Thanks, Peter. You are right on all five reasons. I am not quitting either.

Great post…oh…and it’s FREE! If you don’t like Facebook…no one is holding a gun to anyones head to join it. Like porn…if you don’t like it, don’t buy it!

Someone had to say! Thanks Peter, this is great. I never understood the outrage over Facebook and privacy- why are you posting stuff that needs to be hidden anyway?

Our personal and professional lives are merging even more so than ever before, thanks to the internet. So, deal with it.

Thanks for your very transparent post. I agree that all this hype about Facebook and Privacy is being blown out of proportion. Zuckerberg’s lack of response in dealing with the bombardment of criticisms is one thing but you are totally correct in Facebook being the scapegoat for a reality that exists today….that apparently no one seems to want to admit. The tools for sharing are the reality of today’s world. The use of those tools… ie the responsible use of those tools should be bourne on the user not the provider. I have a lot of friends who refuse to make their life public on Facebook and other social networks for fear of putting something out there that will come back to haunt them. I remember when Direct Mail and Telemarketing proliferated this notion about utilizing user information and selling it for business opportunities. NOW, that notion has extended exponentially to users — strangers and even friends. Your content is up there for the world to see so please beware, be informed, and don’t blame the site/platform for your own mistakes.

Absolutely right. Could you please send a link to this post to my mom so she’ll actually jump into FB with both feet instead of posting comments on my wall next to a faceless avatar because she’s afraid of putting her picture online?!

I’m quitting because they won’t let me post my naked photos on other people’s walls anymore. What’s the word coming to when you can’t post naked photos on walls???

Seriously though, great post Peter.

Nicely put ;o)

Thank you. While I don’t dig the resetting of settings w/o notice (or if there was a notice, it was a feeble attempt), the majority of people just need to get it together and not be so stupid.

Peter, most of what you say is correct. You miss one very important point….the main reason people are angry….FaceBook is less than direct and mostly manipulative on privacy in general…leaving the average user “in the dark” on what privacy settings they actually have and how to set them.
I don’t worry about PR people like yourself who are knowledgeable about FaceBook. I worry mostly about the kids who have no clue how to conrtol privacy. This group posts the most photos, the most updates, the most open sharing, of any demographic. Facebook needs to be honest about how users can control or not control privacy. Brands need trust and Facebook is losing it fast.

Great article, a few years ago everyone was throwing around the words ‘global village’ without really thinking about it. In a village everyone knows everything about everyone, be right and you don’t have anything to worry about. If you can’t be right stay in a close circle of friends.

Peter,

I think you left out a key reason people are upset. Casey Stengel never played in a game where the rules might be changed at any time, generally to his disadvantage. Facebook has a long history of changing their privacy rules, frequently without announcement, and generally with an obscure “opt out”. Thus, a rational decision to “hit ‘em where they ain’t” can be negated when the other team is suddenly allowed to have twelve players on the field to cover the gaps. Facebook is less baseball than Calvin Ball… and a lot of people are getting tired of trying of playing.

And don’t be drawn into the argument that only idiots are posting information which can get them in trouble. Yes, it’s stupid to hit on a friend’s girlfriend, and even stupider to post about it. But let’s say, instead, that you post about a relative’s genetically related disease… like cancer. “I’m worried about my dad — his PSA was through the roof.” You will get sympathy from your friends; you might get an ad from the relevant charity. But you might also find that potential employers find this out and then find reasons not to hire you. You might get extremely well socially-engineered phishing schemes, right when you can least afford it. Should you not then have posted about your concerns for your father? And what if, today, that status is shared only with friends, but tomorrow, due to an unannounced rules change, it’s sold?

Before you answer, consider this: telephone switches are built with the capability to tap any call or any line at any time. This is completely undetectable and is for police use (with a warrant). The phone company may also use the capability to check the quality of lines/calls with the proviso that they may not record anything. Make your calls — they’re private. Now suppose they start using technology to transcribe and analyze your calls. They’re still not recording anything… but they can sell the resulting data because of a tiny change in the mobile services agreement you signed without reading. Sure, you have a right to opt out, but your life is an open book. Right?

Unrealistic? See http://spectrum.ieee.org/telec.....s-affair/0

HA! Great post! The truth ALWAYS comes out.. If you don’t want people to see you doing something.. don’t so it! I LOVE that you didn’t make it about Lindsay :o)

Peter – great post and I love your work, but one correction. The “hit’em where they ain’t” quote is from Wee Willie Keeler, not Casey Stengel. #FormerBaseballHistorySnob

@danG – Thanks for the comment – The only thing I’d say is this – As we move more towards a world based on relevance and trust, I don’t see a time where scammers or phishing schemes would get involved – in fact, they’re go away – If I trust my network – and speak to “certain” people on a daily basis, then all of a sudden, I hear from someone I haven’t heard from in 3 years, without so much as a hint first – something’s wrong – there’s a problem here. I think as we keep moving towards one network, more trusted connections will appear – and we’ll appreciate them more – decreasing the chance of the fly-by hit or fly-by scam.

@Dave Serino – you just put a ripple in the history of Peter Shankman. Now he has to go back to every group he ever keynoted for and tell them he misquoted Wee Willie Keeler (who has an awesome name btw).

Uh oh…

I am not quitting Facebook. I reduced my usage 9 months ago. Still advise clients on using it. I pop in to see whats up with friends in LA is about it. I personally don’t see a reason to quit until a new network appears that performs better than Facebook. And Facebook is very crude in performance. Its hard to have real conversation like Wave allows. There is massive volume in the live feed so I only see 5-10% of what flies through. Its great for tracking birthdays and events. Its impossible to go to a specific Fan Page unless you drill into your profile. Which means there will be a better site sooner or later and when that happens everyone will join and eventually migrate. And that cycle will keep repeating.

So your premise Peter is correct. While we may want Facebook to be more private Facebook doesn’t want that. So deal with it. And reducing the amount you use it punishes them in many ways.

As it is based on Facebooks own stats:

200 mil people who log in each day: Only 1 in 2 comment or update per day. 2 in 3 US consumers don’t use social media each day.

For 450mil accounts each account joins a fan page twice per month and uploads 4 photos.

Average person spends 55 minutes on the site. Well not really. I am logged in now and they are considering while I write on this page Facebook usage. In fact the 8 hours I will be logged in they will consider usage even though I will spend 15 minutes on it.

So we are in an uproar over minimal data being entered!

Peter, you make some great points. There’s three things though.

First, people are angry because Facebook has been telling us one thing, then turned around and did another (and not for the 1st time). We were told, when we signed up, that our information was private and secure. Then, Zuck decides he doesn’t like that, and opens it up for anyone who cares to look. Yeah, people were pissed. Now, new users coming in… they know what they’re getting into. They know up front that Facebook is, and will be, more transparent with whatever content we post. But those of us that joined years ago didn’t. That’s the problem.

Second, please, please don’t use the cop-out of (to paraphrase) “it’s free, so we don’t have the right to bitch”. Come on. Really? If Google decided to publish all your emails that you received and sent through Gmail, would you still say that we have no right to complain? I’d call that a gross invasion of privacy, myself.

Third, you have to remember that the vast majority of Facebook users aren’t as uber-savvy with online services as we are. The fact that we create and run our own sites puts us in a league way, way above most Facebook users. I’m not saying we’re better than them in some way, I’m saying that we sometimes forget that average users don’t know that they need to change their privacy settings (or how to do it).

Peter;

Great post. However, I too am primarily concerned about the impact on kids or those not as savvy about social media as you are. My advice is always to err on the side of caution when sharing anything online. Yes it’s common sense but many forget.

Peter, bravo! You seriously couldn’t have said it any better man. It amazes me, especially all the biz owners talking about quitting Facebook over all this stuff. And to add to this even though you covered it a bit, here’s something funny from Chris Pirillo I read a few days ago on Twitter:

“How to protect your privacy online. Step 1: STOP SHARING SH*T YOU DON’T WANT THE WORLD TO DISCOVER. Step 2: See Step 1.”

I thoroughly enjoyed your post, and I definitely agree with you. In my opinion we will look back on this as part of a digital “evolution” of sorts, where all of the idiots will be filtered out/fired from their jobs/unfriended/unfollowed. It’s “survival of the fittest” in the digital age.

If the “uproar” is about teenagers who “do not know better” (which is questionable…they were pretty much born with ipods in their hands for goodness sake), this is a great lesson about online security. Know what your security and privacy options are, know where to change your settings, and *watch what you say* in public!

To twist the echo from Daniel M. Clark’s post above just a bit, perhaps there should be a bar – a minimal ease-of-use bar that should exist for privacy settings. Not to oversimplify, but perhaps a simple yet effective “don’t make my stuff public” button or option should be available at every social media site.

The flip side is that with all the publicity, at this point everyone who wants to leave can leave, and everyone who hasn’t left has no excuse for whatever loss of privacy they enable.

It has been over a year since “cisco fatty” so the Charlotte waitress who lost her job at Brixx Pizza last week for her facebook-complaint about a customer’s tip should not have been surprised. The loss of privacy doesn’t excuse anyone from THOROUGHLY understanding the possibility, probability or reality that words and actions in a virtual world can reach out and touch them very personally in the real world. Buzzwords and phrases like “Craigslist killer” let people know that surrendering privacy can have a serious downside. (to put it mildly)

Your first point, Peter, is the most important. I wish there was a better way to EMPHASIZE it to the millions of people who don’t get it, without the assignment of another buzzword that makes me cringe.

This is a refreshing article. When I first started on FB my biggest fear was saying something that I would regret or having someone post a picture of me. But that just rarely happens, or I hit the delete link and hope not too many people noticed. The more I use FB, the more I realize it’s all just fun. I love being able to connect to people and get to know more about them by seeing their daily posts.

It really is all about just making sure you know what you are posting. We do this in the real world anyway.

Peter – I agree with you for the most part, though it is somewhat a sad state of affairs that we have to say because our privacy is already so compromised in so many ways, we should just accept it – but I also agree with others here – the risks are just not clear enough to those who are most vulnerable – there is no need for Facebook to ask date of birth or hometown, and although those of us who prefer not to, can put ‘alternative’ data in place of factual info, or choose to limit to friends only, young users hardly give it a second thought. The consequences can be extreme, and thankfully rare, but do perhaps give channels to the bad guys in society to exploit the vulnerable and naive. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20.....iafacebook – see the website http://erasingdavid.com/ for some interesting perspectives on the common state of privacy and the use of our personal data today.

I agree too.. why put stuff on there you don’t want ppl to see? You know there’s a huge possibility they will, it’s in print.

I’m more concerned about the slimeballs who come in and hijack your friends and contacts, posing as your mutuals friends so they can market and sell to them. I’ve unfriended a whole bunch of them.

Excellent post and some great points!!! I teach classes at local libraries to people who are frightened just to turn the computer on…. it scares the heck out of them. In my classes I teach them all about one form of social media or another. The question of privacy always comes up… usually more than once!!! I usually answer by suggesting that in this day and age they really don’t have much privacy to begin with. Anyone with enough determination can find out whatever they want to know about you whether you are online or offline. Using common sense in all areas of life is usually the best defense against potentially embarassing information getting out and always has been!

I agree with a lot of what Peter said. Once something leaves your fingertips and goes on this thing we call the Internet, you shouldn’t consider it private. You just posted something to the world.

Those of you who argue that the problem with FB is that they tell you it will be kept private and then they change the game- you’re right, of course. They shouldn’t and that’s what most of the fuss is about.

But, as Peter pointed out, it’s the Internet, people. By nature it’s as private as a fish bowl at the Super Bowl. We need to think about that right before we click the send button.

#1 #1 #1

I’m cutting down on my personal facebook page, because I’m paving the way for my daughter to make a graceful entrance.

We’re all so guilty of oversharing. This is a learning curve for all of us.

Perfect post Peter. <— I didn't say that ONLY for the alliteration, but it's fun to say out loud.

you had me at 2 douches and a dumbass!

great post.

Right on target – as always – Peter. Thanks for saying what we (smart people) are all thinking.

Excellent points all! Esp #5… Mourn and move on! Couldn’t have said it better myself!! :o)

Thank you Peter. This is exactly what I shared on Center Networks the other day (http://www.centernetworks.com/.....g-facebook) and I’m glad to see more people chatting up this important topic.

While I agree with @Loni (and others) that you must watch what you say, I disagree in general with @Loni. The primary issue here is **not** “Know what your security and privacy options are, know where to change your settings…” The issue is that FB has regularly changed said options, made the settings more difficult to understand, and… worse yet… done so with “opt out.” Those changes are both out of the control of the user and may negate any rational choices they made previously. That’s wrong IMHO.

Peter,
As usual perfect. Along with what you wrote to me this should actually be called the 5 Commandments of Staying With Facebook.

Thanks again

You make some great points here, Peter. And I actually found myself agreeing with most of them.

But as I said (and others have said here), the problem with the privacy issue for me is twofold:

1. Facebook regularly changes their mind on their privacy policy, and seems to obfuscate rather than illuminate how to keep your stuff private, if you want to keep it private.

2. Those most affected by #1 aren’t people like you, and me, and everyone else commenting here… but the clueless and the kids. (Not mutually exclusive, BTW. Ha.)

I’m not leaving Facebook either (#4 in your point). But a lot of the Facebook-Hate seems rooted more in a lack of control and a sense that the company doesn’t really give a rat’s ass what we think. It’s a lack of “customer” respect.

Zuck’s actions lately are reminding me of how the cable and telecomm companies used to be considered. I mean, before they started with @comcastcares (hi Frank!) and all that. We used to hate them (and sometimes still do) because we have no control over what they choose to do.

Maybe we never did (see #5). But it’s one thing to have no control and believe you could, and another still to be told, “You don’t have control — we do. See you at the finish.. SUCKAH!”

I agree with the comments about Facebook suddenly and slyly changing their privacy policies and using opt-out settings. NOT nice. BUT, we all have to be as responsible as we can be in what is published about ourselves. My biggest irritation with FB is that they’ve “scared off” some of my good friends with their privacy hijinks and that makes me have to spend extra time keeping up with them where I can keep up with 99% of my friends on FB. FB needs to get their act together or there really will be a mass exodus to something better (when it comes along).

Let’s not forget why privacy is so important – Bruce Schneier summarizes it perfectly:

“For if we are observed in all matters, we are constantly under threat of correction, judgment, criticism, even plagiarism of our own uniqueness.

We become children, fettered under watchful eyes, constantly fearful that — either now or in the uncertain future — patterns we leave behind will be brought back to implicate us, by whatever authority has now become focused upon our once-private and innocent acts.

We lose our individuality, because everything we do is observable and recordable.”

still quitting, why? because forcing 500 million people to “opt-out” of their info being sold and not even telling them about it is means the next time they screw me over they’ll be even more discreet.

Worse yet is having a privacy policy… and then violating it until you get caught.
@arstechnica: Report: Facebook caught sharing secret data with advertisers – http://arst.ch/kf6

Yes, this might result in better targeted ads. [Insert lengthy debate about that here.] But that’s not my point. My point is that the only thing worse than creating a privacy policy and changing it regularly… is then not following it. PR nightmare aside, that just asks for an FTC or FCC investigation and/or regulation, especially in light of the FCC’s moves to extend current laws to create net neutrality. I predict someone in Congress will propose extending wiretap laws to FB.

“It’s also not his fault if you post fifty messages about how you love Twilight, and all of sudden, you start getting Twilight ads, and your friends make fun of you for it. Sorry.” = HILARIOUS!

Fantastic take on this.

Peter…freaking brilliant and well said. Mahalo!

I’m tired of hearing the ‘don’t post it’ and ‘you have no privacy anyway’ arguments. they seem to be simply justifying the actions that have already taken place. it’s fine for people who don’t mind living ‘in public’ that much, but it also isn’t appropriate to look down or mock those that don’t. I deleted my profile 3 weeks ago because of all this, and I’m glad I did. it’s my decision what should be public and private, not Facebook’s. Imagine if your bank decided to write an API to allow companies to use all your spending habits (which they have documented) to market products and services to you. Pretty creepy, eh? Well, don’t worry about it, because they won’t. In fact, they can’t. It’s illegal.

and for the folks who are ‘inconvenienced’ because I am not longer there? they obviously aren’t friends. I have email, a phone number, twitter, and a mailing address. if they can’t do one of those things, then they really never cared to begin with.

Great post, Peter. When I got my first email account in the 80s (!) I remember the phrase back then was “Don’t say anything on the internet you wouldn’t want to shout from the roof.” If you start from the premise that you’re in a public space and the same rules apply that apply for any public space, you’ll be a lot happier.
I recently had to explain to a couple of middle schoolers that no matter what their privacy settings were, their groups and pages were still visible and that there were a couple they probably should un-join. They got the message.

Great reasons.

It is funny for years I resisted Facebook and wanted nothing to do with it. Then finally I joined and it’s okay, nothing to rave about. But the point is that it all depends on how one uses Facebook as you so well explained in number 1. I don’t put any pics at all and only share the info that I wouldn’t mind saying out loud to strangers on the street and it works great – no complaints.

And your finish with point #5 is perfect.

Hey Peter, great post and I agree with you in concept on the idea that we are all responsible for our own content and how we live our lives.

I think the troubling part for me wasn’t the concept that my posts would end up public at some point, or that my pictures would be seen by others… it was the overall disrespect that I think was being shown by Facebook with regards to privacy.

Auto-opting people in to the new “share across the world”, etc… I just think it was poorly done and personally showed me that they weren’t thinking of their users first – but really more of their partnerships.

This is all fine and they are building a business, etc… I don’t pay for usage of Facebook so I can’t really complain – but I do think that it changes my overall view of who they are and that matters to me in terms of whether or not I’ll live my public life on their platform, so to speak.

Thanks for the great read!

Furthermore, anyone worried about their privacy in this day and age has a lot more than FB to worry about. So either for-get-about-it or just stay home, lock the doors, pull the shades, climb under the covers and don’t move. Whatever the case..do not EVEN THINK about utilizing anything that begins with a “t” and ends with a “y”. Besides, unless you’ve been living as an aborigine these last few years, Google’s already got much, much more than your name, rank and serial my friends. In fact, they now undoubtedly know us, better than we know our own ourselves.

thanks for sharing your points

Great post and I have to say I agree with you 100 per cent. You only have to look at Google Maps and its little sister Streetview to see just how much privacy we actually have (or don’t).