Privacy Takes Center Stage Online - Facebook on the Hot Seat
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Facebook, in the meantime, has also been drawing fire from online privacy advocates. The wildly popular social networking site recently announced a new policy to make limited member profiles available to nonmembers. A new search box at the bottom of Facebook's home page will let non-Facebook users search for friends, acquaintances, or others who might have a Facebook account.
But the new policy goes beyond a search box on the home page. In early October, Facebook will begin making their user profiles available to search engine spiders. This means that anyone who has their privacy settings adjusted to "Everyone" will start to see parts of their profile showing up in searches on Google, Yahoo, and MSN. Only the name and profile picture of the user will show up in the search.
Why is Facebook doing this? "We wanted to give people who have never come to Facebook, or who are not currently registered, the opportunity to discover their friends who are on Facebook," the company explained in a statement. It's quite likely that there's more than benevolent interest in its members behind this latest move however.
Sonja Thompson, who has been a member of Facebook for a month, hit the nail on the head. In a blog post for IT News Digest, she wrote that "Making user listings available on huge search engines such as Google and Yahoo should drive millions more people to the Facebook site, making it an even more lucrative advertising vehicle."
The temptation is understandable. Facebook already holds profiles for about 40 million active members. USA Today reported that the social network plans to place more targeted ads on its site. It recently received a huge influx of users after opening its service to everybody about a year ago.
The move may hit new members hardest. Many users joined Facebook because it keeps member information private, in the sense that no one from outside the network can see what you post to your profile. If these new members aren't fully aware of how to control their privacy settings, they could be in for a rude shock. "I'm amazed that they seem to be opting-in literally millions of people who never asked for Facebook to put listings out in the public," said Danny Sullivan, Search Engine Land editor and Facebook member.
Members who have been with Facebook longer may simply choose to leave the network. USA Today quotes Jaco Joubert, a 22-year-old Facebook user who has been with the site for two years. "Facebook used to be private," he said, and added that he would likely leave Facebook in favor of business networking site LinkedIn. One wonders how many other long-time Facebook users will join him, and whether the member exodus will be balanced by the arrival of new members who join after finding their friends on the social networking site.
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