FaceBook Friends

After some of the recent drama I decided to up my privacy settings even further as far as FaceBook goes. I started by putting one specific person on a limited profile so that they couldn't see any posts either made by me or made to me. After all I don't need more drama. But then there was an article on Make Use Of specifically on FaceBook privacy. It was an older article so some of the steps were no longer an option but along the way I found myself creating friend lists.... which was largely about where I knew people from. What I quickly realized (not that I am really surprised by this) is that very few people were actually making it to my "friends" list. I reserve that title for the people I am very close to.... There were family members, classmates, acquintances, co-workers, etc. But very few friends. I am okay with only having a few people I truly call friends but it is still very telling when according to FaceBook I have over 200 friends.

I know that a lot of people love the many applications you can find on FaceBook. I use an exporter to get my photos from iPhoto to FaceBook, the application for the BlackBerry, and an exporter so that birthdays are in my iCal. But I don't play any of the games... and don't spend a lot of time on people's profiles or checking out their latest pictures. I swear I am in the minority there. I always have FaceBook open so I check out the news feed a lot. I really wish that FaceBook would give you the option to block all news about external applications. I know you can do it application by application but that is such a pain. I keep thinking about just using FaceBook lite, assuming it even still works. Still works but seems kind of broken with all the new changes in the regular news feed. All the stories it showed me were ones I had replied to or posted myself.

There are also applications like the stalker list and I am not sure if it actually provides a list of the people who have checked out your profile or just makes up names based on your friends list but applications like that concern me. Don't I have the right to stalk in private? LOL There is a concern about privacy and without my consent telling people whose profile I visit most and then broadcasting that. It also makes me wonder how people view the results. Because my name isn't on there does that make me a bad friend? I have already said I tend to limit my FaceBook usage to the main page... doesn't mean I don't pay attention.

Why I Hate FaceBook

Really it could apply to any social networking site but I don't use any of the others. I already know that some people who read that are going to go on the defensive because they love FaceBook.... Good thing it's my blog and my point of view then. :)

I look at my "friends" (and I use that term loosely) list and see 153 names. But then I click on someone else's profile and maybe they have 200 names. Suddenly I start to feel a little inadequate. The comparison begins. It's like being back in high school again... where you want to be one of the cool kids with all the friends. In reality though I look at the list of names and some of them are family members, some of them are acquaintances, some of them little more then acquaintances, and then there are the gems.... These are the people that I truly call friends. So while I am lamenting about how someone else might have 200 names on that list I am still blessed to have at least 1 true friend. Some people don't even have that.

Lately I have been reminded to cherish those people that you truly call friends and don't ever take them for granted. I am going to end this post with a forward that someone sent to me...

People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime. When you know which one it is, you will know what to do for that person. When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend and they are. They are there for the reason you need them to be. Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end. Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away. Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand. What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled, their work is done. The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on. Some people come into your life for a SEASON, because your turn has come to share, grow or learn. They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh. They may teach you something you have never done. They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it, it is real. But only for a season. LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons, things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life. It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant. Thank you for being a part of my life, whether you were a reason, a season or a lifetime.

New Facebook Settings

When I logged into Facebook the other day I realized that there was something new... something that concerns me a little. I have already run full force into the privacy issues so to find out that limited profiles are going to be searchable from all the major search engines. Their argument is that this information is already available when someone does a search. But... that information is only available if someone already has a Facebook account. Raise your hand if you have used Google (or Yahoo, or any other search engine) to search for someone. Or maybe I am the only one... More importantly, companies will use search engines to find out background information about an applicant. While that information may have already been accessible to people with a Facebook account now the recruiter knows that the information is there and has more of a motivation to create an account... just to check up on this candidate. Think it's far fetched? Think again. Just like that information that you think is "private" may not be. There was a case in the States where the employer (a state agency) used the Patriot act to bypass the privacy settings on Facebook to view ALL of the information. My concern is that people think that it is nothing more then social networking and you can say whatever you want without consequence... But it's a false sense of security as I learned. If you haven't done so already you might want to change your privacy settings so that it can't be searched outside of Facebook.

How to Get Fired

Last month's Wired had an emphasis on "How to" with Martha Stewart. It included how to get fired. However, it all started after the pink slip. Sure it is good to know how to negotiate AFTER the event.... Here is a quick way to get you to that point.

1. Own a Mac
2. Create an album in iPhoto with your favourite images... Include pictures that management will not approve of. For instance that picture you took of the boss at the Christmas party during the limbo competition. Or those drunken shots taken with PhotoBooth that you thought were so entertaining. Or any one of 100 different images.
   
3. Have an internet connection
4. Sign up at http://www.facebook.com
5. Download and install the iPhoto to Facebook exporter
6. Click on the album that was created in step 2. Go to file --> export and choose to export to Facebook. Create a new album with the name of the iPhoto album and export.
7. Click on the link to go to Facebook.
8. Select all of the pictures. Who needs to look at the pictures? They're for everyone else to look at.
9. Approve them all.
10. Wait for the pink slip

Now the more time that passes between step 2 and step 6 the more likely you are to unintentionally post a controversial picture. For maximum effect make sure you do not enable any privacy settings.

Just for added effect you can also get your very own pink slip voodoo doll. With it you can really become the master of your own fate at the workplace. If you want to keep your job then you can use it to be passed over. But if you want a pink slip then you can use the doll to help you attain that. In some workplaces displaying it will work even better.

I take no responsibility for the outcome of your actions. Nor can I promise that you will get what you want. If I could do that I would be rich by now. So take my suggestions with a grain of salt... although in the case of a voodoo doll isn't it better to be safe then sorry?

The Convenience Factor

Today was a sad day. I discovered that the Facebook exporter from iPhoto does not work with the new version of iPhoto. Talk about convenience. I could take an entire album and then just select Facebook in the options and voila. Simplicity and ease of use. Isn't that what Apple is known for? Of course it was all this exact ease of use that got me fired from my job. Now that I have been fired and don't need to worry about it I love the FaceBook exporter plug-in. I hope they fix it soon.

In other FaceBook news I had been giving some thought to un-registering but I just couldn't do it. I still have gifts to give that I paid for. Plus I think there are some benefits to the site... like being able to post virtually all of my pictures. But other then that I have no real use for the site.

So it's not that I am in hiding.... I just check the main page periodically for updates and then wander off again. The more applications that are added the less I enjoy my time there. Getting fired after posting a picture on Facebook probably doesn't help that one either. Guess I am not one of the ones who are addicted to Facebook.

Facebook

I've been trying to keep a low profile as of late... hence the lack of posts. I figure it's safer that way. I really don't need any more trouble.

But the experience brings up a number of privacy questions related to Facebook. Since it is a membership site and your profile can only be accessed by people on the network, or on your friends list, is there an expectation of privacy? The web site is designed for "personal use" but one can always just argue that they accidentally found that picture of you passed out from intoxication... or smoking that joint... or whatever is in that picture. Too many people, myself included, forget that the information can be accessed by just about anyone at any time. It's out there for everyone to see. As was evidenced in my case, can (or should) that information be used against you to terminate your employment without notice, discipline/expulsion from school, or even be used to file criminal charges?

The default privacy settings is that it is wide open to anyone. I firmly believe that the default should be much more secure. You can customize your privacy to be whatever you want it to be. To truly protect privacy the default should be a limited profile. Then you can enable full access if that is what you want. If that was the case those pictures never would've been seen and I'd still have a job.

In the United States there was a case where an applicant applied for a job with the government and under the Patriot Act they accessed everything on their Facebook account, even what had been restricted by the user. I would assume that if they had turned the privacy on for something then it means they didn't want other people to know about it. So imagine being at the job interview and being asked questions about it. For details on this case click here.

Any web site like Myspace, Friendster, or Facebook makes it even easier for someone to become a stalker. Suddenly people who would lock their door when they go home make their lives publicly available with all kinds of details and pictures. So now you know that the person sitting across from you at work has three tattoos, spends their free time at X bar and their favourite show is Survivor. Things you might not have known even though you've worked together for 3 years. It changes the way we interact and it definitely changes the flow of information and what information is available.

And then there is the "My Feed" portion of the web site.... I am willing to bet that most people don't really think about it. In fact they like seeing who has posted what... and who is now friends with who. But think for a second of the implications. Yes it can reconnect you with someone you didn't know was a member. But it also tells you every time someone changes their status, information on their profile, joins a group, posts a picture, or places a message on someone else's wall. Do we really need to know all this? It's also how the manager in question knew so quickly about the pictures I had posted. They were not on my friends list but could completely browse the profile... so either they check it constantly... or knew about it because someone else commented on one of the photos.

There is a fascinating video called "Does What Happen in the Facebook Stay in the Facebook?" It is really interesting and kind of frightening actually. It's the stuff conspiracy theories are made of. And it really begs the question as to whether or not there is any privacy or if it is all just a false sense of security and privacy. Big Brother really is watching and we've let him in.

ABC's

Even though I stole this idea from Nadine's Facebook.... Shhh... Steal? Me? Never *lol*

[A is for age:] 28
[B is for beer of choice:] Yuk.... beer?
[C is for career:] Not there yet... But for now Performance Coach
[D is for favorite drink:] Strawberry Daquiri or Coca-Cola
[E is for essential item you use everyday:] Soap
[F is for favorite song at the moment:] Hide & Seek by Imogen Heap
[G is for favorite game:] Scene It
[H is for hometown:] Cobourg
[I is for instruments you play:] Me, not musical at all
[J is for favorite juice:] Fruitopia - Strawberry Passion Awareness
[K is for kids:] Tigger (RIP), Azrael (and before anyone asks.... I do not have children... these are my cats), Annika is my niece
[L is for last food:] Does Coca-Cola count? If not... Roast Beef and pasta
[M is for marriage:] Does common-law count? Currently single and officially never been married
[N is for name:] Do you want birth name or current name? Current name is Heather
[O is for overnight hospital stays:] Far too many... When I was born I spent a month in hospital, when I was 5 I had my tonsils out, when I was 10 they wanted me to gain weight and kept me overnight, When I was 14 I had a head injury
[P is for phobias:] Team building exercises... seriously (it's a social phobia)
[Q is for quote:] "No day but today" (Rent)
[R is for role model:] Christie for her integrity, values and just for being cool
[S is for self confidence:] What the hell is that? I can fake it pretty good
[T is for time you wake up:] Am I working? If not.... noon
[U is for color of underwear:] Black
[V is for vegetable you love:] Broccoli or Cauliflower
[W is for worst habit:] Trying to do everything myself and taking on too much
[X is for x-rays you've had:] None recently... In my younger days way too many
[Y is for yummy food you make:] What, me cook? probably my grilled chicken
[ Z IS FOR ZODIAC:] Scorpio... The sign of sex, death, and money. It's got to be the most powerful sign.