Facebook problem...

[dubhlinn]

Well it's not really a problem but I recently opened an account on Facebook...under pressure from my Son to embrace such things. I saw a little button that would show me who among my Email contacts was a member. What I did not know was that all these people would automatically be invited to become my..ahem..friend. So if anybody with a Facebook account gets an invite from somebody they never heard of called Dave Deegan..well that's me.
I've already had two of our little flock asking if it was me and they already knew my real name.

Sorry for any confusion or worries about spammers and hackers ..

Slan,
D.

[s1m0n]

Facebook has just declared a huge change to their terms of service. Ere now, the default setting for most of the site was 'private', meaning that only those listed as friends would see it. That's no longer the case, because Facebook has decided that what it has is a massive database detailing how much of the wired anglosphere knows each other. It's a marketer's goldmine, or would be except for that inconvenient 'privacy' default which screws up everyone's data-mining operations. So they've declared an end to it, hoping that most people are engaged enough that they won't get chased away. We'll soon find out who's right...

[mutepointe]

I occasionally did internet searches of people in my past just to make sure they were far away. Amazingly, they didn't pop up on the internet, which was strange and maybe worse. Then I saw on facebook there is a thing to see who has searched for you. Now they'll know if they check. Life is getting too complicated.

[emmline]

...detailing how much of the wired anglosphere knows each other...

I am also connected to the Francosphere via a friend in Lyon, and the Espanolosphere via my husband's cousin in Tijuana...yes, it will all run together someday.

[caedmon]

I have never liked that Facebook would e-mail everyone in your addressbook about your presence on FaceBook. I consider it spam. After classifying quite a few of them as spam, I no longer see them in my inbox now. yay filters!

[Doug_Tipple]

I opened a facebook account recently. You need to read the initial questions on the application form carefully. I answered "no" to whether I wanted to open my email list to facebook, and I haven't heard that the people on my email list received emails from facebook. With a thousand people on my email list (people inquiring about flutes), you would think that I would have heard something had all of them been contacted by facebook.

[gonzo914]

Do you people actually use your real names on Facebook?

I use a pseudonym -- Gonzo CMXIV.

And the email is a dead-end mail drop only open to select senders, plus the Omaha Steak Company and that nice lady who tries to sell me viagra.

[The Weekenders]

Ha. My ex-wife's name came up as a friend suggestion. Nyuk.

Facebook will be history within a year or two and we'll move on to the next big thing. My ultra-hip son already closed his account in the spring...

[missy]

I just opened a Facebook account. It's fascinating to see how the "suggested friends" one works. I get where some are coming from, but others I've yet to figure out the connection - although I do know the people. Especially when I first opened the account and didn't have any friends listed, so no others to "mine" information from.

The only thing I can figure out is that they did the email thing and I deleted the original a long time ago as spam.

[emmline]

Facebook will be history within a year or two and we'll move on to the next big thing. My ultra-hip son already closed his account in the spring...

You mean...we'll have to meet real-life people in order to stay engaged?

[mutepointe]

Ha. My ex-wife's name came up as a friend suggestion. Nyuk.

Facebook will be history within a year or two and we'll move on to the next big thing. My ultra-hip son already closed his account in the spring...

According to a story that I saw on the web, Facebook was ruined when all the old people moved in. How nice we could annoy them right back. It's almost the equivalent of wearing our pants around our knees.

[Dale]

I somehow ended up with 2 Facebook accounts and can't navigate either.

[Innocent Bystander]

I think Gonzo's use of a pseudonym is sensible. I have my real name, but no picture (a cartoon instead).

There's always a first time. Hi5 spammed my addressbook. That was because they asked the question "Can we?" in a pop-up, and I had pop-ups disabled. IMO silence does NOT mean consent.

Look out for the Chiff&Fipple Group, where you can indicate your handle on C&F and your handle on FB, so people can connect the two. If you are so minded. And be prepared to block a whole bunch of distracting FB "applications". Chrisoff will tell you.

[cowtime]

I used my real name- which a lot of people don't know- and an email that I don't often check.

I only have maybe 8 friends on Facebook- my school was so tiny that it's not even on there, so no connections with folks from the past. This could be a good thing??

There's a C&F group?

I'm off to check it out.

[izzarina]

I've already had two of our little flock asking if it was me and they already knew my real name.

Do you know how MANY Dave Deegans there are on FB???? Seriously??? I thought there was no way it was you. Plus, there was no way on earth it should have given you as a friend suggestion, when you didn't even have any friends period, let alone any that would be common. So ppffttt to you