Is Facebook’s privacy philosophy TMI?
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg says society has changed its mind when it comes to privacy. “People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people. That social norm is just something that has evolved over time,” he said during a recent interview.
The audacity of those sentences is awe-inspiring. In an off-handed way, Zuckerberg is saying the company plans to ignore the millions of users who are worried about the company’s changing privacy policies. If that bugs you, then you’re the one that is out of step — Facebook is just keeping up with a changing social norm. It’s not them. It’s you.
I don’t know if Zuckerberg is right or not. My online life is an open book — but then again, I’m a writer. I live off the attention of other people. As far down the rabbit hole as I am, I still don’t think that’s normal. Most of the people I know still expect to have some control over their online lives. It’s not that they’re not aware that Facebook is semipublic. They just expect to be able to control what they’re sharing.
If Zuckerberg commits to this new battle plan and makes it stick, I can see one of two things happening. Either:
A) Another network uses privacy controls as a way to compete with Facebook, splitting the online world between the shares and the share-nots.
B) Acting as if privacy is dead becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, and eventually everyone shares everything.
Is Zuckerberg right about changing attitudes toward online privacy? Do you expect a degree of privacy on social networks? Do you think becoming more public will help or hurt Facebook?
Image credit, dolgachov via iStock
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Posted by uberVU - social comments on January 11th, 2010 at 11:43 am
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by sbosm: Is privacy still a “social norm” online? http://ow.ly/VaEY...
Posted by Walter Pike on January 11th, 2010 at 11:44 am
It is an extremely arrogant statement for Mark Zuckerberg to say that society has changed its mind about privacy.
1 How does he know?
2 There is no blob of people called society, rather a collection of individuals with different views.
3 I have a feeling that Zuckerburg has forgotten that big as facebook is -its still a very young enterprise and that people can and will move – when they find that it no longer suits their needs. Switching cost on the Internet are very low.
4 Privacy was the corner stone of what made facebook attractive.
5 Arrogance – almost always precedes a fall.
6 This statement is already having fall out.
My 5 cents worth
Walter
Posted by Caryn Goldsmith on January 11th, 2010 at 11:45 am
I think he’s just saying what he wants to believe. American’s in particular will go only so far before they feel invaded. Take this article from Springwise, http://www.springwise.com/lifestyle_leisure/directlife/, which talks about a little necklace that’s worn so that your every step is monitored (for health reasons). Later in this piece, it says “The other big difference is that Philips is mainly targeting employers, claiming the system reduce absenteeism and health costs, while improving employee morale and productivity. Having companies track an employee’s every move, obviously isn’t free of ethical and privacy concerns. On the other hand, the societal need is also clear: according to the World Health Organization, more than 60 percent of the global population fail to reach the minimum levels of moderate daily physical activity to deliver health benefits. That’s a big market to move into.” Let’s assume Mr. Zuckerberg is correct. The bigger question we must as is “where’s the line?”
Posted by Jim Fitz on January 11th, 2010 at 11:53 am
What a pinhead. I remember back in the dot-com boom the instant millionaires spouting nonsense as silly as this– their bulging bank accounts somehow convince them they’re wise as well. What they are is lucky. Facebook will be the AOL of 2011.
Posted by Robin on January 11th, 2010 at 11:54 am
He is totally off his rocker. FB members are outraged that their privacy rights are being violated in the name of some new ‘norm’ and I for one am actively seeking a new venue.. one that is not going to allow TROLLS and business competitors access to my ‘friends’. I have had to ban so many individuals lately posing as my friend, who are simply trying to get their hands on my data. Privacy is going to be bigger than EVER!
Posted by Private on January 11th, 2010 at 11:57 am
Zuckerberg’s views reflect his firm’s business model and thus need to be taken with a grain of salt. That said, it certainly would appear that more people are sharing more information more broadly than used to be the case. However, to leap from that observation to a general assertion that privacy is no longer important to people is ridiculous.
Posted by Sherry Sabine on January 11th, 2010 at 12:07 pm
Walter Pike wrote eloquently exactly what I would say!
Privacy is something all people for all times have valued and will continue to do so. In the arena of social media, we still want to chose our privacy levels.
I’ve noted for some time through personal observation that Facebook is on the downward spiral as Myspace was before it. My guess is this statement from a very ignorant and arrogant Zuckerberg will only hasten that slide.
Posted by Greg Zerovnik on January 11th, 2010 at 12:15 pm
Zuckerberg is full of baloney. I still value what’s left of my privacy, and I want it to stay that way.
Posted by Chuck Franks on January 11th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
I personally think the world is becoming more transparent and we should encourage that. However. I still want control over how and where and who gets to have access to certain bits of information. I think facebook is missing a point that will ultimately create a backlash because they are deciding my information is public for all to see and not giving me that power to control the site and create the interactions I want to create.
Having said that I’m fully embracing it for what it is. A communication change agent like none we have seen before.
Posted by Noel Ferguson on January 11th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
While I value privacy, it really is only a recent thing for human beings. For thousands of years we lived in villages where everyone knew everyone else’s business. In more recent times, the local grocer knew more about your family and your shopping habits.
And, looking at it another way, if someone really wanted to nail you, they could do that right now – FB or no FB.
Posted by Stiven on January 11th, 2010 at 1:00 pm
Privacy will never be passe… please… this is just FB realizing that everything they do threatens our privacy also, this statement will go down in history and THE BEGINING OF THE END OF FACEBOOK
Posted by rightwords on January 11th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
I’m a writer, and my online life is NOT an open book. First, you don’t have a right to know my every movement and thought 24/7/365. Second, it’s just not that interesting. I jumped on the Facebook bandwagon and was consumed for about 2 months. The charm faded quickly, and if I go to it once a week it’s a lot.
The backlash may come, but we are living in the same country that allowed the Patriot Act to pass… The only way I know to fight back against these invasions is to not put it online in the first place…
Posted by m33 on January 11th, 2010 at 3:40 pm
When I saw this article (and others) today, my jaw dropped open. Oh Mark, you just lost my vote. Unbe-fn-leaveable. Just because people share does NOT give you the right to dictate WHAT we share! Asshole!
Posted by Jacqueline Church on January 11th, 2010 at 7:02 pm
By “people” does he mean to include people over the age of 19? He cannot possibly.
This explains why so many are leaving and why I seldom go there anymore. Half the posts are warnings about invasions of privacy by Facebook anyway. Talk about being out of touch with your customers!
Posted by mrj on January 11th, 2010 at 8:18 pm
Do you think becoming more public will help or hurt Facebook? Well it loses my vote. I can jump off this island anytime. If they want to hurry me along, that’s their perogative.
Posted by Zuckerberg wants to publish all your little secrets. | tom altman's wedia conversation on January 11th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
[...] Is Facebook’s privacy philosophy TMI? (smartblogs.com) [...]
Posted by Gary C on January 11th, 2010 at 10:26 pm
I’m concerned about privacy and all, but someone please explain what “vital personal information” Facebook is making public? Your name, networks and friendlist? All other info is easy to protect with fairly flexible privacy settings. The info they reveal is info that makes the service more useful to us by helping us find others that we would like to be connected with. The phone book analogy I’ve heard recently really is quite accurate. Give someone your name & home address and they can legally find more info about you than most people would be comfortable with.
@rightwords –
First: you are correct, nobody has a right to know your every movement and thought 24/7/365, unless you decide to post it, and then, only those you chose can see it.
Second: I’ve yet to hear of one verifiable instance of a wrongful privacy invasion brought on by the Patriot Act. I don’t like the law either, and I especially don’t like the fact that Congress passed it without any if them having read one word of it, but it hasn’t exactly turned out to be the “end of our freedoms as we know it” type of thing we expected.
Posted by diane on January 12th, 2010 at 3:51 am
“If I keep saying it, perhaps people will believe it”, “If I keep saying it, perhaps people will believe it”, whispered Mark Zuckerberg .
FB is only as valuable to me as the controls I can put around it. When I see a bright shiny toy, I want to play with it… but when I think about the data sharing involved, I drop it because the bright shiny toy is really a hot potato. I fear for those who still have not learned the power of data. And this only makes me think of a post I read a few months ago by Ron Shulkin and shared with everyone I knew on FB…
http://www.examiner.com/x-6171-Chicago-Social-Networking-Examiner~y2009m6d21-How-Im-going-to-use-social-networking-to-steal-your-identity
Posted by Rob Birgfeld on January 12th, 2010 at 8:35 am
Zuckerberg undoubtedly scares people with this type of language. But ultimately, I can’t argue with the premise of what he says. In our new Googley world, there’s a value exchange at play. The more data we provide about ourselves, the better we can be served. While we only see this at play with the “33 and still single?” ads on FB, it goes far deeper than this. The question in my mind is how is our personal data being used? If it enhances our experiences, deepens our relationships and best of all, serves the greater good– then we will be better for it. However, there’s no question that we must keep a close eye on that exchange– to make sure we, the end users, are getting value.
Also, here’s an interesting look inside the privacy culture of Facebook from an anonymous employee: http://bit.ly/7SHrid
Posted by jgking on January 12th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
I prefer to choose what is public and what is private. I absolutely do not support Facebook’s (lack-of) privacy philosophy!
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