facebook is for faces
A few days ago a message came up that really bothered me on a discussion list I am on for Christian organizations who use the web for their ministries. I didn’t respond directly, but I thought I’d share my thoughts here.
The questions was regarding Facebook. The gentleman who wrote the message had just created a Facebook account and had no idea how to use it. Now, see, though I could go on an entire rant about how people should know more about what Facebook is if they live in any part of the world with half-decent Internet access, I am going to take issue with another part of the discussion that ensued. Indeed many replied and discussed how they set up Facebook accounts for their organizations. That, for me, is a big giant screaming ARGGGGHHHHH!
Let’s think back a couple of years. There was a social site, known as MySpace (who uses that site, anyway?). Now as we all know, MySpace turned into a huge pile of Internet trash. Meanwhile, Facebook snuck in, and with it’s strong committment to securing registration to REAL people, built a new Internet social empire. Over the years, the registration requirements have opened up, which is good. More people are able to get on, but now, we’re heading to a dangerous territory. While before you needed an actual university e-mail account or other means of authenticating yourself, now the registration is open.
The problem I see here is that organizations are coming in and creating social accounts for their group. Facebook has done a decent job of creating a Page structure that supports non-people in the Facebook network. It really irks me that people would use anything but that for a company or organizations. It’s truly contaminating my social grid.
My mesage to groups that have practiced this. Do you really know what you’re doing? Facebook is for people. The beauty of the structure for organizations within Facebook is that it ties PEOPLE together around the group. Please please please please please use it for what it’s for and how it’s intended. I will not be your organization’s friend, and I will have serious doubts about the accuracy of its college education, gender, birthdate, activities and interests.
Facebook is a beautiful organic network of people connected to eachother. Please keep it that way and help to encourage people to use the site for what it is, a social utility.
Comments
Well said Jeremy, I did not know that had happened to myspace, having never gone there, but it makes perfectly stupid sense that it did. Is there anything in the new facebook format that addresses this?
Facebook has always maintained a much more rigid profile structure. The release of Facebook’s application API was the first big break, allowing any non-Facebook generated content to be shown on profiles.
The new profile is actually a way of removing some of the ‘trash’ that’s cropped up in the form of applications from the Facebook profile.
I know there are now starting to be stricter rules about applications as well, but no changes have been made, that I know, that would help to prevent bogus profiles to be made.
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