Facebook was met with heavy criticism when they added Beacon to their social networking site. Beacon is a program that tracks consumer purchases from affiliated e-tailers and automatically posts them on Facebook for "friends" to see. Users were very upset and felt that their privacy rights were violated. Facebook was incredibly slow responding to the complaints, taking an entire month to address the problem. Facebook's solution? Each time users purchased items on a Beacon advertiser's site, they were given the option to stop the notification. That's right...every purchase. Those who feel the implement of Beacon should be opt-in, feel as though their solution is not sufficient. Even more disturbing, researcher discovered Facebook was tracking its users after they had logged out. After all the criticisms and accusations, Facebook has finally made Beacon an opt-in option for users. Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg has apologized for the issue, and reminds users that the free site is supported by advertising.
It's easy to see why so many users were outraged. Would you want your online purchases displayed for everyone you know to see? I highly doubt it. Even with the most innocent of purchases, such as a text book, a person can feel violated. Then again, Beacon could be a powerful marketing tool. It is similar to an online RFID, the problem is the public announcement of the purchases. As a Facebook addict myself, I really would not want all my purchases broadcast for everyone to see. I mean what do college kids buy online?? Books, clothing, undergarments, electronics, music, movies...etc. All of these are items that, to a degree, define your personality. Facebook already lets you post your interests, activities, and favorite books, movies, and quotes online. That's enough personal expression for me. On the opposite side of the argument, Facebook is a free site, and has the largest number of registered users among college-focused sites. This means if you see someone in a class, you can almost bet they are on Facebook. Facebook's other strength is in it's simple web design, that isn't convoluted with advertisements like myspace or other social networking sites. Overall I believe that Facebook has the right to conduct its website however it wishes, as long as users are notified of changes in the site, but they have to remember the mindsets of the people who use Facebook. It is a cultural icon for my generation, and it's users believe in privacy, freedom of speech, and integrity. For example, there have been many groups of thousands of users threatening to leave Facebook if Zuckerberg sold it to a company like Microsoft. Users respect Zuckerberg for refusing to do so, and hold him as an inspirational
peer. A multi-millionaire peer, that is.
"Facebook CEO Apologizes, Lets Users Turn Off Beacon" was written by Betsy Schiffman and is available at Wired.com
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/startups/news/2007/12/facebook_apology
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