Some Facebook Tweaking
I just did some things on Facebook because of their recent fall from grace with regards to respect for privacy:
- Went to my Profile page
- Under Friends on the left, I right-clicked on the number of friends I have, and opened that in a new tab
- In the new tab on the left under Lists, I can see Pages with a little yellow flag. Clicking on that shows me an interesting list: (1) Everything that used to just be a narrative of interests in my profile, but was recently changed to clickable links that I “Like†a few weeks ago, including movies, musical artists, etc. So since I’ve done that, bands I “like†who have pages have started popping up in my stream – This morning, Regina Spektor posted a cute picture of herself in Tokyo. While this was a cute picture that I enjoyed seeing, I want control over what content like this I see. (2) Everything I’ve clicked a “Like†button for during the past few weeks. I think “Like†or “Pages†are the new “Groups†… or something like that.
- I want to choose who markets at me and who doesn’t.
- I’ve now added all these “Pages†to a personal list of mine – also called Pages. I’m going to change the permissions on this list so that those Pages cannot see any of my information. I mean, there could be a million other people who like, say, the movie 500 Days of Summer. For all I know, Facebook is making it possible for anyone in that group to click over to me from there. I am assuming they aren’t, but JUST IN CASE, I’m taking some precautions.
- In some rash moments, I’ve “Liked†some things like “I don’t feel like folding my laundry so I just restart the dryer.†I can probably just leave that Page and feel all the better for it.
I get a lot out of Facebook. I am not ready to leave. I am MIGHTILY annoyed by them for making me work so very hard to keep my privacy, but I’m not ready to bolt – not even close, because of the good I get from it. I’m loyal to a fault sometimes, but I feel like they will eventually get this thing straightened out to a level I can deal with.
