Facebook’s Tentacles are Growing

Think Tank | April 28th, 2010 by Staggs

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The Internet is no longer a collection of “webs” and pages. It is now an increasingly complex information system, and many large web sites are finding that the only way to go is to become interconnected, and intertwine webs with each other. Facebook, which is nearing a monopoly of social browsing, is attempting to connect other webs to itself. So far, it is already working with other near-monopolies, like Microsoft, in its endeavor to spread its reach.

It sounds confusing, however think about the reality: A user browses to Pandora.com, an Internet radio service, and instantly knows that you like hip-hop artist Jay-Z. The person then wonders how it knew, and then, at the top of the page, a banner appears telling you that Pandora has automatically accessed personal information that was found on their Facebook page. Then, they visit Yelp.com, a location-based search engine that allows users to review businesses. They find that the search feature knows the nearest city – cool – so they search for Starbucks. They find the one they go to regularly, and “Like” it on the page.

Suddenly, Facebook reigns down and shows the banner saying that the web site has accessed your information. What it did was make public what the person “Liked” and where they “Liked” it from onto their profile. There is no way to control where users like things from or who can see it once its public. This is available on any web site and can be used as long as a user is currently logged in to Facebook.

This can means that someone can unknowingly like something onto someone else’s Facebook page if they forget to log out. This can make profile’s susceptible to ”Like” sprees and spam the hell out of their profile — that is their own fault, though.

Is it Good, or Bad?

Facebook to be so personal we won't need much else

Besides creating the possibility of being “Like”-bombed with these two features, Facebook is dipping its tentacles into other web sites trying to tie everything back to itself, and is also creating marketing opportunities for companies who, as someone had said (I take no credit for this saying), would be given “laser-point accurate” information on individual people, their tastes, and, pretty much whatever the person has ever submitted to Facebook.

The good side to this is that marketers will have more accuracy at showing consumers products that would interest them. In this sense, Facebook successfully creates a more personal Internet and advertising experience. We don’t have to try as hard to be noticed, and everything is based off the same information creating consistency of information. So are the advertisements, and will be very accurate in showing users what they already said they liked, and will be shown similar products and things in consistent ways on different web sites.

The bad side is, do we really want that? Do we want to be bombarded with things that we would actually love to buy or hear about, and is this ethical? I, personally, do not like when marketers know me because it limits the exposure to new things. The information would make marketers myopic and think that if its on a person’s Facebook page, they must want it! But it really does not reflect what a person is willing to buy or consider.

Another downside is accepting this feature and allowing Facebook to continue to push the line of privacy on the Internet. They are big enough to the point where it is normal for its users to put as much information about themselves online, where will it stop? Will it stop when our individual profiles are sold to companies to advertise to us? I don’t want to be told what I’d like. I’ll make the decision for myself.