As I'm sure every member of the social networking site Facebook.com are aware, the website recently upgraded to a new display sytem where it tracks friends and their interactions between each other. I understand that the creators of the website believe it is important to stay connected with one's friends, but just how much should be monitored by a media giant such as Facebook?
If you didn't know already, Facebook currently has 7.5 million US college student accounts created with an additional 20,000 new accounts being created daily (1). Therefore, Facebook knows a) what 7.5 million students are doing all the time (as monitored by a status update), b) what political party they will vote for, c) where they go to school, d) their ENTIRE NETWORK of friends (and how they are related), and e) what students do for fun (as shown in the 2.3 million pictures updated daily(2)) AND MUCH MORE.
Is it safe for companies to know this much information? As a business major I am fascinated to see how all of this information is collected for marketing research, but as a student and individual - I'm a little scared to know at least one company knows that much information about me.
And yes, I COULD delete my profile - but Facebook is just like another mailbox and form of communication between friends and collegues. CAN WE FIND A HAPPY MEDIUM?
References:
1 Clavier, Jeff (2005). The Facebook unplugged at Stanford ETL. Jeff Clavier's Software Only. Retrieved on 2006-04-03.
2 http://www.facebook.com/jobs_engineering.php
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I dont think it is the company we need to worry about knowing so much of our information, it is the people who are actually a part of the network who we should worry about. With so many people subscribed to Facebook, I doubt the owners actually screen everything and read everything. But I do know of several friendships that were ruined by Facebook and MANY relationships that were ruined by it. All because it gives you some light into a friend or significant other's life that would otherwise be hidden from you. Not to mention the people who foolishly give their addresses and phone numbers in their profiles.