Oh Look, My Friend Is Reading About Vibrators. Thanks Facebook!

If you don’t already block “social news apps” from illustrious organizations like the Washington Post, Yahoo, and The Guardian on Facebook, maybe this incident will change your mind. Facebook seems very keen for Jake to know that his female friend is reading about vibrators, but Jake would really rather not know. Really. He wouldn’t.

The applications let users share stories easily and within a special Facebook ecosystem of news. The flaw is that when you’re reading material from each site through Facebook, every article you read is broadcast on the live feed of all of your Facebook friends. That’s how Jake saw this message:

vibrators.jpg

I logged onto Facebook and first thing in my newsfeed is that my friend happened to be reading about vibrators. I already think this feature is annoying, now it seems to be getting very TMI.

Don’t want your reading habits broadcast to everyone you know, or don’t want to know every article your friends read or Spotify song they listen to? This article is a handy guide to eliminating social news apps from your life.

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.