How Facebook is ruining sharing
by Volker Weber
Molly Wood on CNET:
I'm afraid to click any links on Facebook these days.
No, it's got nothing to do with the spam attack and the flood of nasty images making their way into news feeds all last week. Instead, it's because the slow spread of Facebook's Open Graph scheme is totally ruining sharing.
Comments
Looks like the author doens't understand that traditional sharing is still possible.
And if she doesn't like Open Graph sharing she can just add the "visible to" in "only me" and then authorise the app.
I'm not really a fan of passive sharing, too. We agree here. I think sharing should be active because I want to show people what "I liked" reading instead of what I just read (and maybe did't like).
But I also don't like articles that are biased one way and overlook options that are available!
Molly Wood isn't stupid. Find lots of opinions here.
Didn't say she is stupid ... just say that she - as well as Scoble - overlooks an important point.
It was announced that every Open Graph app MUST have the option to opt out by using the "visible to only me" option. Therefore you can use every Open Graph app without passive sharing if you like to.
Of course I'm not an idiot too. I am sure that the stuff you read and hear will it still make into FB's database (even while using "only me"). That's the most important part of their business - gathering as much data as possible. If you have a problem with that I agree it would be best to cancel your account.
But to me it seems that the main point for most poeple is the fact that all of their friends can see what you read or hear. And that's the easiest part to avoid and not a reason to cancel Facebook.
Well, they need to change it from opt-out to opt-in. Otherwise, see headline.
Couldn't agree more. The 'automatically opt in' is in the same category as those 'install search bar into your browser' or the small writing in contracts which contains the meat of the deal - you are taking advantage of the fact that most people are going to overlook the options, and go with the default.
The most valuable asset that Facebook has right now is the implicit trust that people have in it. That kind of trust is a flimsy thing; look at how annoyed Volker got when he realized that Facebook not only could not delete data, they were not good enough to hide the fact that they are not deleting data.
