In the ever evolving world of digital media, the more you get, the more you have to give and that’s why Facebook is the most feared tech company on the web right now. In order to use their services you have to grant an alarming amount of access to your personal data. With their freakishly tailored ads and constant privacy settings updates, Facebook is doing their best to alienate their users. For example, when Facebook forced users to download a separate messaging app, it made users give Facebook access to even more personal information and subsequently the app had the lowest ratings of the top apps in the iOS and Android marketplaces.
Additionally, I’m sure you all remember the Facebook study that attempted to discover “whether exposure to emotional content led people to post content that was consistent with the exposure—thereby testing whether exposure to verbal affective expressions leads to similar verbal expressions, a form of emotional contagion.” Facebook turned their own users into unknowing guinea pigs so that they could empirically define something that just seems like common sense. Yet another feather in the cap of Facebook’s advances on personal privacy is their overall tracking of personal information and their cooperation with the Federal Government in regard to information requests. Facebook tracks every aspect of our lives and wields the power to do with it as they see fit. Recently though, Facebook has to attempted to mend their image by “challenging” a New York Court bulk search warrant to 400 accounts without proper documentation. That doesn’t necessarily mean they didn’t eventually turn over the information, but I guess it’s a start.
This recent attempt was merely a drop in the bucket as Facebook ranks first in regard to the public’s fear of their personal information being collected with 45%, followed by the search giant Google at 21%, and Apple at 6.6%. As the respondents of survey proclaimed Facebook is their most feared tech company. They also noted that they feel Facebook is more than likely to suffer a crippling internal scandal and be a thing of the past in ten years.
One of the quickest ways to keep Facebook out of your life is by not letting it in. We understand that getting rid of it in it’s entirety might seem a bit irrational since it holds your life for the past 10 years, but by toggling security settings appropriately and working around the messaging app by using the messenger on Facebook’s website is a good start. Facebook at it’s core is a great way to share your life with family and friends or connect with a business online and it’s a matter of Facebook getting back to basics. Only time will tell if Facebook will learn a lesson from their predecessors and I for one am curious to see…
