Privacy, Facebook and Fatigue
Facebook’s new Graph search is a fascinating product, and I want to use it. (In fact, I wanted to use it way back when I wrote about “Single Serving Friend” in 2005.)
Facebook’s Graph Search will incent Facebook users to “dress” themselves in better meta-data, so as to be properly represented in all those new structured results. People will start to update their profiles with more dates, photo tags, relationship statuses, and, and, and…you get the picture. No one wants to be left out of a consideration set, after all. (“Facebook is no longer flat“, John Battelle)
But privacy rears its predictable head, not just in the advocacy world:
Independent studies suggest that Facebook users are becoming more careful about how much they reveal online, especially since educators and employers typically scour Facebook profiles.
A Northwestern University survey of 500 young adults in the summer of 2012 found that the majority avoided posting status updates because they were concerned about who would see them. The study also found that many had deleted or blocked contacts from seeing their profiles and nearly two-thirds had untagged themselves from a photo, post or check-in. (“Search Option From Facebook Is a Privacy Test“, NYTimes)
Perhaps a small set of people will, as Batelle suggests, slow down their use of ironic, silly, or outraged likes, but the fundamental problem is that such uses are situated in a context, and when those contexts overlap, their meanings are harder to tease out with algorithms. People engage with systems like Yelp or LinkedIn in a much more constrained way, and in that constraint, make a much simpler set of meanings. But even in those simple meanings, ‘the street finds its own uses for things.’ For example, I get the idea that this 5-star review may be about something more than the design on a shirt.
There’s another study on “Facebook Fatigue:”
Bored or annoyed by Facebook? You’re not alone. A majority of people surveyed by the Pew Internet and American Life Project said they had taken sabbaticals from the social network at some point, to escape the drama, or the tedium. (“Study: Facebook fatigue — it’s real“, Jennifer Van Grove, CNet)
When our nuanced and evolved social systems are overlaid with technology, it’s intensely challenging to get the balance of technology and social right. I think the Pew research shows that Facebook has its work cut out for it.