Facebook, which began as a way to connect students at Harvard, now has a population greater than most countries. The site has become a staple in the lives of many of its 600 million members. It is where people store and share photos, plan and organize events, communicate with the people in their lives. It's become a hub for news and link/video sharing. It's a marketing tool, a place to promote one's business and professional endeavors.
It is also ruining our lives.
Oh, sure, sometimes it seems innocent enough. Sign onto Facebook, visit a Friend's Farm. Poke a few Pals. "Like" everybody's everything. Share the vapid details of your morning commute. What's the harm?
Look, we can't all view the world through rose-colored laptop screens. So we here at Internet Evolution have taken the lead and determined the 10 Ways Facebook Is Destroying Our Lives.
If you think that's a scary premise, consider this: We only stopped at 10 because we got tired and hungry – and because we needed to get back to catching up on all of the Facebook Newsfeed updates we missed while we were writing.
From the fact that Facebook is a flowing faucet of data to everyone from advertisers to the FBI, to the many worrying ways Facebook is blurring the lines between professional and personal – and possibly ensuring that having a career in the future is going to be harder than it's ever been before – there is a lot to be fearful of, where everyone's favorite social network is concerned.
There's little indication that Facebook is disappearing anytime soon, so in the meantime the best we can do is make ourselves aware of the many ways life (as we know it) is changing for the worse with every status update, picture, and link we post. So click through the following 10 pages, and afterwards, if you aren't too busy rocking back and forth in a puddle of your own sweat and tears, be sure to tell us on the boards below what you think and what we missed.
And feel free to share this link on Facebook... if you dare.
We all need to take responsibility for our actions. But, our brains tend to not do so. We want to blame others, deny the facts, and generally save our sanity by looking elsewhere for fault.
We have found the enemy and it is us. Be careful, thoughful, and sceptical when giving personal info the the world.
While it's not the sole responsibility of the technology, it's abusive to use the technology to fool people into handing over more data than they realize. The mass audience for something like Facebook can't be expected to be highly sensitive to Internet security issues. I believe it's incumbent on Facebook to make things easy and transparent.
Yes Susan that is a very bad habbit which we all have. If something goes wrong we put the blame on the technology before thinking twice on why and how it happened. We should be able to protect our data. Its not the responsibility of the technology.
Exactly. And despite that, people keep on blaming technology or the company for what it's their fault, in so many cases. Not everyone takes resposibility for what they post on their profiles.
Yes Susan, thats why Im saying you simply cannot blame the technology or the company for data breaching. Its us who provide simple and easy leads to breech our data.
Yes Susa its us who provide details just becasue a webpage with fancy options require. Also note that most of these social networks do ask for personal data but they are not compulasory. They put it in a way where the users ae kind of forced to insert these data to make their profile look much more accomplished. Just check if you think I'm wrong.
The ThinkerNet does not reflect the views of TechWeb. The ThinkerNet is an informal means of communication to members and visitors of the Internet Evolution site. Individual authors are chosen by Internet Evolution to blog. Neither Internet Evolution nor TechWeb assume responsibility for comments, claims, or opinions made by authors and ThinkerNet bloggers. They are no substitute for your own research and should not be relied upon for trading or any other purpose.
Has China stolen a march on the West, developing an Internet architecture that is not only based on IPv6, but is also inherently secure from both internal and external attack?
Recently, the Obama administration has been of two minds where privacy rights are concerned. On one hand, you have an administration that vowed to veto CISPA and mandated open data for government websites. On the other hand, you have an increasingly out-of-control Department of Justice on a fishing expedition at AP and demanding legislation to let the FBI wiretap private, encrypted communications and levy fines if a company fails to comply.
The apartment and house sharing service, Airbnb, now requires members to verify their identities by demonstrating a presence on the web, and by either scanning a government ID or entering detailed personal details. Other enterprises should take a close look at Airbnb's verification policies.
Facebook advertising is a lightning rod. It seems neither brands nor consumers are 100 percent happy about the social media site's policies, placement, or procedures. But the real controversy about Facebook ads and promotions is over whether they work.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
The whole Amazon.reader debate is a double-stupid. It's stupid to think that there's any e-book buyer who doesn't know Amazon's URL, and it was stupider to let ICANN launch the whole free-form TLD initiative to start with.
While NFC's original goal was to enhance mobile commerce applications, it is finding its way into a number of other uses, which is creating both opportunity as well as challenges for IT departments.
Enterprises would like to move to cloud computing but are hesitant because they are concerned about providers’ ability to secure company data. Here are some tips that help to ensure that if breaches occur, the business is not left holding the bag.
Edmunds separates customers into segments based on the info it collects on its site and from partners, and uses that to push out custom content, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
The automotive website uses propensity modeling to target ads and customer registration forms, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
Subsidized handsets, rather than locked handsets, should be the focus of regulators. We're not getting good deals, not fostering innovation, and weakening our power as buyers.
Expert Integrated Systems: Changing the Experience & Economics of IT In this e-book, we take an in-depth look at these expert integrated systems -- what they are, how they work, and how they have the potential to help CIOs achieve dramatic savings while restoring IT's role as business innovator. READ THIS eBOOK
your weekly update of news, analysis, and
opinion from Internet Evolution - FREE! REGISTER HERE
Wanted! Site Moderators Internet Evolution is looking for a handful of readers to help moderate the message boards on our site – as well as engaging in high-IQ conversation with the industry mavens on our thinkerNet blogosphere. The job comes with various perks, bags of kudos, and GIANT bragging rights. Interested?
To save this item to your list of favorite Internet Evolution content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
Email This
Page 1 of 11 
