I’ve been tasked with setting up a Facebook account for our organisation. I’ve never used Facebook but from what I heard about it, I hated it. I was advised to set up an account for myself first to understand the experience. Great! So into the belly of the beast!
Straight away, I’m asked for my real name and contact details. The first time I stepped onto the internet 20 years ago the sage advice was to keep your personal details to yourself. I’ve never used my real name and really don’t see why I should start now. At least with MySpace you can use a pseudonym; Facebook is about finding old school buddies and long lost friends. There’s a reason they are long lost, seriously.
It’s also a great way for your personal stalker to find you and keep track of you. Really not the way forward!
Their terms and conditions say all the images you upload become their property. WTF! Now, I’m worried. I work with a bunch of twenty somethings who love to take pictures. You could be down the pub with them on a Friday night and the next thing you know you’ve been framed. Just sitting at your desk could be cause for a photo op; and they are all on Facebook sharing their pictures with the world.
For this reason alone I had to create an account and add all my camera happy colleagues to my friend list. I needed to know how I could prevent my image and my name from being exploited and shared through the Facebook experience. The privacy settings are a confusing nightmare. I think I’ve got things set right but who the hell really knows.
The only sure way to prevent my stalker finding me is to ask my colleagues nicely not to publish any pictures of me; better yet, don’t take any pictures of me ever again! My colleagues are a generation who think nothing of going on holiday with strangers, so a right to privacy is a novel idea to them. It was hard going trying to get the concept of privacy across to them. I gave up!
So now I monitor my email to see if I’ve been tagged in any pictures. Great! Yes. I hate Facebook and it’s users.
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