A friend was ready to abandon Facebook altogether this week with the latest rounds of changes taking place. We just get used to what's new and feel confident we understand fully what Facebook is doing with the information we post, who can see what and how we want to use this powerful set of online applications, then bam!! They change it again and not just in a little way but in huge, almost conceptual ways. How much time does one have to put into researching the changes before we are again confident that we know how we are being used and possibly abused by Facebook.
Privacy is the main issue. Who sees what and how is our information gathered and stored and used to sell to us or feed information to us that we may or may not want to know.
Some of these changes have to do with the two types of interfaces that Facebook offers.
- The personal "Profile."
- The "page."
Most users don't have "Pages," they have "profiles."
What is a Page and how is it different from a profile? (this is not new)
From the Facebook definition: "Pages are for organizations, businesses, celebrities, and bands to broadcast great information in an official, public manner to people who choose to connect with them."
By definition, pages are public. CrexTechs has a page.
A profile is a place on Facebook where an individual presents themselves in order to connect with family and friends, usually privately.
An individual can have a profile and a page and keep their profile private and post what they want to be public to their page. But in most cases, pages are for businesses and organizations who want to be "Liked" so they can promote themselves. Profiles are for people to connect with friends and family privately. To connect you must request to be a "Friend" and be accepted provided your privacy setting is set to Friends or Custom not Public (see below).
So what is new?
In the past one had to "Like" a page to comment on a post. It is no longer necessary to "Like" a page to comment on that page. All such comments on "Pages" will be public. If you have friends who also "Like" the page and have made posts or comments, you can click on "Friend Activity" to see what they have posted or commented on in the past (you will also see your comments and posts) . Non-friends will not see this compilation of posts and comments. They will see their own posts and comments and their own friend's posts and comments.
From a page that you are perusing, for instance the Grantsburg, WI page, you can click through to a profile of someone who has posted or commented. You will see their profile page but you will not be able to see anything they don't want you to see. The same goes for anyone who clicks through one of your post to get to your profile. They will not be able to see anything you don't want them to see.
Privacy settings
As in the past, you must set your own privacy setting but you don't need to do it again unless you have custom settings that you want to review. If you have selected Public, all your posts are public. If you selected Friends, then only your friends can see what is on your wall or news feed including posts and comments by others. Be warned, if you have a friend whose profile is public and you post or comment to her wall, your post or comment will also be public (your profile, your wall and your news feed are still friend's only though). Her posts to your wall or news feed will not be public.
Subscribe is a new feature that is pretty interesting. If you have an update on your news feed from a friend, right click on your friend's picture or link. You will see Subscribe. Click on that. Now select the things you want to see from that person. You may not want to see everything they post such as status changes. This looks pretty slick to me.
There are a lot more changes. Take a look at these articles to see what else you need to know about these changes.
Facebook Changes: New Privacy Concerns Surround Facebook Changes
Facebook’s Latest Changes: A Hands-On Look [PICS]
I am using the new chat feature while writing this article. I had a FB message from my brother while I was exploring some of the changes. I responded and he was online so he was able to respond immediately to me. What's not to like!!