A Hunting Did We Go

My dog, Zander, and I went hunting recently. We were in the deep wood and approached the gnarly thicket, Facebook. Yep, there we were picking our way through the largest social network on the web. I sent the dog in to flush out the truth and discover for myself, what the buzz was all about. It went like this:

I helped Zander create an online account. I did much of the typing for him, since he mispells sew minny wurds. In the new Facebook account, we posted a profile picture, jotted down some pertinent facts about Zander -- his city, his place of origin, and his role as Second Banana in the Backyard. Then, we posted a cuddly picture or two and posted a status and a couple of comments on Zander's Wall.

Once we had a basic face-space set up, we went looking for friends. Zander sniffed around a little with the search field, and we found Sean. Zander clicked the mouse and invited Sean to be our friend. It wasn't long, before Sean accepted the invitation and became Zander's friend. Zander posted a comment on Sean's Wall, and the favor was returned. The dog was on a roll!

To our surprise, the very next day a friend of Sean's saw Zander's post on Sean's Wall and immediately guessed that I was helping Zander with his postings. I was "outed", but I pretended not to notice. With a muzzle nudge, Zander once again clicked the mouse and made Sean's friend his own. Sure enough, the invitation was accepted, and Zander now had two new cyber-friends. Woof!

Since Friends can see each other's face-spaces, Zander and I took a peek. We found interesting stuff, some address and telephone entries, names of several children and family members, and a collection of other potential cyber-friends and their private data. The urge to make everyone a friend was almost overwhelming. It was then that Zander and I realized that this newly discovered thicket could become an addictive playground. All the interesting people posting stuff about their daily routines made for some unexpected discoveries. Zander was directed to the DogBook pages. He was drooling over the furry cuties and nearly ruined a decent keyboard with all the slobber.

I felt I needed to call a halt to the experiment. The hairs on the back of my neck caused a tingle and a near feeling of voyeurism. I mean, here I was lurking in the wings, reading over Zander's shoulder, and viewing the personal and sometimes private information that was being displayed for essentially anyone on the web. I announced to Zander's new Facebook friends that I would be deactivating his account. I think folks were surprised and disappointed by this decision. I shared some of my concerns with Sean in an email and promised to share more, here:

The use of FaceBook has many elements that are psychologically addictive. After a little research, I discovered that CNN has looked into the matter as a potential health concern. Read their article at CNN Health.

Next, I found that Canada declared that FaceBook had many privacy concerns, including the fact that information on even deactivated accounts remains in FaceBook databases forever. Read that article at MSNBC.

I learned that relationship-advertisements have mistakenly used Facebook profile photos in their ad campaigns. How would you like to see your spouse's photo in a singles' club advertisement? Marriages could be ruined by such careless and inappropriate use of photos. Read how it played out at MSNBC

I then considered the question of why FaceBook was on the net. With over 200 million active members, the answer was that FaceBook is filling a need for people to interact and socialize with one another -- a noble cause for sure. Getting past the philanthropy, I realized that FaceBook is not in the business of offering free services. No, they are in the business of making money. They sell advertising targeted to the FaceBook participants, based on usage habits, on postings, and on profile information. They partner with other web service companies that may make use of names, email addresses, cell phone numbers, and other near sensitive private information. In other words, FaceBook is in the lucrative business of data mining, data rich with customer details. Who in the mass marketing world would not love to have a readily available database of customer habits, wants, and desires?

My conclusion, FaceBook may seem innocent enough, but there are dangers out there for folks that share too much private information. With social engineering techniques, your ID can be stolen, your family can be stalked, and in the worst of cases you could fall into harm's way. My advice is to be careful; be vigilant; and beware that cyberspace is not a pleasant small town, rather it is a human filled society that attracts the good, the bad, and in some cases the very ugly.

So, Zander's account has been deactivated. I did the research on how to quit FaceBook. The article I found almost reads like a 12-step program for the addicted. See for yourselves at Associated Content.

I am not condemning social network web services, rather have fun, be smart, and by all means, please review your privacy settings, so your very private data is not just given away. Finally, be safe anywhere you travel in the thickets of the world-wide-web.

More on this topic can be found on the Internet.



Peace