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A Closer Look at Facebook's New Privacy Options

readwriteweb.com — Chances are you wouldn't tell grandma about the wild party you went to last Saturday night. Likewise, you might have spent Sunday evening at home knittin' a mitten and only feel secure enough in your manhood to share pictures of your fiber craft with family.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jun 30, 2009

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38 Comments

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  • Snoogs, on 06/30/2009, -1/+22Nice... now my co-workers, family, and girlfriend don't get to see how ***** up I was on vacation... at least the rash went away.
  • DontHassleHoff, on 06/30/2009, -1/+22I never need to know "WHAT KIND OF x" someone would be. Ever.
  • sockpuppets, on 06/30/2009, -2/+18Facebook is discriminatory against people without faces.
  • blah247, on 06/30/2009, -2/+15Quit updating your status... nobody gives a *****!
  • marshallk, on 06/30/2009, -0/+13Post looks at Facebook's new more granular privacy options and how those are better suited to a world where publishing online is easy. Feature in beta doesn't work as well as it should but it's important to look at because it's a lot more human and the company is lobbying governments to respect its privacy philosophy - whatever that is.
  • zerton, on 06/30/2009, -0/+10I've been doing this for months now. Just make different friend lists and you can control what they see in privacy controls.
  • Shadic, on 06/30/2009, -2/+10How about an option to just choose which applications we see, and cut off all that we don't allow?
  • pfhayter, on 06/30/2009, -0/+7pfhayter is replying to your comment.
  • fajitamelt, on 06/30/2009, -1/+6........................................................................................Who are you? Do you know who I am? I could be a dog typing right now.

    That's privacy. So STFU.
  • krisrm, on 06/30/2009, -2/+6This is actually exactly what I was looking for... now I can win the "I have more Facebook friends that I never really talked to but sort of knew" game while still keeping personal information stuff to myself!

    Granted, there might be several better uses for it. But I doubt it.
  • SenoraObscura, on 06/30/2009, -0/+4Neat! Now I don't have to keep stalling my mom and boss from joining, and can give them knitted red herrings!
  • blah247, on 06/30/2009, -1/+5Hey don't get me wrong, I like Facebook. I just wonder why someone would post they got pregnant from their best friends husband and then throw something about Jesus in there.

    Or post that they're picking up Donuts for breakfast.
  • pfhayter, on 06/30/2009, -0/+4I hear ya' ... I always try to get a little random in mine. I hate these new "How well do you know" quizzes that are going around.

    pfhayter is watching you sleep.
  • zadadka, on 06/30/2009, -2/+6I have found, and have also seen repeatedly demonstrated, that avoiding Facebook entirely was the best investment in privacy I could ever make.

  • colinmhayes, on 06/30/2009, -0/+3did anyone else want to go friend Carl Kassell after reading that?
  • thesatorialist, on 06/30/2009, -0/+3The problem is that most of the time, we create these lists or groups of people in our head without conscious thought (e.g. the group of people I want to tell about the party last weekend versus the group of people I expect to see in church). Now you have to consciously create these various lists and then decide what type of action or information you want to share with each one. Sounds like it is getting more onerous, not less. And what if I get lulled into thinking my info is "safe" - but accidentally send to the wrong list. Seems best to just only post what you don't mind if everyone sees, unless you are using private messaging. I know the FB CEO talks about the beneficial sharing of information, but I'm not sure this is the way to get to it.
  • jonaphin, on 06/30/2009, -0/+3Rule of thumb: Consider everything you share on a public website public. Privacy policies change all the time, and we have no say.

    Same rule applies to secrets in general: If you tell a secret, then consider it to not be one.
  • Kirsle, on 06/30/2009, -0/+3Twitter, a "major" competitor to Facebook? On what grounds? They do entirely different things! It's like calling digg a competitor for Facebook. Unless the competition is about page views and not about what the site is about or what it does, Twitter and Facebook aren't competitors.

    Also, why on earth does digg forget that I'm logged in every time they update how their site works?
  • geoboy, on 06/30/2009, -0/+3And Friendfeed is discriminatory against people without friends!
  • Stuntaneous, on 06/30/2009, -0/+3still wouldn't trust that with one tactical click of the mouse, keep that ***** to yourself till the grave.
  • Yankees368, on 06/30/2009, -4/+7I closed my facebook account a few months ago, and have been quite happy with my decision ever since.
  • ultrafez, on 06/30/2009, -0/+2Facebook can be used to hold data that is a lot more personal than Twitter, such as photos and videos (as well as data stored about you in applications). Thus, it is not a good idea to open it up completely.
  • sockpuppets, on 06/30/2009, -0/+2Friends don't let friends feed friends friends.
  • FredFredrickson, on 06/30/2009, -0/+2It'll be back, don't worry.
  • fajitamelt, on 06/30/2009, -1/+3Do you really think your friends want to see that though? Unless you're only friends with them because of alcohol...
  • inactive, on 06/30/2009, -1/+2At least it will help keep manager's from snooping on employees private lives.
  • antdude, on 07/01/2009, -0/+1And non-real names. :P
  • hellengineer, on 07/17/2009, -0/+1Nice feature update
  • logir, on 07/01/2009, -0/+1I'm sorely tempted to create multiple digg accounts to digg this comment up. In the meantime, there is http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/44459
  • KyleMistry, on 07/01/2009, -0/+1General rule: If you share anything, it's not exactly private. Basic information, secrets, anything.

    That said, these privacy options are good if you don't want that info to get to the wrong people. Quickly.
  • FredFredrickson, on 06/30/2009, -0/+1Because Twitter is a steaming puddle of liquid *****?
  • inactive, on 07/03/2009, -0/+0Try http://www.facebook.view-private-profile.com It might work!
  • MSPoints4Free, on 07/05/2009, -0/+0Sounds good.
    Feel sorry for the people who were wishing for this a few days ago.
  • fajitamelt, on 06/30/2009, -3/+2Exactly. If you need to hide things from certain people and keep your "private" stuff only between close friends, there is no reason for you to be on Facebook.
  • inactive, on 06/30/2009, -2/+0Bury me all you want but it's the truth. You literally have no privacy on the internet. Fat pocket elitist corporate execs trade and share all your information with other large corporations and govt agencies. BTW, I don't care who you are, but for a little shock value, do you really want me to find out?
  • inactive, on 06/30/2009, -6/+1Privacy? On the internet?

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
  • frederic, on 06/30/2009, -9/+4Those privacy controls are getting more and more confusing - 4 menus, 3 to 5 options per setting... and now you even have to think about them when you post a status update. Why not just go the Twitter route and open it all up?
  • bcsmess0, on 06/30/2009, -14/+1FACEBOOK FTW!!!!!1!11!!!!

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