Facebook

You might say I am not a pioneer in other words I am usually not the one who buys or indulges in something first, since I want others to find the issues or bugs and let me know the problems before I jump in.  I was not that interested in this new thing called Facebook (FB) when it began in 2004.   For a decade I had belonged to an art forum on Compuserve where we used our own names and met live (from China to Alaska) one hour a week.  Back in 1993 I used to say it was the only singles bar you could go to in your pajamas.  But then my associate started telling me what my son was doing and about an operation his wife was going to have.  My first reaction was why didn’t our son tell us first and then, how did my associate know this?  My associate looked at me as if I was not of this world and said, “Facebook”.  Clearly this was something I had to learn about, so I joined.

Facebook started out naturally enough with mainly young folk and slowly but surely its demographic became older.  The largest percentage today, at just under 30%, is between 25 and 34 with a total of over 2 billion who are active every month and 1.4 billion on average who log on daily.  It was not that long ago that I remember the heralding of 1 billion users!  To put this in perspective the population of the United States is 326 million with 7 billion in the world.  In the interest of full disclosure when FB users reached 1 billion I felt they can’t all be wrong, so I bought some stock.   I have not regretted it and wish I had bought more but I was not that brave!

Now, suddenly, so many have turned on Facebook.  They are upset that their information was stolen and being used for issues that they are not in favor of.  Of course, people don’t like that. You mean you put things you don’t want people to know out in a public forum and thought that only people who agreed with you would see it?  Why do you think that you rarely see doctors or lawyers participating?

I must admit I don’t like the way a foreign country might use Facebook to subvert our political system.  If it is criminal it must be prosecuted and it is up to FB to reveal criminal activity as it is for any other company.  If you don’t like the company you are in leave but don’t prevent others from finding enjoyment of even solace from it.  I have friends who have used FB to share their pain, be it from a loss of a child or loved one or getting through a dreadful illness.  If I can comfort someone through FB that is, as they say in Jewish religion, a Mitzvah, a good deed or even a commandment.

Aside from keeping up with what my children are doing.  I use Facebook to find and keep in touch with colleagues.  Also, my weekly blog is posted there which helps me to connect with a broader audience.

I no longer live in the city so I have a post box at the top of my driveway that has no lock on it. Mail gets stolen sometimes but I don’t think I plan to resign from the postal service because of third party malfeasance.  The congress could insist that the Post Office deliver all mail against a signature, or any other regulation they think appropriate, but that is not going to happen. Maybe after the hearings where CEO Mark Zuckerberg is testifying there will be some regulation of FB but it doesn’t make much sense to me to punish ourselves ...

I am genuinely confused.  We have an open source of information where we all pour out personal thoughts and photographs for the benefit of all our friends and sometimes to everyone out there, but we want that information to be protected from those we don’t like?

Would you send out your bank information on FB?   What I don’t understand is why is anybody who is concerned about their information being private using FB at all, or not being more discreet about what they share.

If Congress gets its way and puts a bunch of laws and regulations in regarding disclosure, a huge number of lawyers will spend months if not years writing incomprehensible paragraphs in such fine print that even those who might understand cannot read it. Then we will be asked  to click on the word “agree”.  Will it make a difference?  Will you click on it?