This isn't a note for you geeks, it's for my friends that aren't geeks and use Facebook.
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I know many of you don't follow this stuff, so here's the Readers Digest summary of the new Facebook changes made recently, what you can do with it and how private your actions are.
As of today, if you visit sites like CNN or IMDB you can now "Like" or "Recommend" articles, products, movies, etc. directly from their site. If you do, these actions show up on your Profile (under Info | Pages) and cannot be filtered with your privacy settings.
The only way to remove it is to go back to that page and un-like or un-recommend it. You can't remove it from within Facebook.
This means that any person or application can see your Likes and Recommendations. This could be an issue if you "Like" the Marijuana Party or similar fiery topics. Everyone who sees your profile will see this stuff, even if they're not your friend! And, anyone outside Facebook can see ALL the people that endorse that thing too. You've just published personal stuff outside the gates of Facebook. Be aware.
Also announced today, non-Facebook applications (like Mafiawars, quizzes, Scrabble, etc.) do NOT have to delete their copies of your personal data any more. Previously they could only keep it 24 hours and we all hoped they were honest.
So, don't Like or Recommend something that could get you in trouble now or 10 years down the road (especially you crazy kids in university). The web never forgets. And don't install those stupid applications. You have no idea who runs these things and what they are doing with your personal data.
Edit: Thanks for question from @BradFraser. "Can you turn it off?" ... No, you can't turn it off, unless you log out whenever you leave FB. This also means that simply by looking at an "enabled" external page Facebook knows it. There is a new privacy option under "Privacy | Applications & Websites | Instant Personalization" that is enabled by default, you should turn it off so the site doesn't read your profile on visit. This can't stop Facebook however.
Update: regarding my comment that "And, anyone outside Facebook can see ALL the people that endorse that thing too." You can turn this off by making sure "Privacy Settings | Profile Information | Likes and Interests" is not set to Everyone. I'm not sure if this will cover Recommendations too?
Hope it helps!
-Sandy
PS> Geek postings will resume shortly.
8 comments:
Awesome summary Sandy. Thanks for this.
Great "plain English" summary...thanks. Inspired me to write a post too; gave you link and credit :-)
This post is an example a page that should have a Facebook Like button, so that it would be visible to and read by everyone at Facebook ;-)
As I understand it, "Recommend" is a synonym for "Like" so that you can recommend an article about a devastating earthquake without looking as though you like the earthquake. So they say, though I'd be loathe to recommend an earthquake.
I am notifying all of my "Friended" contacts that I will be "unfriending" F'Book on May 15th. I am suggesting that they and everyone do the same. Unless we mass exit, they will continue to steal content from our actions without our knowing.
I sent them a message stating that they had a good idea, got greedy, and F'd it up.
Too bad but someone will pick up the mantle.
Great post, thank you!
However, you *can* remove things that you've recommended within Facebook.
Next to your profile picture, click "view my profile", then, hover over the recommendation, and you'll see a "remove" button.
That having been said, I'm not sure why you'd recommend something if you didn't want people to see it...
Thanks for all the great feedback everyone.
@fishdinner (great name): When you click "remove" from your profile you are only removing it from your News feed. If you look at Profile | Info, you'll see the recommendation still under Pages.
Regardless, you don't even have to click anything. Just by visiting the page, Facebook has already tracked your activity if you are still logged into Facebook.
One solution, use the Google Chrome Incognito window when you are browsing the web. No identifying cookies are sent to the websites you visit and nothing is stored locally on your machine. Latest versions of IE and Firefox have similar features.
Thank you thank you. I had read the FB announcement, and I had read another explanation, but the two didn't jive to me. This is the best explanation that I've seen so far.
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