Anti-Facebook part II

Last time I wrote about QuitFacebookDay. I also found another anti Facebook site, which is not so radical but it is still against Facebook and is concerned about privacy settings. This site is Facebook Protest and is making the 6th June day of the protest. As they are writing:

"On June 6th we are asking those who disagree with the changes Facebook has made to its “privacy” policies to commit to not logging in or interacting with Facebook in any way. Be sure to log out of Facebook in all of your browsers no later than the evening of June 5th. On the 6th, be sure to not use Facebook connect or click any “Like” buttons: basically refrain from ALL Facebook related activity."

This action is connected to Zuckerberg's statement that he does not believe in privacy. He is explaining this with the changed perception of privacy and continues to change privacy terms. On Facebook Protest site visitors can also found a lot of useful articles about changing privacy conditions. Like the one on Wired.com, which is writing about Facebook colonization of web:

"It’s an ambitious attempt to rewrite the web as a socially linked network. But many see Facebook’s move as trying to colonize the rest of the web, and keep all this valuable information in its data silos, in order to become a force on the web that rivals Google."

I think that this is very important point, because Facebook is no longer just the identity site. It has become so much more not just for users but also for companies and after all researchers. It is social phenomenon and now is trying to go beyond itself. For example you already can share articles or Youtube videos on Facebook and if really "like" button will be on anything from blog entries to T-shirts in web stores, then the main question should be asked. Did perception of people's privacy changed so much that they not realize and does not care what information they share? And will Facebook ever be unpopular?

Recording to more and more concerned articles, bloggers, Twitter users, anti-Facebook sites and all in all Facebook groups, Facebook owners should be concerned too. Yes, perception of privacy has changed but this does not mean that privacy should not be respected and exploited. It should be even more secured and people should be warned where and in what kind their personal information can be used.

Anti-Facebook part I

I believe almost everyone who reads this blog has Facebook account. But did anybody tried to delete it? It is not that simple as it looks on the first sight. Well, you can delete your account but this is not the first choice that Facebook is suggesting. Firstly you can just deactivate account and that means that everything that you put on Facebook will stay there and it will be accessible for almost everyone. And because of this kind of concerns about privacy I found anti-Facebook group.

The first one is QuitFacebookDay and they have almost 8000 Committed Facebook Quitters. On May 31st they will all quit Facebook and the main reasons for doing so are concerns about privacy and uses of personal data. They also believe that Facebook can be addictive as they write:

"Quitting Facebook isn't easy. Facebook is engaging, enjoyable and quite frankly, addictive. Quitting something like Facebook is like quitting smoking. It's hard to stay on the wagon long enough to actually change your habits. Having peer support helps, but the way to quit Facebook is not to start a group on Facebook about leaving Facebook."

Well I can agree with some of their statements and articles they are citing (very interesting are the instructions for permanently deleting your Facebook account: http://www.wikihow.com/Permanently-Delete-a-Facebook-Account), but comparing use of Facebook to smoking is just funny. I believe that it is not fair to be so technological deterministic and say it is all Facebook fault. People should be aware that web is open and public space. These are the characteristics that make web so unique and useful. Like every user can access almost every information (from news to government data) it is logical that this kind of exploitation will also be from the other side. And it is naive to think that it is just Facebook who uses personal information for advertisers and companies. Every time we open web browser our personal data, our search words and information about us are stored somewhere and can be used.

However Facebook is open network and should have some respect to their users. Users are those who are keeping Facebook so popular and favored between advertisers. And if Facebook will loose its users because of changing privacy rules, there will be no more Facebook. This is what Zuckenberg and others should think about and also take in account when they are changing conditions of use they should think about users and their wishes. Will you quit Facebook on 31st May?

Where is MySpace?

MySpace is American social networking site which has a quite a long history. It was launched in 2003 under the patronage of internet marketing company eUniverse (today's Intermix Media). Firstly it was virtual storage page and after some years it became social networking site. In 2005 MySpace was bought by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation and after that, some design changes, separate subsites (like MySpace for UK or China version of MySpace) and launch of Facebook made MySpace no more page for music and networking but it has become advertising paradise and Facebook's-wanna-be-twin. Why for advertisers? "Through its Web site and affiliated ad networks, MySpace is second only to Yahoo! in its capacity to collect data about its users and thus in its ability to use behavioral targeting to select the ads each visitor sees." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MySpace)

Well internet is constantly changing but why did MySpace become so old and unpopular? Some years ago MySpace was a place to be, all the celebrities and music artist were on MySpace, but today majority of them went to Twitter or Facebook. But are Twitter and Facebook phenomenon the main reasons for the decline of MySpace? (for comparison of numbers of unique visitors check this very useful site for all of you who are interested in social networking sites -> http://siteanalytics.compete.com/myspace.com+facebook.com+twitter.com/)

Some possible MySpace flaws can be:
- complicated use of all the aplications and features of site (the KISS rule - Keep It Simple Stupid), it wants to be too much like Facebook,
- it does not have any third party program helpers, like Twitter or Facebook have (like applications or companies fan pages),
- it is also more imaginary and people are less willingly to share their real identity on MySpace than on the Facebook,
- poor spam and junk protection, too much advertisements,
- not so clean-looking design like Facebook,
- it has no option for non-stop communicating like chating,
- celebrities moved to Twitter, independent bands stayed on MySpace (privacy rights).

And this are just some of potential causes. Do you agree with them or do you think that it is not all about the technical changes but the reality that primar MySpace users got old. And do you think that Facebook could have the same destiny?

And when I was searching for information about MySpace I found this very useful Wikipedia site of all of social networking sites. Useful and interesting :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites

Searching for love in 21st century

Online dating has become a part of searching for partner in every-day life. Some statistics says that in 2006 18% of all users of internet in Europe have visited online dating site. And this is about 38,2 million users. (http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1010) And in UK every month 7 million singles visited a dating site in 2009. This is a 27% increase of the year 2008. (you can find more statistics about internet dating for all over the world here) So online dating is a fast growing industry which has become approved and normal way of meeting new people.

Popularity of internet and new technologies on the market of partnerships and marital status has several social causes. There are changes in intimate relationships and private sphere like for example reduced social regulation of intimate life and sexuality, there is also transformation of intimacy, phenomena of pure relationship and plastic sexuality. Also changes in labor sphere have consequences on changed setting for singles. There is less free time because of the more and more working hours so single people do not have time for "traditional" meeting of potential partners. Also process of individualization and demands of reflexive project on the self, globalization and other changes have impact on more and more used online dating. sites And this kind of dating can have several positive sides but it also involves taking risks.

Some would say that internet and computer mediated communication is successful in dating because there are reduced nonverbal cues so the real personality is more important than the looks. And in this kind other factors which are important for relationship come in foreground like affinity, contact, reciprocal self-disclosure and emotional intimacy. In that way people are also liberated of social roles of gender so personality has more impact on meeting the "right" person. But trust is still the main factor of successful search and if we believe statistics (58% of Europeans have been victims of online dating dishonesty. Italians at 72%, Germans at 58%, French and British at 55%, and Dutch at 48%) online dating sites are not anymore the new environment in which "true love" can be found. Singles who use dating sites, 33% form a relationship, 33% do not, and 33% give up on dating online.

So online searching for love is not so perfect like some authors (Ellison, Heino and Gibbs 2006; Hardey 2004; Ben-Ze'ev 2004) are suggesting. But like the latter author is underlining, this kind of searching for partner has other consequences like social integration and social contacts. And in this way people can satisfy inner human need and this is free communication. So like almost every act on internet is in the direction of communication also searching for love is just the satisfaction of social integration.

Sources:
- Ben-Ze’ev, Aaron. 2004. Flirting on and offline. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies 10 (1): 24-42.
- Ellison, Nicole B., Rebecca D. Heino in Jennifer L.Gibbs. 2006a. Managing impressions online: Self-presentation processes in the online dating environment. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 11 (2): 415-441.
- Hardey, Michael. 2004. Mediated relationships: Authenticity and the possibility of romance. Information, Communication & Society 7 (2): 207-222.