Don't just blame Facebook
Published in the Boulder Daily Camera 4/10/18
Before we redesign the social media technology that's evolved over the past decade, let's pause for a moment, face west, and genuflect to the wizards of Silicon Valley who have brought us such wonders. When the internet emerged in the late 1980s, anyone with an email account and web browser knew that the world was about to get much more interesting. It did.
While we're handing out thanks, let's give a special shout-out to that Harvard dropout who just happened to be standing in the right spot when internet technology matured enough so that something like Facebook was possible. With help from predecessors like America Online and classmates.com, Mark Zuckerberg and 'TheFacebook" launched a worldwide revolution in how people connect and communicate.
For me, I found the friend who took me to the Beatles concert in Toronto in 1966. Boy, did he get old. Facebook also gives me a daily shudder or two when I read some friend's awkward posting. It's nice to be reminded that others make fools of themselves publicly, too.
That stuff got us hooked and, as we've all spent more time with social media, its influence on society has grown steadily. In 2012, President Obama's campaign was widely praised for figuring out how to use social media to customize the messages sent to voters based upon what they had learned about them from their interactions with Facebook. Whether you're selling votes or whiskey, marketers have always worked to target their messages and media differently for different types of customers. Facebook just makes it better and easier.
But, when we feel geopolitical earthquakes from an election tainted by fake news targeted at individuals using personal data that we assumed Facebook was guarding, the alarm bells start to ring. As we now appreciate, this nexus of free speech and Big Data is dangerous ground.
However, as we gather wood for Mr. Zuckerberg's staking, we should also contemplate how Facebook got so much personal data on so many — last count, 2 billionish — people. Lest the answer not be obvious, let me make it clear: We gave it to Facebook freely and willingly.
From Facebook's perspective, that was the deal. They would provide us Facebook friends with increasingly powerful social media technology and, to pay for it, we would allow Facebook to sell some of the things we told them to third parties. For us, it was wonderful and all free.
However, in the past few weeks, Facebook users have been surprised that our interactions with Facebook are not as private as we assumed. As Mr. Zuckerberg goes before Congress, it's pretty clear that we're dumping most of the blame on Facebook.
It's not that simple.
Today's bogeyman, Cambridge Analytica, claims that they were using personal data from Facebook consistent with the rules Facebook had given them. Facebook disputes this, but they acknowledge that this personal data was there for the taking.
What's interesting, though, is that no one is arguing that the data that Facebook users had designated "private" was sold. So far, it appears that Facebook held up their end of the bargain by keeping our information private when we asked them to.
So, Facebook friends, it's time for a little self-reflection on our role in the use of our data by others. As we keep telling Facebook our life story on a daily basis, how many of us consider that, with limited exceptions, Facebook can do pretty much whatever it wants with what we tell them?
In our defense, Facebook doesn't make it as easy as they could to declare portions of our personal data out-of-bounds. Our ability to specify the data we want kept private has been a moving target and Facebook makes it harder to manage privacy settings than it needs to be — perhaps intentionally. I suspect that Mr. Zuckerberg's visit with Congress will ensure that Facebook fixes these usability issues and, in so doing, will better empower users to take more active control of their personal data.
However, we users must share part of the blame for wanting it all for free. We choose to send information to Facebook so we, too, have a responsibility to protect what we don't want others to know.
In the early internet days, the best piece of advice I got was that, before I hit the send key, I should assume that whatever I'm sending might end up on the front page of the New York Times. It's advice worth considering the next time you sit down with Facebook. If you don't, it's not Facebook's fault.
Before we redesign the social media technology that's evolved over the past decade, let's pause for a moment, face west, and genuflect to the wizards of Silicon Valley who have brought us such wonders. When the internet emerged in the late 1980s, anyone with an email account and web browser knew that the world was about to get much more interesting. It did.
While we're handing out thanks, let's give a special shout-out to that Harvard dropout who just happened to be standing in the right spot when internet technology matured enough so that something like Facebook was possible. With help from predecessors like America Online and classmates.com, Mark Zuckerberg and 'TheFacebook" launched a worldwide revolution in how people connect and communicate.
For me, I found the friend who took me to the Beatles concert in Toronto in 1966. Boy, did he get old. Facebook also gives me a daily shudder or two when I read some friend's awkward posting. It's nice to be reminded that others make fools of themselves publicly, too.
That stuff got us hooked and, as we've all spent more time with social media, its influence on society has grown steadily. In 2012, President Obama's campaign was widely praised for figuring out how to use social media to customize the messages sent to voters based upon what they had learned about them from their interactions with Facebook. Whether you're selling votes or whiskey, marketers have always worked to target their messages and media differently for different types of customers. Facebook just makes it better and easier.
But, when we feel geopolitical earthquakes from an election tainted by fake news targeted at individuals using personal data that we assumed Facebook was guarding, the alarm bells start to ring. As we now appreciate, this nexus of free speech and Big Data is dangerous ground.
However, as we gather wood for Mr. Zuckerberg's staking, we should also contemplate how Facebook got so much personal data on so many — last count, 2 billionish — people. Lest the answer not be obvious, let me make it clear: We gave it to Facebook freely and willingly.
From Facebook's perspective, that was the deal. They would provide us Facebook friends with increasingly powerful social media technology and, to pay for it, we would allow Facebook to sell some of the things we told them to third parties. For us, it was wonderful and all free.
However, in the past few weeks, Facebook users have been surprised that our interactions with Facebook are not as private as we assumed. As Mr. Zuckerberg goes before Congress, it's pretty clear that we're dumping most of the blame on Facebook.
It's not that simple.
Today's bogeyman, Cambridge Analytica, claims that they were using personal data from Facebook consistent with the rules Facebook had given them. Facebook disputes this, but they acknowledge that this personal data was there for the taking.
What's interesting, though, is that no one is arguing that the data that Facebook users had designated "private" was sold. So far, it appears that Facebook held up their end of the bargain by keeping our information private when we asked them to.
So, Facebook friends, it's time for a little self-reflection on our role in the use of our data by others. As we keep telling Facebook our life story on a daily basis, how many of us consider that, with limited exceptions, Facebook can do pretty much whatever it wants with what we tell them?
In our defense, Facebook doesn't make it as easy as they could to declare portions of our personal data out-of-bounds. Our ability to specify the data we want kept private has been a moving target and Facebook makes it harder to manage privacy settings than it needs to be — perhaps intentionally. I suspect that Mr. Zuckerberg's visit with Congress will ensure that Facebook fixes these usability issues and, in so doing, will better empower users to take more active control of their personal data.
However, we users must share part of the blame for wanting it all for free. We choose to send information to Facebook so we, too, have a responsibility to protect what we don't want others to know.
In the early internet days, the best piece of advice I got was that, before I hit the send key, I should assume that whatever I'm sending might end up on the front page of the New York Times. It's advice worth considering the next time you sit down with Facebook. If you don't, it's not Facebook's fault.
