[Macworld]

Post your comments for Facebook Timeline privacy tips: Lock down your profile here

[thejimp]

Why are you even "on" Facebook? Why join a site to share your thoughts and photos with your friends if you are then going to spend hours of sweaty paranoia deleting everything so no one can see it.

[SrCrowell]

 thejimp, on 02 February 2012 - 04:40 PM, said:

Why are you even "on" Facebook? Why join a site to share your thoughts and photos with your friends if you are then going to spend hours of sweaty paranoia deleting everything so no one can see it.

Perhaps he is a teacher and might get fired for using social media sites if the "right" person deems it inappropriate.

[JDW]

 SrCrowell, on 02 February 2012 - 04:43 PM, said:

Perhaps he is a teacher and might get fired for using social media sites if the "right" person deems it inappropriate.

But that is only a reason to delete an entire FB account. It makes little sense to selectively delete, which is what this article is about.

FaceBook is mainly to keep in touch with friends and family. That's how I and my 88 registered FB friends used it. I find it convenient to keep in touch with people back at home, since I live outside the US. My motto on FB is, if I worry that someday someone might not like what I post, I don't post such content! It's really that simple. Obey the law and don't shoot off your mouth and you have nothing to worry about (unless you befriend everyone and his mother and/or use FB apps galore).

The only thing useful I got from this article was about how to delete my Likes on the Timelines of my friends. Sometimes you will click Like on something, only to read the comments below the link show something different than you originally thought. In such a case, I would want to take my "Likes" down. But I must admit, such cases are quite rare.

Also, should I ever move back to the states and an employer demands to see my FB account, I would rather delete my entire FB account than allow them access. It's hardly different from letting them read my private thoughts, which are reserved only for the family and friends I hand-pick. So again, I don't see much use for the "selective delete" that this article focuses on.

[Eric72]

F'N FAILBOOK!! AAARGGHH! Even though I don't use it as much as most (not one of those, play by play type users), and really only to stay in touch with friends I don't see often. I have been with them from day one. So that's a lot of replies/comments, and a number of status updates. Why does FB insist on "making things better", when in reality, it just messes things up for most people. People who don't mind these changes are mostly people who aren't very online savvy. Users who do care, know very well how online activities work, and concerned about online security.

[Eric72]

 thejimp, on 02 February 2012 - 04:40 PM, said:

Why are you even "on" Facebook? Why join a site to share your thoughts and photos with your friends if you are then going to spend hours of sweaty paranoia deleting everything so no one can see it.

Well, before Timeline, you know who, and control who is able to view your posts and pics. "Upgrades" like Timeline, mess all those security settings up. It's like you locking your house up, and FB comes over and tells people where you keep your spare key, or jimmies a window for others to have access to. IMO, based on the practices of FB in the past, it's really for THEIR benefit, so that the people who pay them to collect info can easily access more users and their information. Even without the users consent, or giving the users NO choice but to give their info out just so they can access a page, or play a game. They do this because they know 90% of users will just agree. FB is the "meth" of the internet to many people.

[shoppercharlie]

 thejimp, on 02 February 2012 - 04:40 PM, said:

Why are you even "on" Facebook? Why join a site to share your thoughts and photos with your friends if you are then going to spend hours of sweaty paranoia deleting everything so no one can see it.

I know a number of young folks who have used vocabulary in the past that would be frowned-upon by prospective employers and lead to non-hires. They now understand that HR departments can google the internet social sites and read much of what might have been said earlier. Folks need the ability to remove those items if desired without deleting everything.
Companies have access to most of our social stuff on the internet the same as you and I- a two edged tool.

[JDW]

 shoppercharlie, on 04 February 2012 - 07:42 AM, said:

I know a number of young folks who have used vocabulary in the past that would be frowned-upon by prospective employers and lead to non-hires.

Is there a perfect human being on this planet? We've all said or done things in the past we are not proud of. But prospective employers should not have the right to gain access to snapshots of our lives so as to judge us as good or evil (i.e., which in turn would determine who is a good hire or not).

 shoppercharlie, on 04 February 2012 - 07:42 AM, said:

Companies have access to most of our social stuff on the internet the same as you and I- a two edged tool.

Since this thread is linked to the original article that speaks specifically on FaceBook, I will comment within that context. Companies do NOT have access to all your FaceBook information. If I lack a FaceBook account myself, I cannot see the content of anyone who does have a FaceBook account, even if I Google for it. Furthermore, I cannot even see their "Public" posts either, if I don't have a FaceBook account. And if I company creates a FaceBook account (for the express purpose of spying on would-be employees), they still cannot see any posts from those would-be employees on FaceBook, except for those posts which have their security settings set to "Public." And that setting is not active by default.

Hence, this issue is about companies forcing would-be employees to FRIEND them on FaceBook, such that those company snoops can scan all posts past and present, in order to cast a label of GOOD or EVIL on a prospective employee. That is what all this is about, really. And that is why in my previous posts here I said very plainly that if a prospective employer in my future ever demanded to see my FaceBook account, I would rather delete the entire account than give them access to my private conversations with close friends and family. I would no more give a company access to my FaceBook account than give them access to my private diary. To reiterate, FaceBook is not "public knowledge." You cannot see anything without a FaceBook account, and you still are restricted unless you get someone to FRIEND you. But a company who demands that you FRIEND them is no "friend" at all. Indeed, unless I were very desperate for a job, I would be inclined to reject job offers from companies who seek to snoop so deeply. Running a credit report on me is one thing I can accept, but snooping around in my private conversations is a very different matter altogether. Companies should not be "demanding" that we FRIEND them on FaceBook. But if we allow them the right to do that, we would do better to delete our FaceBook accounts than to grant them access. For who knows when we might say something our companies will dislike? Deleting the entire account is therefore "safer" than "selective delete of old posts."