Eyeballs on Libra

The launch of Facebook’s new coin is certainly a big event, but so much about it remains unsettled.

Source: Facebook’s Libra: Three things we don’t know about the digital currency – MIT Technology Review

Be cautious people, this isn’t our first rodeo where a corporation hypes tech with no plans at all on how it will make money. Remember the hype that “eyeballs” equaled money from the heavens? Caveat emptor.

Facebook and Privacy

Facebook and Privacy:

 

Farhad Manjoo, writing for Slate:

The only sure way to keep something private on Facebook is not to post it to Facebook.

Mark Zuckerberg would never acknowledge this, but I think it will ultimately benefit both his site and its users if we adjusted our expectations about “privacy” there. You should approach Facebook as cautiously as you would approach your open bedroom window. However restrictive your privacy controls, you should imagine that everything that you post on Facebook will be available for public consumption forever. If you follow this simple rule, you’ll never be blindsided.

The article’s sub-head is a bit unfair, though:

You’re as much to blame for the site’s privacy woes as Mark Zuckerberg.

People are confused about Facebook privacy settings because Facebook wants them to be confused. It’s deliberate. That’s all on Facebook.

 

(Via Daring Fireball)

I’ve long suspected this.  By making security a moving target, Facebook has made your potential control over privacy is ever improved but vastly outstrips your actual ability to implement that control.  The sagest advice is thus: “You should approach Facebook as cautiously as you would approach your open bedroom window.”  It’s all public folks.

Facebook Adds Share Capabilities To Like Button

Facebook Adds Share Capabilities To Like Button — Facebook — InformationWeek:

“The move could reduce user confusion over which button to use, especially if Share is dropped in the future. However, the move is more widely viewed as a positive one for advertisers and content creators who can expect to see page views increase as referrals drive traffic to their sites, according to several published reports.”

(Via InformationWeek.)

It increasingly appears to me that Facebook continues to fool users into revealing more and more information by getting them to develop habits then suddenly changing the rules and behaviors of their site after the habits are entrenched.  Not good.