Facebook adds the inevitable "groups" feature

Facebook has announced the inevitable addition of "groups", whereby users can sort their friends into different groups, so only certain comments/statuses/photos etc. are available to certain groups.

Mark Zuckerberg summarises the problem:
"There are some things you are comfortable saying to all your friends at once but a lot of things you only want to share with your close co-workers or your family and there just hasn't been a great way to do that until now."

This blog has discussed the social problems created by Facebook in the past. In the real world we automatically filter what we say and share with different friends, family, colleagues - so it makes sense that Facebook would include that feature, to further replicate the way we interact in the real world and avoid a variety of social faux pas.


Guardian article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/oct/07/facebook-groups

BBC News article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11486427

Facebook Privacy settings change again (but for the last time)

Facebook have changed their privacy settings again, but they hope for the last time. This time they've simplified things, whilst maintaining their more granular controls as well.
You now have: a privacy master switch option; an application switch to stop all your data from being shared with applications, including stopping friends sharing your information on applications; the option to hide your friends list and interests;


Mark Zuckerberg's blog entry:
http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=391922327130

Allfacebook gives a good point by point overview:
http://www.allfacebook.com/2010/05/facebook-privacy-must-know/

Zuckerberg explains it's not about the ads:
http://gigaom.com/2010/05/26/zuckerberg-its-not-about-the-ads/

Facebook / Zuckerberg Backlash

There has been quite a backlash against Facebook recently due to their dodgy and ever changing Privacy Policy.

This piece by Jason Calacanis talks about companies getting "Zuckered" and accuses Facebook of a lot of wrong doing, including the most common complaint of constantly changing it's complicated Privacy Policy.
http://calacanis.com/2010/05/12/the-big-game-zuckerberg-and-overplaying-your-hand/


This site reveals just how much people share, often without their knowledge. It's a search engine for all the public status updates and it's amazing what people will share with the world:
http://www.youropenbook.org

It's not all hate for Facebook though, here's an article defending them:
http://mashable.com/2010/05/16/in-defense-of-facebook/


I think that there is a middle ground here though. Facebook isn't really all that evil. You are voluntarily putting all this information into their system, you are given the options to restrict access to the information you enter into the system - albeit with a changing system, but social media sites are still in their early years and there are problems to be ironed out.
The thing that all these critics forget that lots of people out there want to share their thoughts, opinions, pictures and life with the world and broadcast their life. Most people who stupidly post on Facebook that they hate their boss would have been caught on email / instant messenger or in the tearoom. It's just another forum, that we are still exploring.

I think the article below is far more balanced and tries to explain that Facebook did not take your privacy - I'm inclined to agree.
http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=143909