Facebook-the inside dope

Posted by Suzy Vitello Soulé on January 21st, 2010 at 01:59 PM |

Facebook has changed the landscape of, well, everything.  My mom’s on facebook, so’s my dad.  Obviously my kids are.  Various past husbands, classmates, colleagues.  Sometimes I feel as though the Rubbermaid tubs in my basement, replete with personal archives and memorabilia, just vomited their collective content into cyberspace and the result is the ever-so colorful splatter of my life upon my “wall.”

With all of this warp speed tmi now at our fingertips, it’s hard to figure out where the brakes are.  Privacy issues abound, and, like many, I have questions about how the myriad privacy-related concerns are addressed at Facebook HQ.  Thank goodness for the Internets and the double-edged sword of information, because by following the breadcrumb of links on the subject, I found this newsy piece.

The article in The Rumpus unpacks the particulars on how the whole “suggest a friend” thing works.  And why, for instance, I might find sleep apnea aide ads in the sidebar of my profile page.  The article also divulges what Facebook employees have access to (everything, as long as they’re in the Facebook offices), and whether or not they can log onto your account (yes).

As we usher in a new decade, I imagine the digital privacy issue will become huger than huge, and social media giants, like Facebook, will continue to sit front-and-center on the cutting edge of the way we explore the edges of our humanity.