While the rest of you were busy asking friends to join your gang in MafiaWars or doing whatever it is you’re supposed to do in Farmville, a mother in California was busy using Facebook for a good reason — to track down her two children who had been kidnapped 15 years earlier. [More]
Nervous Facebook CEO Claims People Are Overreacting To Privacy Changes
Business Insider says that the usually calm and collected Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg “seemed to melt on stage,” while answering questions from industry insiders at the All Things D Conference. They also report that Mr. Zuckerberg told the crowd that he doesn’t believe in giving users the choice to “opt-in” to privacy changes because back when Facebook introduced the “news feed” everyone freaked out — but it turned out OK in the end. [More]
Tech Pundit Sneers At Your Online Privacy Concerns
While the public outcry about Facebook’s complicated privacy tools recently pushed the company to simplify its user interface, at least one industry insider believes that peoples’ concerns are overblown and that, for all the hype and media coverage, the vast majority of users don’t seem to care. [More]
Internet Turns Bullsh*t Detector On Facebook CEO
Yesterday afternoon, while everyone else was cheering about how Facebook’s supercool new privacy settings were going to bring about world peace and end hunger, Marshall Kirkpatrick actually took the time to listen to what Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had to say about the changes, and noticed something interesting: Zuckerberg, as Kirkpatrick put it on ReadWriteWeb, “said a number of things that seemed of questionable…truth.” [More]
Once Facebook Thinks You're Dead, You're Dead Forever
We saw this coming as soon as Facebook introduced the memorial status for the Facebook accounts of dead people. It was bound to happen at some point. Facebook has begun declaring people dead. Well, specifically, people are having their friends and loved ones declared dead as a prank, but it’s nearly impossible to rise from the Facebook dead. That’s what happened to Ryan, who has been dead for over a month now. [More]
Towing Co. Loses Half Its Accounts After Suing Over Facebook Page
Surely some of you remember the item we posted last month about a towing company in Michigan that had filed a $750,000 slander and libel lawsuit against a college student because he’d created a Facebook page for people to voice their complaints about the company. Well, that move appears to have backfired for the towing company, which has since lost a good chunk of business. [More]
Facebook's Zuckerberg: We "Missed The Mark"
Echoing (or is that just endlessly repeating?) comments made by his minions last week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg today said that the company “missed the mark” with its complex privacy controls, and vowed to give users a “simpler way to control your information.” [More]
Facebook Finalizing Privacy Changes, Giving Away Even More Of Your Info
Confirming rumors that began trickling out earlier this week, Facebook today said that it would make its privacy controls easier to use. But the company stopped short of adding any specifics, and didn’t lay out a timetable for the changes. Oh, and Facebook has also been caught handing over some allegedly private data to big advertisers. And did we mention the hack that could delete all your friends?
Facebook May Simplify Privacy Controls
Facing mounting criticism that its privacy settings have become overly complex, Facebook is now considering changes “for users who want simplistic bands of privacy that they can choose from.” It’s unclear, however, whether the planned changes will provide more options for users who don’t want to share certain information, or just make the existing choices easier to access.
VIDEO: New Kin Ad Creeps Consumer Reports Out
Theresa over at Consumer Reports Ad Watch took a gander at the latest Kin ad and is kinda skeeved out. In the ad for Microsoft’s new social networking phone targeted at teens, protagonist “Rosa” goes out to confront in person “Matty Goldberb” who’s been hitting on her on Facebook, despite their never meeting before and not knowing each other besides some “mutual friends” (according to Facebook). [More]
Would You Desert Facebook Over Privacy Issues?
There have been quite a few trend pieces out there this weekend, all along the lines of “Facebook’s privacy issues woes are causing users to quit it… FOREVER!” We’ve already told you it’s not likely you’ll decamp — after all, everyone loves Facebook… right? [More]
Facebook Can Warn You When Someone Else Logs Into Your Account
By the time someone hacks into your Facebook account and sends all of your friends plaintive messages about being mugged in London, it’s too late to do anything about it. However, Facebook does have an early-warning system of sorts. Using a security setting, you can have the service alert you whenever your account is accessed from another location, giving you a chance to (hopefully) force the intruder out and change your password.