never met them or know not who they are. I don't need the random invitations to groups that I don't know about or know anyone in. If I wanted that, I'd go back to myspace.

Let me sum it up by saying... by Billosaur · 2006-09-12 01:07 · Score: 2, Insightful

...whoop-dee-dooooo! If you find some use for it, great, but the fact is, I can build my own personal web site to do all the communicating with others I need, and I can control the content, and I don't have to worry about the vagueries of someone deciding to change the rules. Facebook, like MySpace, is overrated.

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GetOuttaMySpace - The Anti-Social Network

Re:Let me sum it up by saying... by paralaxcreations · 2006-09-12 01:30 · Score: 1

But can you automatically hook it into a network of millions from the getgo?

And what prevents you from controlling the content you post on your facebook page? After logging into Facebook, do your fingers go all "typing gone wild"?

I'm no fan of facebook (yes, I have an account. No, I never use it), but I'll recognize that it makes connecting to a specifically targetted group (up until now, college students) MUCH easier than creating your own site and promoting it on relevant sites to mixed results.
Re:Let me sum it up by saying... by plantman-the-womb-st · 2006-09-12 02:08 · Score: 1

"But can you automatically hook it into a network of millions from the getgo?"

Yes, it's called the "internet". I hear it's a network of millions of networks.

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Re:Let me sum it up by saying... by paralaxcreations · 2006-09-12 02:48 · Score: 1

That anyone with any experience in launching a website on a mass scale knows costs either lots of time or lots of money to elicit people to visit. In a network of networks where anything and everything can be found, it's hard to be seen. It's common sense. If you build it, they don't always come. This mistake is made by Internet start-ups time and time again. If you doubt me, why is SEO such a profitable market (despite the fact that many of the firms are scammers that will actually get you banned from the engines)? How can Google afford to make its sole source of revenue PPC? Why are blog and social network sites the Next Big Thing for online promotion?

Of course, you can test this for yourself.

1. Make a page on facebook.
2. Make a page with identical content on your server.
3. Promote neither in any way whatsoever.
4. Check back in a week, see which one draws more traffic.

I made a facebook account and completely forgot about it by the end of the day (A friend asked me to join, which is the way most people join these sites. I didn't care much for it). Within a week, 3 friends of mine from high school contacted me. 4 people I never knew that go to my school also contacted me. Had I cared enough to be active, I would have "met" many more people on it, immediately seeing pictures, their interests, their major, and when they graduate, without any effort outside of browsing. Can you say the same for your self-hosted page? I doubt it, because your page A) isn't hooked in (yes, being on the Internet is one thing, being SEEN on the Internet is a completely different matter), and B) your page is just that: your page. It doesn't connect you to anyone that hasn't visited it yet. It exists within its own little bubble.

Sure, you'll probably say "I can go out and visit people('s pages) myself." And you'd be 100% correct (well, almost 100%...you would only find other people that know how to create a website and care enough to do it, which may be your target in the first place, limited as it may be). You also would be completely outside the realm of this conversation, because this is a topic on social networking sites...the sole purpose of which is to make profile page creation and the finding of like-minded individuals easier than doing it all yourself. And they're effective at it.

Yeah, sure, the Internet is a big network. Good luck being found without attaching every flashing light you can find to your self, though. It's one thing to say you don't need/want to use social networking sites. It's a completely different thing to say that you can do the same job that they do with the same level of effort (almost none). And if you can, why aren't you cashing in on it? With the preposterous amounts of money we've seen social networking sites like myspace and facebook pulling in, your maintenance-free, cost-free solution is guaranteed to draw the attention (and wallets) of all the big players.

P.S. not to go grammar nazi on you, but it's "Internet," with a capital I. It's a proper noun, and there is only one. Senator Stevens used the non-existent, lowercase "internet" when he pluralized it and called data an internet.
Re:Let me sum it up by saying... by plantman-the-womb-st · 2006-09-12 08:11 · Score: 1

Interestingly enough, I had a myspace band page for a about a year until a month ago when I deleted it. During that time I had about 30 listens to my music via myspace and roughly 200 downloads of .ogg files from unique IPs for the same music on my site. I've never gone "out of my way" to promote my personal site at all. My site gets more traffic than my livejournal too. Which is sad actually, I update the site far less than the journal, and I don't do that often.

It is possible that not everything that works for some works for all.

I nearly added that "s" to "internet" but I assumed you'd take my post as satire/sarcasm without it. Perhaps you should lighten up a bit?

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Say bad words about my book, in cold oatmeal, or I shall sue!

Coming soon: by shoptroll · 2006-09-12 01:08 · Score: 4, Funny

I bet there's going to be a merger at some point. Coming soon: FaceSpace!

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Insert Sig Here

Re:Coming soon: by andphi · 2006-09-12 01:14 · Score: 3, Funny

And then, a few merger-generations later, we'll find the weblog ecology split down the middle: FaceSpaceLiveXangaBlogFriender and .Mac.
Re:Coming soon: by yafujifide · 2006-09-12 07:47 · Score: 1

you mean MyFace?

Humor by SirLestat · 2006-09-12 01:11 · Score: 4, Interesting

Look at what I found just this morning, what a coincidence: http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1707663. That is also why I try not put any personal information on the web.

Let the Stalking Begin by Deinhard · 2006-09-12 01:13 · Score: 3, Interesting

I'm much removed from the social networking sites such as FaceBook (by time) and MySpace (by desire) but it seemed to me that the main advantage of FaceBook was that it was a relatively safe place for HS and College students to meet and interact.

Now, with the addition of millions of potential users, it seems (as others have said) that the site should become MyFaceBook.

Why can't site operators (even those that pay millions for established market share) realize that they can make a reasonable profit within niche markets? That was the entire purpose behind the original "Virtual Community" concept of the late 90s. People can belong to multiple niches and can receive targeted messages based on the site they are currently visiting.

I could keep moaning and bitching, but it would just lead to a rant...

--
Successfully condensing fact from the vapor of nuance since 1998.

Re:Let the Stalking Begin by eht · 2006-09-12 01:49 · Score: 1

It still is a niche market, now with 500 more niches.
Re:Let the Stalking Begin by THESuperShawn · 2006-09-12 03:11 · Score: 1

In all fairness, they are not really "opening it up" to the public. They are simply adding more (500 more) "niches" that hapen to be non-school related. As long as those niches are workplaces or similar (and not NAMBLA or similar), I think it will be fine.

FaceBook is not allowing people to search or browse outside their shares, just providing their service to more people.

Think of it this way, FaceBook was a shelf with many different containers. People could only search within their containers. FaceBook is not emptying the containers for anyone to search anywhere, they are simply ading more containers. As long as that does nto change, there is no reason for anyone to worry.

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Repant. Thy end is sheer.
Re:Let the Stalking Begin by JimBobJoe · 2006-09-12 12:39 · Score: 1

but it seemed to me that the main advantage of FaceBook was that it was a relatively safe place for HS and College students to meet and interact.

There might have been a perceived psychological safety with Facebook (and it truly was psychologocal...I think it's easier to make an argument that Myspace was safer because it was easier to be anonymous on it.)

Having said that, the main advantage to Facebook was its nifty hierarchichal design. It was easy to find a John Smith, whether they are at an unknown college/school, a specific school, or your own. It was a lot more complex to point someone to their myspace, but all you needed was a name for facebook.
Re:Let the Stalking Begin by Lord_Dweomer · 2006-09-13 18:02 · Score: 1

"Why can't site operators (even those that pay millions for established market share) realize that they can make a reasonable profit within niche markets? That was the entire purpose behind the original "Virtual Community" concept of the late 90s. People can belong to multiple niches and can receive targeted messages based on the site they are currently visiting. "
As an advertising professional, let me sum it up for you.
Yes, niche markets are where its at right now. What these sites do is enable people to create their own niche communities within the framework of their overarching service. Couple that with todays online advertising technology that lets you narrowcast your message to MANY small niche groups at once, and you see that the reason they are doing this is because they can still reach those niche markets, but they now have the ability to reach MANY more niche markets, which means more ad dollars which means $$$ and hello new yacht.

--
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!

Replace Facebook by dorango · 2006-09-12 01:16 · Score: 3, Interesting

A group of students decided to replace Facebook with a student built and operated site... If Facebook really has lost touch with its userbase, perhaps these guys can offer a decent alternative to MySpace/Facebook for students. http://digg.com/software/Outraged_Students_Replace _Facebook I signed up, it's a little low on features, but they've only had a week. I think it's something to keep an eye on. -Dorango

Re:Replace Facebook by dorango · 2006-09-12 01:30 · Score: 3, Informative

http://www.replacefacebook.com/ -- it seems the Digg link is down.
Re:Replace Facebook by Manchot · 2006-09-12 02:54 · Score: 1

It's kind of ironic that a story about a group of users of a popular web site who became disillusioned with said site and created a new version of it should end up on Digg.

Facebook's lost touch with its users by BASICman · 2006-09-12 01:25 · Score: 2, Interesting

It's beyond me wy Facebook is doing something like this a a week after pissing of at least a ninth of its active membership. Last week browising all the outrage groups that sprung up, many people said that they felt the site lost its way when it let High School students join. While allowing outside access to Facebook is quite clearly the best buisness route to take, the question that comes up is whether or not it alienates its original niche? The immediate answer is no; college sutdents still will use Facebook. But what Facebook fails to remember is that college students (and society in general) are fickle. While you may have them all today, if you make a series of wrong moves and then something (better?) comes along, they'll all ditch you like roadkill.

--
An enlightenment painter would paint a grand house on a lawn; A romantic painter would paint it on fire.

Re:Facebook's lost touch with its users by dorango · 2006-09-12 01:55 · Score: 1

Something better is coming... http://www.replacefacebook.com/
Re:Facebook's lost touch with its users by ceejayoz · 2006-09-12 02:11 · Score: 4, Insightful

That's like saying that something better than Slashdot is coming, and then posting a Geocities link.
Re:Facebook's lost touch with its users by dorango · 2006-09-12 02:39 · Score: 0, Troll

Not really. GeoCities is an ad-paid free hosting service for script kiddies, Slashdot is an aggregated news site for script kiddies. This is more like saying there is something better coming, and posting a link to a site that's been up for a week. Give them a chance man. Not everyone has to have venture capital to succeed. They just need time and talented people.

Biggest problem with facebook by falcon5768 · 2006-09-12 01:25 · Score: 2, Informative

was the fact it NEEDED my university email to allow me to join. My school doesnt allow allum to have free email addresses, only students. While its cheap to get it, I saw no need to have a 5th email address. But facebook refused to let me sign up as a allum without one, so I said fuck it. Maybe if they would understand that not all schools allow thier students to keep emails then maybe more people might sign up to it.

--

"Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."

Re:Biggest problem with facebook by IdolizingStewie · 2006-09-12 04:54 · Score: 1

Are you kidding? That's the best thing about facebook. I'm sorry it kept you out, but it also greatly raises the barrier for creepy old men to get on, pretending to be college students.
Re:Biggest problem with facebook by JonLatane · 2006-09-12 05:18 · Score: 1

Actually, this is a feature. Most universities don't just give an email address to just anyone, so this makes sure that the person registering is in fact a student. And you only need it for a short time; if you don't want to keep it, just get the address (which lets them confirm you're a student), sign up, change your primary email, and cancel your university account. It's just to keep creepy people off the university networks (we've got enough of 'em already).
Re:Biggest problem with facebook by Lord_Dweomer · 2006-09-13 18:05 · Score: 1

I ran into the same problem. Part of the issue with Facebook is that it basically completely locked out people who graduated before it was released who didn't get a free email from their school afterwards, which is quite a large group of users. Personally, I think it could have become a much more "prestidigous" service had it resolved that issue as I'm sure many alums would have loved to use it to get in touch with old school friends. Terrible mistake on their behalf because guess what target demographic has the REAL disposable income now? That's right, baby boomers. Coincidentally, they're also more likely (read: too stupid to know better) to buy random crap they see in ads online.

--
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
Re:Biggest problem with facebook by falcon5768 · 2006-09-14 04:19 · Score: 1

Hate to tell you, but many creepy old men ARE college students these days. Half my department was over the age of 35 going back to school for new certifications or going back to finish their BS.

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"Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."

College students also join regions by ZachPruckowski · 2006-09-12 01:26 · Score: 2, Informative

I'm a college student on Facebook (yes, I'm sure you can find the profile if you look, there's nothing bad on there). I know that I, and many of my facebook friends are in these geographic regions networks as well as college networks. I'm in the Washington, DC one, for example, so that means that now people who just live in DC can view my profile, not just college or high school students from DC. I don't think most college kids realize that.

Re:College students also join regions by Anonymous Coward · 2006-09-12 01:35 · Score: 1

That's why you use the privacy settings that the program has had since its inception, and only allow your friends to see your profile. Don't be stupid.

Townies...!!! by DeusExMalex · 2006-09-12 01:28 · Score: 4, Funny

Great. Now I get to be harrassed by townies on the Internet, too. Profile = private.

NICE by Anonymous Coward · 2006-09-12 01:29 · Score: 0

I attend a college that is not in Facebook. Trying to join is impossible if your college does not authorize your students to take part. I welcome this announcment.

have to be student/alumnus to see profile by peter303 · 2006-09-12 01:38 · Score: 1

Only a member or alumnus of the institution can see more than picture and name. Otherwise you have to be given permission by the person.

Re:have to be student/alumnus to see profile by finkployd · 2006-09-12 01:43 · Score: 2, Insightful

Riiiight. So please re-read my post.

Employers can easily find an alumnus (thank you for using the correct plural btw), current student, or staff member, who for a fee (or just because they are friends) will print/save-to-pdf/cut-and-past/etc. job applicant's profiles. Do YOU trust every single person in your university with a university email address?

Finkployd
Re:have to be student/alumnus to see profile by the+plant+doctor · 2006-09-12 01:48 · Score: 1

It can be locked down so that unless the employer finds a "friend" they can't see the profile. I don't see how everyone with a university e-mail address can see the profile if you set your permissions properly unless Facebook changes the rules. Which admittedly they could.
Re:have to be student/alumnus to see profile by rifter · 2006-09-12 05:05 · Score: 1

It can be locked down so that unless the employer finds a "friend" they can't see the profile. I don't see how everyone with a university e-mail address can see the profile if you set your permissions properly unless Facebook changes the rules. Which admittedly they could.
According to the TOS they could also sell your information to the highest bidder, or repackage it as a service to potential employers. "Oh look here's their blogging history. One more thing to check in addition to drug tests, background checks, employment history, and credit reports."
The best part is you already gave them permission to use and access your data. The TOS gives anyone in the world permission to see your data.

Soon? by liryon · 2006-09-12 01:40 · Score: 1, Informative

The writeup says soon, but facebook has been allowing sign-ups for geogrphical regions for months now. Old news, move along.

Re:Soon? by tmjr3353 · 2006-09-12 02:08 · Score: 2, Informative

You can join regional networks once you're already a member, but you can not sign up through a regional network yet. The drop-down box still only lists: college, high school and work as candidates.

No one? by TheSeventh · 2006-09-12 01:47 · Score: 2, Informative

> No one can browse all 9 million registered users.

Except of course, for the site owners, and the government. Thanks to GW and the DHS, the government has access to all of Myspace, facebook, friendster, etc. Because you know terrorists are big on facebook. They like to create groups like "Facebook is for infidels" and "I just started a jihad 5 minutes ago".

Consider anything you put on there easily enough open to anybody. It's not difficult to create university email addresses, which is why places, fake celebrities, and even people's pets and "Delicious Beer" can create profiles on facebook (although facebook has been removing pets and inanimate object profiles).

--
Just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean that they're not out to get you.

Adapt or Die. by FatSean · 2006-09-12 02:35 · Score: 1

If the kids in these backwards states are being taken advantage of, perhaps the fault is not with MySpace, but with the 'life lessons' being taught at home?

Age of consent is 18? So you can drive a 3000lb flying hunt of steel...but you can't fuck? What kind of half-wits thought that one up?

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Blar.

Re:Adapt or Die. by MooUK · 2006-09-12 03:17 · Score: 1

I find differing ages for sex/marriage and for viewing/making pornography to be even more stupid. You're allowed to have sex with whoever you want at 16, with the exception of those in a position of power over you, and you're allowed to marry and so forth. But you're not allowed to buy porn. You're allowed to take part in sexual acts, but not to view them.
Re:Adapt or Die. by Don853 · 2006-09-12 03:46 · Score: 1

And you can't drink champagne at your wedding - but you can be drafted. The minimum legal ages for lots of things are fucked up here.
Re:Adapt or Die. by cashman73 · 2006-09-12 04:15 · Score: 1

But you're not allowed to buy porn.
Seriously, how many slashdotters actually buy porn these days? ;-)
Re:Adapt or Die. by MooUK · 2006-09-12 04:19 · Score: 1

Oh, you can drink, here... you can't buy it yourself, and you can't get someone to buy it for you, but you can drink anything you get your hands on. Drinking itself is not restricted.

Too old to register??? by Anonymous Coward · 2006-09-12 02:46 · Score: 0

When I read the article I realized that Facebook was organized around what college or high-school you went to, I was excited. I thought that it was like a North American version of the wildly popular UK site www.friendsreunited.co.uk. So I went to Facebook, and searched my old high school.

WOW! It was in the list. I clicked the Register button, filled in my details and it tells me "You are too old to register for a high school". Bummer!

Next they'll be saying that blacks are not allowed to join, or short people, or fat people...

P.S. Funny thing is that Slashdot wants me to type in the word "biases" to post this. Coincidence? Or is it an omen from the Slashdot Oracle?

Re:Too old to register??? by edflyerssn007 · 2006-09-12 03:42 · Score: 1

The Reason you are too old to join a high school network is because its for people who are currently in high school. It is so that the high school network section doesn't become like myspace (with the predators.) Once a region gets up, you can join that region, and then list the high school you went to and the year. Then people can search for you based on the high school you went to.

-Ed

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So you see what had happened was....

The micro$oft connection by juggledean · 2006-09-12 03:12 · Score: 0, Offtopic

Perhaps micro$oft would like a larger audience for their facebook page.

Re:The micro$oft connection by juggledean · 2006-09-12 03:52 · Score: 1

well so much for moderation. The link refers to the new "association" of microsoft and facebook whereby microsoft will be advertising on the facebook. The op is trying to suggest that it would benefig ms to have a larger group of people to show their advertisements. It wouldn't be the first time that a company tailored their product to suit a large corporation.

She's a guy! by SeaFox · 2006-09-12 03:18 · Score: 2, Funny

I'm not looking forward to having random middle-aged men sending me friend requests on facebook (I got these even as a male on myspace, and the college ladies will have their inboxes filled... *shudders*)

Good thing you added in that parentheseed part, you almost got added as a friend to a bunch of middle aged nerds' user pages!

Lame, lame, lame. by Mr.+Samuel · 2006-09-12 03:22 · Score: 1

"Where is Facebook? Is it safe? Is it alright? Nooooooooooo!"

Name Change In Order? by Aqua_boy17 · 2006-09-12 03:24 · Score: 1

OpenedFace?

--
What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it's all about?

Dodgeball by cuban321 · 2006-09-12 03:31 · Score: 1

I have no idea why Facebook and Myspace are so popular when an actually useful social networking site like dodgeball exists. No stupid comments, no stupid bulletins, just a website used to help meet up with your friends and get out of your house!

When the Blueblood service (aka Orkut) opens up... by sethstorm · 2006-09-12 03:32 · Score: 1

When the closed up (in a worse degree) service known as Orkut that uses the euphemism of "Trusted Friends" to soften up the word elitism opens up and is otherwise unaltered. Facebook - it's known that it could be open.

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Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.

We don't need another popular OS by Anonymous Coward · 2006-09-12 03:35 · Score: 0

There are already widely used operating systems like Windows and Apple OS X in the scene, we don't need Linux to become one of them. The beauty of Linux was that it was somewhat of a closed community where people were on the same level, if you will. Kernel enthusiasts are a society of our own and Linux allows the sharing of a lot of commonalities and close-knit ties with people in your area of expertise, as well as others. If you open the floodgates for the public, you'll just bring in an onslaught of posers (the newsfeed only makes things worse). There's already been quite the resentment for allowing application developers to comtribute to Linux, what now for the common public?

Are you kidding me? by Anonymous Coward · 2006-09-12 03:55 · Score: 0

FTFA: Zuckerberg runs a 150-person company that has raised $38 million in venture capital.

150 people, $38 million, and this is all they can come up with? Are you serious? The site is slllllooooowwww. The photo archive almost never works. I've received many errors while browsing the site. I think at this point, they're just trying to find new development initiatives to keep those 150 people busy and make the investors think that they are attempting to compete in the vertical.

It's bad enough that they didn't learn enough from their userbase when the implemented the "streams" or whatever they call them. Now they're going to continue pissing off the userbase by taking away the one thing that made facebook interesting in the first place, exclusivity. 22-year-old entrepreneur, prepare to be 22-year-old failure looking for your next venture. You're quickly becoming irrelevant.

Exclusivity R.I.P. by Duncan3 · 2006-09-12 04:03 · Score: 1

Around here (Stanford), Facebook is only used at all by the undergrad girls because they know it's only college students, and thus they don't feel total vulnerable posting private info. The guys only use it to stalk them. And both are just clueless kids really, but smart enough to avoid MySpace at least.

Or at least that's the impression I get, I'm too old to "get" why posting private info is ever good, and the campus directory works fine for me, and IS private.

So I'd say Facebook is now R.I.P. Women will leave FAST if they have any brains at all with both employeers and every sex offender in the area now on the prowl.

--
- Adam L. Beberg - The Cosm Project - http://www.mithral.com/

Re:Exclusivity R.I.P. by Anonymous Coward · 2006-09-12 06:06 · Score: 0

At my university (one of the UC campuses), the campus directory is publically accessible and often lists home addresses and phone numbers -- and most people don't know that it's there. You have to opt-out.
Re:Exclusivity R.I.P. by Anonymous Coward · 2006-09-12 06:43 · Score: 0

Davis, no?
Re:Exclusivity R.I.P. by Anonymous Coward · 2006-09-12 07:48 · Score: 0

I don't know about your school, but at mine, the girls are doing most of the stalking...

Ever wonder why that one girl from down the hall is always done up and always passing by you after your physics class? Well of course not, you're on slashdot, but if you were halfway attractive and took a shower daily*, you might realize that its not the coincidence it appears.

-K

*This was meant as a general funny insult to all Slashdot users, nothing personal to you.

What this really opens up Facebook to is Spammers by nintendo_is_a_cereal · 2006-09-12 04:48 · Score: 1

The great part about requiring a college email address was that it was a great way to prevent spammers from signing up. I can sign into Facebook, check some stuff out and not come away with my inbox being full of friend requests from crappy Jam bands, wanna be stand up Comedians, and fake profiles for webcam sites. I'm not a heavy facebook user by any means, but if the spam becomes as bad as MySpace then my usage will drop to nonexistant.

double edged sword by ultramrw21 · 2006-09-12 05:09 · Score: 1

thats the way i see it, im an avid user of facebook, its a lot simpler(used to be) and a little more private than myspace. this new change could be really good, i have a few friends how didnt go to college and id like to keep up with them. It might end up being a great way to meet local friends with similar interests. But im a 19 year old guy, who internet-savvy and is cautiuos about new friend requests from people i dont know. I sure as hell dont think its a good idea if its opening high school age kids or anyone not-so-cautiuos to total strangers that could hurt them or ruin their life. My suggestion, give averyone an option to totally block anyone from knowing they exist outside of their networks. I understand that they want to get more people into facebook, but in reality they're just pissing off all the old loyal users

The neighborhood by 4D6963 · 2006-09-12 06:47 · Score: 1

Awesome, now I can get on Facebook and register with France as my region, so that only french people can see my profile. Makes me feel so much more secure than if Canadians or Germans could see my profile...

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You just got troll'd!

At this rate . . . by KalElOfJorEl · 2006-09-12 07:12 · Score: 1

They may as well go register the domain myspace.edu since they're now the bastard child of a smart concept for college students/alumni and that cesspool of social gangrene.

Facebook just jumped the shark by Anonymous Coward · 2006-09-12 10:01 · Score: 0

Seems like a futile effort of greed by the Facebook folks in an attempt to cash in.

Big mistake.

Facebook just jumped the shark.

Facebook was always intending to jump the shark by JimBobJoe · 2006-09-12 12:51 · Score: 1

As a college student and facebook user, Facebook jumped the shark a long time ago .

The thing that amazes me is that so many people did not see it coming. Myspace sold for about half a billion and Facebook wanted (several months ago) $2 billion in order to consider a buyout.

What would make a company with (at the time) about 1/10th the users think itself 4x more valuable?

a.) the fact that they ravage their user database and sell it to the highest bidder (which myspace can't due to the fact that the information is not as accurate, and paradoxically, myspace has a much better privacy policy)
b.) their strong growth potential once they open their network to as many people as possible

expertsexchange.com by Anonymous Coward · 2006-09-12 19:57 · Score: 0

expert sex change?

Slashdot Mirror

Facebook Opening Up For The Public

132 comments