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September 07, 2006
Apropos of absolutely nothing
Ya think when the Washington Post makes a front page story out of the Facebook news feed, Facebook's "great product" might be dealing with just a WEE bit of backlash?
Two words, Facebook coders: Opt out. The "news feed" IS great so long as I get to choose which events go up on it and which events don't, and you don't set my default to "everything's on it". If somebody doesn't like a news feed turning up on their page, they should be able to turn it off. If somebody doesn't like their events turning up on my news feed, they should be able to turn it off. Just. That. Simple.
Of course, the one good thing about this is that suddenly everybody's wondering about what they're doing on Facebook and who can find out about it. And yes, this is a good thing. Just because there is a "news feed" that slams all your Facebook friends and groups and wallposts in front of me now doesn't mean I couldn't find all this out with a couple of clicks before. As a general rule, we ARE too quick to say something or reveal something about ourselves online. All this is doing is making crystal-clear to you, ye Facebook denizen, how easily that something you reveal to one person in the wrong way can be revealed to the world.
I don't like the News Feed, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't find this chaos and angst that Facebook has unleashed positively entertaining.
(UPDATE: Well, at least part of the "opt-out" message has been received.)
Posted by Chuck at September 7, 2006 06:47 AM
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