http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/some-questions-and-answers-about-facebook-and-privacy-in-wake-of-the-ftc-settlement/2011/11/29/gIQAZfK29N_story.html?tid=pm_business_pop
The Company Facebook has always stirred up controversy about the information that they allow to be put on the website, and the amount of privacy that protects it. On Tuesday November 29th Facebook agreed to settle on federal charges stating that Facebook had violated the users Privacy. The angry parties were upset the Facebook was getting users to share more information then they would prefer when they sign up for the website.
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook believes that he has done nothing wrong. He believes that his website is based on sharing information and its up to them to share as much as they would like. In the article Mark says, "We made it easy for people to feel comfortable sharing things about their real lives." However what the public rarely knows is that Facebook makes the majority of their profit from people sharing information. The advertising strategy that Facebook uses focuses on the type of information people share, and use that to push similar products.
This article reminded me of our class in many ways. I first thought about if Facebook is being an unethical company which in many ways they kinda are. They are constantly getting into trouble about using peoples privacy, and storing information that the users put on their site. However in many ways it is the users fault.
Its now up to Facebook to start controlling what they use and store on their site. they need to make some very important strategic decisions to allow Facebook to continue to grow without getting caught up in privacy issues. In a way Facebook is practicing escalation of commitment by holding onto information, and continuing to make new users share information they do not want on the website. Mark Zuckerberg should start brainstorming, and come up with some creative decisions that will keep users happy, and still continue to grow the company as a whole.
Kevin Boyce
Trevor Goggin...
ReplyDeletePeople do not need to sign up if they do not want to, its completely volunteer. I think if people have a problem with the amount of information Facebook asks for, then they should not join Facebook.
I agree with Trevor. I get where the angry users are coming from, but they have no one to blame but themselves. Unless it is other people posting pictures and information about them. Facebook is a social network so almost everything you post will be shared. Not only that, but if users are embarassed about something they shouldn't put it up in the first place. Once its out there on the internet, it is out there FOREVER. Thats something the younger generation needs to learn the hardway. I think facebook is trying to make it easier to change setting and pop up warning about stuff. When people sign up they click a tab that says "I agree to these terms" and I'm sure they do not read it over but somewhere in that contact it states anything you put on FB belongs to the company. I don't think FB pushes people to share thing as much as people want to share things.
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