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Enough about Facebook Privacy and changes in their game

Posted on Friday, May 21, 2010 by Facundo Villaveiran

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Dear grown-up web user,

How many times have you agreed to terms and conditions without really reading them?         Screenshot of Facebook's Privacy pilicy page

How many free services have you signed up to, in exchange of your valuable email address (until you created a Gmail or Yahoo one just for spam, but to continue getting freebies)?

In fact, how much does it currently bother you having ads targeted directly to your  Gmail inbox (the one you use every day)?

My guess is that if you start thinking about the above, you may find that after all, in all the different instances where you were a bit deceived by not-so-popular Mickey Mouse spammers, you were not that angry…

Dear business of any size,

Do you remember when advertising on TV or Radio was only for a few because of budget constraints?

Do you remember when in order to approach a prospect for a conversation you could only cold-call?

Actually, do you acknowledge how great it is to have almost free vehicles nowadays to talk to your audience (only requiring time-investment)?

Then, why are individuals and companies so surprised about Facebook’s recent decisions regarding Privacy and Business pages?

Because it is abrupt and looks sleazy on Facebook’s part, but not because we haven’t been deceived before in similar ways.

A few key thoughts:

  1. Whatever is online IS public, no matter what the small letter says. I  don’t intend to defend Facebook in particular, but have a look at Ben Parr’s Facebook Defense (which really applies to using social media as a whole)
  2. If you are a company and they give you the opportunity to showcase you brand for free, they may at some stage change the conditions, get over it :)
  3. If you are a web agency like us and part of your revenue comes from building Facebook apps, the game may change suddenly too. Guess what? Those things happen: What about a transport company who builds a business based on the 3 factories in the area (which may move eventually)?

Now, if we (individuals and companies) don’t like these ever changing conditions, we can always choose to get out at any stage.

What are your thoughts?

Best,

Facundo

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Continue reading (related posts)
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  • http://cindyking.biz/ Cindy King

    Some good comments Facundo.

    I agree with you wholeheartedly about any online presence needing to be considered 100% public. I think many people got lulled into thinking there was privacy online. But this is just an illusion. If someone wants to read all of your private DM's on Twitter I'm sure it's quite easy to do.

    With regards to businesses changing their rules and practices, of course they can. But I think companies have to do things right. What's right? That can be debated, but it's easier to define what's wrong. And treating your fans, clients, and business partners in a way that “wrongs” them is definitely not a good business practice. How do you “wrong” your fans, clients and strategic partners? By putting them in embarrassing situations with regards to their own clients, and putting businesses in situations where they lose money.

    …this is probably why Facebook retracted their decision you linked to above within 24 hours: http://forum.developers.facebook.com/viewtopic….

    Of course they can change what they offer their markets (within legal limits). But they should be careful how they do it if they care about their current business.

  • http://www.codegaconsulting.com Una Coleman

    Thanks Facundo. You have given us a very nice reality check!

  • http://www.channelship.ie/blog facundo

    Thanks Una!

  • http://www.channelship.ie/blog facundo

    Thanks Cindy, interesting points on the “wrongs”. I guess that the 24hr withdrawal shows that not matter how big you become, the Internet allows people to point out your wrong-doings and everyone is subject to it. Probably a company's position regarding communication has become more important than ever.

  • http://cindyking.biz/ Cindy King

    Yes, I guess it sounds a bit scary.

    But I was listening to a panel with Chris Brogan, Brian Clark and Darren Rowse and they were talking about how you “grow up” after a while on social media. Newbies often get excited and indignant about little things, while more experienced social media players have already learned how to move around in this ultra visible environment. And I do think people with a little social media experience can be more “forgiving” of mistakes (when things are handled elegantly). So, not too scary in the end.

Category: Online strategy, Social media, Social Networking.

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