Your Ex-CoWorkers Will Kill Facebook

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?)"

Comments

Facebook will Adapt

[QuantumFTL]

The people who run Facebook aren't stupid - there's so much money involved here that I am sure they will find a solution to this. As for me, I'd just block my old co-workers when I leave, unless I strongly trust them on a personal level.

Re:Facebook will Adapt

[Fred Ferrigno]

Why shouldn't you be able to have ex co-workers on your "friends" list? Perhaps thinking of them as friends is the problem. They may not be your friends, but they're social contacts. They're people you might want to maintain some level of relationship with, in case your new job doesn't work out, or you're dealing with your old company professionally, or you just want someone to hang out with when you're back in town, or ...

Someone else posted a satirical story about Facebook implementing multiple profiles for different facets of your life. In the grand tradition of satirical stories that later prove true, this is a feature that Facebook desperately needs to implement, to secure their own viability going forward if nothing else.

Re:Facebook will Adapt

[cmacb]

The people who run Facebook aren't stupid - there's so much money involved here that I am sure they will find a solution to this.

You mean the same way the smart people at Microsoft have dealt with viruses, spyware, adware, and so on?

The problem is not with the people at Facebook, the problem is with the users of Facebook, who may not be stupid either, but they are most likely ignorant of how to build a web page, run a blog, mailing lists an so on.

Facebook and the like automate for the "average" user all the Internet goodies that us bleeding edgers have been playing with for years. There is nothing in Facebook, Myspace or Orkut that I couldn't have done with my own web page, blog, scripts, etc. as far back as the mid-90s. They've just packaged it and put a name on it (and probably filed patents on it for all I know) for "the masses".

If like most users of Windows, Facebook users just complain about security issues and never "vote with their feet" there will be no reason for those not-stupid people at Facebook to improve things. In fact, since ignoring security and privacy can have a beneficial impact for advertisers (again, assuming users don't see fit to walk) there will nothing but PR campaigns to reassure users while at the same time doing little or nothing to actually solve the problem.

The issue is not how smart they are, but how much you trust them. Personally from what I've read about them so far, my answer is: "Not very much".

My response was to cancel my original account before I had populated it with very much information and open a new account with a fake name and nothing of interest to the company or its advertisers. I've yet to hear of a great number of other people doing the same, although I suspect a lot of people who have got a clue will just avoid using it until that is the only way to communicate with their grandchildren (if it gets to that point).

Re:Facebook will Adapt

[GrumblyStuff]

When they let users differentiate friends from coworkers, casual acquaintances, and 'these people I know from years ago who found my profile', well, that'll be for the better.

People are stupid?

[Kintanon]

How many people thought about this 12 years ago and have maintained separate online identities for Work and Recreation?
I did.

Re:People are stupid?

[cybermage]

I Hurt People For Fun

Does your sig represent work or recreation? ;)

Re:People are stupid?

[solar_blitz]

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.

Re:People are stupid?

[myvirtualid]

maintain... separate online identities for Work and Recreation

You'll notice from my /. nickname that I did this...

...and now sort of regret it, now that I'm consulting and wish I could tie together the various sites at which I lurk, as part of an effort at building a coherent brand...

...something which I would surely regret 5 years from now, when I move on to project X.

Wanna know what's really funny? I chose "myvirtualid" as a quasi-ironic meaningless handle and decided to use it as a throwaway at all the sites I "really didn't care about", the sites I figured would generate the most spam, etc.

Then, when I got tired of the spam, I would tank myvirtualid and move on....

Except it didn't work out that way - over time, the one email ID that got the least spam was myvirtualid, and the sites that I've maintained the {l|str}ongest association with are those sites where myvirtualid is myHandleOfChoice.

And the only reason I don't get more spam at pwwnow@TheGreat2GBSearchEngineEmailPalace.com is decent spam filtering. I won't even mention pww@MyCorporateConsultingIdentity.com, which just shows how bad the spam filtering is in Evolution (after months of training).

Let's face it: Identity is fluid. Friendships are fluid. And our understanding of them is fluid as well, at least from the perspective of different generations.

There was a good story reprinted in the Gardner Dozois annual a few years ago about a furture virtual world where identity and skins were completely user selectable, and where, after a few years or decades in one place and one skin, it was socially acceptable to "burn down" one's "house" and move on, no forwarding address.

And all that prevented anyone from following and learning the new ID or new location was the simple desire to one day move along one's self. And that was enough.

Let's face it. As wise as the Red Caped Ballooning Blogger may be, none of us really yet understands the implications of the new networking. It's far more pervasive and far more sinister and far more powerful and far more enabling than we yet realize.

And generation ++(++(++(++(++(++X))))) will work within it with an ease lost on them's of us still around trying to puzzle it all out.

Prognosticate all you will, Jack, you don't know jack 'bout what's next.

Re:People are stupid?

[paralaxcreations]

That's all well and good...but remember the old chart from health class? The one about having sex...when you have sex with your partner, your having sex with their ex-partners' partners...and their ex-partners' partners. In the end, we've all f***ed eachother. It's like 6 degrees of hide the sausage.

Same thing applies to social networking sites. You give trusted co-worker Roger your screen name, next thing you know you got Bob in accounting sending you a friend request, saying "hey man we work together!" because he's the one exception to Roger's one exception.

Yeah, you don't have to accept it, but then you're just the rude guy in the office.

I've gone so far (in the past, I don't care anymore since I freelance) as to have my linked in account, a facebook account, and a separate facebook account just for those i'm working with. When I leave the place of employment, I delete the account.

Yeah, it was a bit of a hassle...that's why I stopped though. I have 2 social sites and linked in. My clients only get my LinkedIn account (no exceptions), my friends get all three.

Ironically, in reference to the above Seinfeld quote, my name is George.

Easy solution

[fotbr]

Hide all your data. Add only the friends you want to be able to see your facebook page.

Or just not use Facebook in the first place.

uh, dont use it?

[192939495969798999]

Maybe just don't use it. What is your company going to do, fire you for not wasting work time creating a virtual soap opera?

Re:uh, dont use it?

[QuantumFTL]

I agree that if one is concerned about a service, they should consider not using it. But for me, not only has Facebook allowed me to keep in touch with friends and family, it's done something greater - it's how I found the love of my life.

My Fiancee and I went to the same high school but were in different grades. Despite being in a musical together, we only talked on perhaps two occasions. One day she wondered what I had been up to (people at my old high school still talked about me after I left due to my NASA work) and sent me a message. Less than a week later, I visited her at her school and discovered someone absolutely amazing.

So, despite all I might disagree with, I owe much of my current happiness to both NASA and Facebook. May they both live long and prosper :)

Re:uh, dont use it?

[AdmiralDouglas]

Pembo13 read the post with a sigh. Thoughts of his lost love came streaming in on him from every direction. The parent's post was all too remeniscent of that seductive MySpace page he fell in love with so many years ago. He was sure she was the one. He knew it down to his bones.

But just as most of the turbulent online relationships he'd known ended up, he too, was doomed to her foe list.

He'd heard so many stories of couples meeting and falling love, when was it his turn? If only they could hear his heart, pleading for their attention! His fingers tapped away a message over the keys. A message in a cyberbottle. A plea.

A plea for a happy ending.

Don't worry, pembo13. Your time will come.

Re:this is old news...

[ShieldW0lf]

Facebook has already got this figured out... they're testing a new feature that lets you create alternate personalities to keep your various personalities away from each other...

Schizophrenia is a perfectly reasonable response to modern society, if you've accepted that you can't change it and you want to live at any cost, I suppose...

Social Networking Sites in General

[CFTM]

It's beyond me why people are so quick to spill their most personal secrets on a social networking site; it just seems to me that people have no idea that anything that they say, type or post is often available for the world to see. Sorry but I don't like that kind of invasion of privacy and I never have...I can remember being 13 years, being on AOL and being wary to give any personal information out that I would want to be in public domain, but I seem to be very alone in this idea in my peer group (26 now).

Heck, I've even had people I used to work attempt to add me to their friends list and I rejected them. Then again I'm one of those people who only accepts invitations from people I know in the flesh, don't allow myself to be searched for and never post anything on the profile anyways.

Re:Social Networking Sites in General

[Minwee]

It's beyond me why people are so quick to spill their most personal secrets on a social networking site

It's because they're hoping to score with Hot Internet Chicks. Why is this hard to understand?

If playing every Mario game ever made has taught me anything it's that guys will do anything, even eating strange mushrooms and jumping head first into sewer pipes, for the vague possibility of impressing women.

Re:Social Networking Sites in General

[DoofusOfDeath]

It's beyond me why people are so quick to spill their most personal secrets on a social networking site;

Probably the same reason we pick our noses in our cars, despite everyone being able to see us. It feels more private and anonymous than it really is.

Finally

[j.sanchez1]

Your Ex-CoWorkers Will Kill Facebook

At least those idiots will do something right before they die.

Re:this is old news...

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Wait 'till they find out about Fuckbook...

John Dvorak, is that you?

[mcmonkey]

Do you really want to add your boss and coworkers to your friends list?

That's like saying, you really want to eat? Yes? Here's some sulfur. Some people you work with might actually be friends. Some are just coworkers.

(And more to the point, do you really have a choice?)

Yes.

You might say, well if I'm friendly outside of work with one coworker and add that one person to a friends list, but then that person adds every one in the office, including the big boss, to his/her list, can't those people then link back to my page?

Well, yeah, welcome to society. This is not news. This is not technology related. Folks interact. Something you share with one person may in turn be shared by that person with others. It's called discretion, get some.

Re:this is old news...

[truthsearch]

George: You have no idea of the magnitude of this thing. If she is allowed to infiltrate this world then George Costanza as you know him ceases to exist. You see, right now I have Relationship George. But there is also Independent George. That's the George you know, the George you grew up with... Movie George, Coffee Shop George, Liar George, Bawdy George.

Jerry: I love that George.

George: Me too, and he's dying. If Relationship George walks through this door, he will kill Independent George. A George divided against itself cannot stand!

in the real world...

[Anonymous Coward]

The problem with social networking sites like Facebook, Myspace; et all, is not in regards to their intended use. Rather, it is in the fact that often times in our "new" professional working environment, we have the view that being professional, is the same as being social. So, as a manager, my employees actually feel hurt when I deny them access to my private, closed access Myspace page. When asked I reply with "company policy, sorry" but the reality is, the old rules of there being a division between work and home is dead. If I try to separate my personal life from my professional life, my employees feel an emotional detachment from me, which hinders professional development. However, if I were to include them into my social networking, they would quickly confuse my personal choices with their professional behavior. For example my peers have received feedback during coaching conversations to employees "how can you try to coach me on appropriate topics of conversation while at work when last night your status was 'i need a blunt and some cock tonight'". Details aside, yes it is the case that the difference is at work vs not at work, but people confuse that happens in our personal lives with what happens in our professional lives. My father worked at IBM for nearly 40 years, and the rules he lived by in the office were the complete and total opposite to what I experience at another Fortune 500 company. It is unfortunate that my 17-25 year old employees simply do not see the difference between work and play. More worrisome is my 25-40 year old peers who cave to the pressures to involve the employees in their social networking sites, and have serious professional consequences when something goes awry, or someone decides to create drama. A possible solution posed by some companies is to create internal professional networking sites. Managed by company employees and governed by existing policy, these sites work to enable managers to have professional relationships with employees, while maintaining work-life balance. However, Myspace is compelling, as is sex, and lurid details about interesting people's lives (or uninteresting lives as the case may be). Simply stated, bad bosses use Myspace as a way to monitor or snoop on employees personal lives. As such, everyone, Managers and Employees alike should view it with a healthy dose of skepticism and distrust.

What is Facebook?

[zappepcs]

Seriously? I thought real people grew out of social networking when they got out of college...

Here were are at the obvious end conclusion. Social networking sites are not bad just for children, they are bad, period. Diary books normally come with a lock and key, social network sites come with an invitation for you to share your personal diary with the rest of the world, whether the rest of the world has any desire to read it or not. Social networking is to the Internet what reality tv is to video based entertainment. If we could get the pages judged by American Idol judges, perhaps it would be a bit better, but as long as bright neon spandex clothing continues to be sold in XXXL sizes, social networking sites will continue to plague society.

I personally think it is a bonus feature for my next job interview that I don't have a social networking account.

Your Ex-CoWorkers Will Kill Facebook

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Will they hurry the f*ck up already?!

Re:Madness? THIS IS LINKEDIN!

[nuzak]

LinkedIn doesn't do ranking, and it certainly doesn't let you throw random goofy nonsense into your profile. Most peoples facebook connections look like a merge of the user's local area of the org chart of every company they've worked at.

If I ever go onto facebook, I don't think I'd go "ranking" my friends. Talk about an unfeature.

Automatic De-list

[LionKimbro]

It's socially awkward to refuse to add someone to your friends list -- but removing someone from your friend-list is practically a declaration of war.

So, these services should just automatically de-list people after a year or two, unless you consciously refresh them.

Done.

Re:this is old news...

[MC Negro]

Jesus Christ, dude. Would you knock it off with the faux-Onion link whoring? The first couple were alright, but it's just getting lame now. We get it - you've got an Onion-style satire site with a tech slant. Please quit spamming every article with disguised links to your site - it confuses trigger-happy moderators into thinking your posting something, you know, relevant or informative.

Mods - the parent post is just a link to his own satire site. His post is sitting at +5 Interesting right now and doesn't address the issue raised in the original article in any way whatsoever. Please don't reward affiliate linkwhoring with Interesting or Insightful mods.

Already and issue on the 360

[RiddleofSteel]

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.

Re:Coworkers?

[businessnerd]

Facebook WAS a college age thing. Then two things happened. First, Facebook opened its doors to anyone. Second, all of those college age Facebook users graduated. And now there is a new problem: Their college social life is not so easy to put behind you when you have Facebook constantly reminding you of that night you got totally wasted and had that embarrassing picture taken of you that you don't want your new boss/co-workers to see (you know, every night of your college career).

I always abstained from Facebook under the assumption it was a waste of time and just made stalking that much easier. Little did I know that it would be so much more detrimental to users AFTER graduation. I have many friends who ended up becoming teachers and they are having a tough time. One was an idiot and didn't have any access controls on his account at all. His high school students found his page and had a great time making their teacher miserable for all of the drunk pictures and videos and all of the other stuff that makes an authority figure look more like a joke. He learned from his mistake and locked everything down and tried to eliminate his online footprint until his younger brother posted a video on YouTube. Yeah the kids found that one too and he nearly got fired. Another teacher friend has learned from others. She's even taking it a step further. She is urgently asking friends to remove her name tag from all of the pictures of her posted on their accounts, but that is proving difficult. It turns out that even if you lock down your own account, there is still the matter of your friends' accounts that have all kinds of references to you, especially pictures. It is nearly impossible to remove your internet footprint. To this end, I don't see why those with careers bother with it since it has become such a liability now. Office politics are bad enough without merging your social life in the mix. The only way to have a "safe" profile is to keep it completely boring. No goofy pictures, no oddball friends, and absolutely no postings by friends on your wall. This of course defeats the purpose of social networking because no one wants to be friends with a boring loser.

I guess the old adage is still holds true: The only way to win is to not play at all.

Re:Already killed LinkedIn

[insertwackynamehere]

no linkedin was killed by john wilkes facebooth