educe me

Yikes

26Jun10 • {3}

Not sure what the hell to do with this space.

I joined Facebook, I don’t know, 4+ years ago? Back when you had to be associated with a university and have a university email for verification. I joined with my real name–’cause I thought I had to–and added my widely-used cartoonish gravatar that kinda looks like me but not really. Being back in the day, if you will, I also added some basic information about myself and my personal interests, because I was so naive and, well, still dumb about this whole Internet thing. I think I filled in most of those boxes they had, for what movies, books, and music I liked. And of course, I added the more obscure items, hoping to up my coolness factor (i.e., I’m More Hipster Than Thou). Anyway, that was it. Not many folks I knew were on it yet, you know?

Fast forward a few years, and EVERYFUCKINGBODY is on Facebook. I’ve got pictures of me taken by others in precarious/questionable-to-outsiders situations being tagged with my name. I’ve got blasts from the past trying to ‘friend’ me, like we’ve been in contact the past ten years or something. OMFG we “dated” in junior high school! Let’s be “friends” so I can keep track of you like some wacko stalker!

Then, I actually added a few more pictures of my own self. And my hairy armpit. But that was purely for gratuitous purposes.

Then, I lost interest. Perhaps FB became too cool for me–everyfuckingbody was asking if I had one–like it was the ONLY FUCKING WAY to get a hold of me. And I felt disgusted. We’re not friends just because you know how to search for my name and know how to read a profile.

I also questioned why I felt the need to put so much information about myself on this “social networking site”, as it came to be known. Why the hell did folks, who weren’t REALLY my friends (FYI: if you’re my friend, we hang out, as in, we hang out IN REAL LIFE, like, WARM BODIES MAKING CONTACT and SHARING EXPERIENCES TOGETHER OUTSIDE OF THE INTERNET) need this crap about me? If you’re my friend, you know my favorite movies, what books I’m reading, what music I listen to, because I make you watch movie clips, tell you about the books, and make you listen to songs WHEN WE HANG OUT. IN REAL LIFE.

So, one day I logged in and deleted all that shit from the boxes and replaced it with “Facebook Sucks”. (Maybe I was feeling snarky that day, but I’ll say I was foreseeing the future.)

Recently, I deleted the photos I had added (even the one of my sweaty hairy armpit), and removed the tags my friends had put on pictures that somehow featured some part of my body and so could remotely be identified as me.

A lot of my current classmates use Facebook and sometimes, it’s the only way to get a hold of these bastards. Because apparently they don’t have email or cellphones or something. I don’t know.

Lately folks are making a big brouhaha about the recent privacy changes Facebook made, which allow third-parties to harvest ALL the information you WILLINGLY provided, and keep it INDEFINITELY and use it to THEIR OWN MARKETING ADVANTAGES.

What the fuck, folks?

When you’re giving your private information over to corporations, what do you really expect on their end? Privacy? REALLY?

Here’s what I propose:

Delete your meaty shit and keep your profile simple: name, general location, a picture so folks can positively ID you. Then, you make real contact with those folks who matter to you, whether through actual in-person get-togethers, or your private email. Be aware of what information you’re giving Facebook and their monetary sponsors. They may still keep the info you’ve given them thus far, but at least it won’t be able in the future to new corporate entities.

Or maybe it will. It depends upon Facebook’s head men and how much they want to sell it for.

You can still have people “friend” you on FB and still keep in contact with those people you’d otherwise TRULY not give a fuck about.

Just please stop bitching about corporations when their end goal is always, always the fucking same: profit.

[cross-posted elsewhere]