Is Facebook Privacy Even Realistic?
What is the entire debate about Facebook privacy? My philosophy is I would not even have a Facebook account if I was worried about people seeing parts of it. The email is ideal for friends and family who just want to talk privately, without the world knowing what they are discussing. Also, just because you do have a private Facebook account does not mean your "friends" will keep all of that information "confidential".
There have been several stories about girls who posted scantily clad pictures to their private accounts, but some how this photos ended up in the wrong hands. It just goes to show that even if your account is private this does not mean everyone will respect that. I have noticed a few people I am friends with on Facebook, I am not naming names, list their cell phones number, physical address, and other private information on their page. Although their account may be private, I would advise against positing that much information. Someone who is supposedly a friend might pass it along, but maybe that is just my paranoia.
I actually prefer to have a public Facebook account and Myspace account so I can post my hubs and other articles there for people to visit. There is not any information on my page that I am not comfortable with the world seeing because the reality is nothing shared on the Internet is really private. Even if you email pictures to friends these could get forwarded, so that is just the reality of the world we live in.
My firm belief is that a public profile is best because then you will get more page views for your hubs. Even if you do not have a public profile, at least consider having a fan page so people can add you there. These are just my thoughts on Facebook on a Sunday night as I am eating some delicious home made brownies.
More Thoughts About Facebook:
Personally I am a little sad to see some people are so control freaky about what others post on their virtual space. Some declare that sending each other Christmas cards or playing Farmville is a form of spam, but I have to adamantly disagree. I just do not have the time or energy to visit each person Facebook page and determine what others should be posting on it. As an introvert I really do not like to set guidelines for others, especially since I find these slightly irritating when some do this for me. For instance, awhile back someone declared people were not supposed to write short stories, poems, or what they were making for dinner as a hub, so I just went ahead and disregarded that. These people do not own Hubpages, and their criteria for what makes a stellar hub may not be mine. However, they can post what they want to their hubs, and I shall continue to write ones that are relevant to my worldview.
I also remember reading how someone felt superior because supposedly their tweets were better than others. That was pretty fun, considering it is just the Internet for crying out loud. My thought is: where do you get the time to be such a control freak? A good rule of thumb is not to send anyone gifts or cards on Facebook unless you know they are cool with it, least they be judging you too harshly for this.
Other Thoughts On Facebook Privacy
Whereas I do not expect complete privacy for anything that is on Facebook, I still believe this company needs to do more to respect their customers. There have been several situations where users complained that their privacy was not respected, and I hope Facebook will address these issues more seriously as time goes on. Ultimately, Facebook is probably not the best place to post stuff you would not want the world to see, but you should have some certainty that if you share a family photo that you have the choice of only a small group of people seeing it. Facebook has new features where you can restrict things shared to certain groups, so it seems this is an issue they are working on.