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Your Ex-CoWorkers Will Kill Facebook

Posted by Zonk on from the just-be-glad-they're-not-after-you dept.

Random BedHead Ed writes "Cory Doctorow writes about the downside of social networking on the Information Week site, with a focus on Facebook. While he starts with some minor but insightful quibbles, he quickly moves to a critique of the core of social networking: 'Imagine how creepy it would be to wander into a co-worker's cubicle and discover the wall covered with tiny photos of everyone in the office, ranked by 'friend' and 'foe,' with the top eight friends elevated to a small shrine decorated with Post-It roses and hearts.' Do you really want to add your boss and coworkers to your friends list? (And more to the point, do you really have a choice?)"

2 of 267 comments (clear)

  1. Re:People are stupid? by solar_blitz · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I use LinkedIn for professional networking, and I use Facebook for personal networking. If I know a guy from my work I like well enough to be considered a buddy, I'll add him/her to Facebook. If I know a person on Facebook to be very good at what they do, I'll add them to LinkedIn. It's that simple. It's Structuralism, man - just maintain separate spaces and let them overlap on exceptions only. I'm not going to add everybody I meet at a Conference to facebook, I'll add them to LinkedIn.

    I'm amazed there are people who don't do this.

  2. Already and issue on the 360 by RiddleofSteel · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've already run into this issue with my Xbox360 profile. Several coworkers and I were all on each others friends list to play Gears of War against each other. Then my boss joined us which was fine. Then a month after that I get a friend request from the CEO of the company. At first I thought nothing of it, until the CEO commented on how later I was up on the 360 a few nights ago and how I was 10 minutes late the next day. Now I have two accounts, but what sucks is all my achievements, unlocked content, etc are on the original account. Also I've given up my myspace account(didn't use it much to begin with) because some stalker chick at work kept sending me friend requests and making comments about my profile and pictures. I really don't think this social networking stuff is for the better.