More privacy violations at Facebook

Valleywag: “My friend got a call from her friend at Facebook, asking why she kept looking at his profile,” says a privacy-conscious source at a major tech company. Turns out Facebook employees can (and do) check out anyone’s profile. Not only that, but they also see which profiles a user has viewed — a major privacy violation. If you’ve been obsessed with a workmate or classmate, Facebook employees know. If Barack Obama’s intern has been using the campaign account to troll for hotties, Facebook employees know. Within the company, it’s considered a job perk, and employees check this data for fun.

Damien recently said “hah” on my “Wall” on Facebook. He didn’t see fit to reply when I asked what he meant – although it’s possible it has the same retarded design as Bebo’s – but at a guess I’d say he was poking fun at the fact that I’m actually on Facebook, given my larting of it in several locations. In actual fact I’ve been a member since it opened, just like I’m a member of Bebo, MySpace, and most other “Web 2.0” sites. I’m an Internet consultant, it’s my job to keep an eye on these things; plus, when your biggest clients add you to their networks, it’s generally not a good idea to tell them to fuck off.

It doesn’t stop me hating them, and their disdain for privacy. I’ve read several posts recently saying that Facebook is going to become the de facto social networking site across the board, not just for the social networking addicts, but for professionals too. And they may be right, and Facebook certainly seems to be trying to accomodate them; but that doesn’t mean that they have the best platform, or more importantly, the best practices and policies. It means they have the most sheep.

I don’t want to be a member of Facebook. I’ll stay a member because it may be good for business in the long run, but I won’t visit it unless I have to. I’d much prefer to spend my time – and money, if necessary – on something like LinkedIn. It has problems too, but it’s just better put together and better thought out. That’s where business people should be, not bleating at each other like idiots and getting nothing done on Facebook.