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Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Facebook

I see now that many people are quitting Facebook at the end of this month because of the constant 'data mining' done on the site.

I find Facebook an excellent way to stay in contact with people whom I may have not seen for years, and I've made a lot of new friends there--but the accusations, which are not unfounded, have me very worried.

Of course I post nothing there that I would not want the whole world to see. The question is, are my friends at risk when the list is acquired by a bot or other party?

In addition I do not like the news that Facebook is owned by people with a political agenda.
So I haven't made up my mind whether to quit or not. Any thoughts?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Nancy,

It's Karim, I don't have facebook but still kept a RSS on your blog, personally I've never been on FB, Mypace or Twitter but managed (maybe with less efficiency than the "social" network users) to keep in touch with people. That's my two cents ;)

I hope you're doing good.

Good night and good luck.

Karim.

Brett W. McCoy said...

I like Facebook and have used it to track down people I haven't seen in decades. I would hate to have to leave it... I am hoping the Diaspora thing takes off but I have a feeling it's only going to appeal to the geeks and not the general public.

Nancy said...

I'll be staying on; I've made my privacy settings as secure as they'll let me.
And I drop people at ONCE if they insult me. One of the posters here really went over the line last week. Fortunately it's very easy to block someone on FB, so that's just what happened.

William said...

To quit or not to quit? That is the question.

I don't post anything of a private matter I don't want known so I'm not too concerned about the privacy thing. I do find their constant changing of things a tad annoying. We're all so busy to begin with.

If I were to quit Facebook, it would be because I don't particularly like it. There are those who would argue you ought to have a facebook presence and so I reluctantly stay. But I'm not too enamored by the whole concept. I tried getting into the spirit of it but it usually doesn't work for me.

Dan Alexander said...

Hey Nancy! Your blog is great! I had to comment on "The Demon Duck of Doom." Years ago, I collected small toy figures from Australia called "Yowies." They had a series of figures based on Australia's "Lost Kingdoms" (incredible and bizarre extinct animals). One of them was a toy of a "Demon Duck of Doom," which I still have!

Anonymous said...

I have facebook, but only so i can play farmville. I don't get anything about facebook. I used Hyves.nl It's in dutch.

Good luke!

John T Quinn III said...

So, way back when i was in college i bought an issue of Richard Marschall's Nemo the Classic Cartoon Library (published by Fantagraphics) featuring the work of TS Sullivant. The drawings were reproduced from the collection of one Nancy Bieman. Am I remembering correctly? The work of TS Sullivant is brilliant and has been enormously influential on me.
If you are in fact the Nancy Bieman in question. Thank you for sharing. Cheers!
I'm sending you a friend request on Facebook.

Mena Nunes said...

I really like facebook, I can stay in touch with people that otherwise I might lose contact, and I have found many people that I had lost contact for many years. I do not include much information about me and the one I include is not 100%, just in case someone that shouldn't have access does access it.

Nancy said...

Yes, I always advise people to keep Facebook 'fluffy'. If you have emotional issues, or trouble on the job, or with a person, Facebook is really not the right place to talk about it. People have lost jobs by discussing their bosses there (sheesh, how clueless can you get?)
I enjoy 'meeting' talented artists and interesting people from all over the world; it's like the ultimate pen pal system. But nothing should appear there that you would not want to see in a newspaper headline or personnel record.

Nancy said...

I'm gonna be quitting damn Facebook if they can't get their controls working so that I can actually post there. If so,then this blog will be a happening place again!