This week while reading AOL news, I came across an article related to Facebook. It was about the possibility that old private messages before 2009 were being displayed on timeline. This caused a lot panic because everyone thought that the messages that had once been private, were now being viewed by the entire Facebook community. Many people complained to Facebook and the matter was investigated. According to Facebook, the messages displayed were not private. The messages back and forth wall posts that had happened before Facebook developed the ability to comment on a post. Apparently a lot of people forgot Facebook's old feature and interpreted the back and forth posts as once being private. To many people's relief, the private messages remained private.
Imagine if this was true. If everyone's private conversations were displayed for anyone to read. Personally, I don't use the Facebook message function much, but I would still be mortified if people were able to read what I wrote in 2009. Some people chat their life away on Facebook and would have a lot to hide if the messages were posted. Most people put their trust in Facebook to keep the messages private. It's kind of scary to think of the power Facebook has over us because of the information that is posted each year. This is why it's important to limit how much gossip and such you post. You never know when it could come back to haunt you.
Here's the article I read
http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/24/reports-facebook-users-seeing-private-messages-pre-2009-showing-up-on-timelines-as-posted-by-friends/
I completely agree with you. I created my Facebook while I was still in high school, and I realize I am not the same person I was before. When I first got timeline, I actually went back and deleted some statuses and posts I made way back when. People really do put alot of trust in Facebook to keep things private. I know you are mainly talking about private messages, but people need to be careful when they post statuses also, because their Facebook page may not be as private as they believe.
ReplyDeleteI also heard this story about messages not being private, and I panicked! I am one of those people who chats about anything and everything in my Facebook messages, and I would be horrified if they were ever made public. Like you said, anything you put in writing, whether it's on Facebook, email or text, it can always come back.
ReplyDeleteI actually first clicked on your post our of sheer panic! Like everyone else, I was foolish in relying on Facebook messages. I can promise you that I would not want my conversations becoming public. It would just be ultimately embarrassing. In regards to the new Timeline feature .. as soon as mine was activated, I shut down my old Facebook and made a new one. I first made my Facebook in highschool and I'm a very different person today than I was a few years ago. I didn't want future employers seeing the comments about my academics or social life, and with that, I made a new one. Looking back, it was probably one of my smartest decisions. My Facebook usage is more limited and my friends and contact list is much more select as to who I add and deny.
ReplyDeleteI feel that if Facebook had released what were once private messages to be public, they would be faced with lots of angry users. Some users would no longer trust Facebook after this incident. The message function is used to send private messages to groups or single individuals. If the user didn't mind the public viewing the material, he/she would have simply posted on the other user's walls. If this incident were true, I feel strongly that the stock price would decrease even more...
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