Facebook Privacy Again?
Every time Facebook changes their privacy settings or someone stumbles on an old post, it seems that my news feed is filled with posts containing the following or similar language:
I do not give Facebook or any entities associated with Facebook permission to use my pictures, information, or posts, both past and future. By this statement, I give notice to Facebook it is strictly forbidden to disclose, copy, distribute, or take any other action against me based on this profile and/or its contents. The content of this profile is private and confidential information. The violation of privacy can be punished by law (UCC 1-308- 1 1 308-103 and the Rome Statute). NOTE: Facebook is now a public entity. All members must post a note like this. If you prefer, you can copy and paste this version. If you do not publish a statement at least once it will be tactically allowing the use of your photos, as well as the information contained in the profile status updates. DO NOT SHARE. You MUST copy And Post.
Some have included statements that I will be un-friended if I don’t do certain things to change my settings. To which posts I posted,
If you want to un-friend me because I don’t repost a “privacy declaration” then go ahead. You still won’t have privacy because when you sign up for Facebook, you agree to their terms of service and grant them permission to use your stuff!
I would however like to suggest that if you don’t want your stuff used, don’t post it. You don’t have any power over something you don’t own. Maybe that’s why it’s called sharing?
Get your own website, get your friends to visit and create your own “privacy” statement and TOS (Terms of Service)… However, this option IS NOT free!
Facebook is a membership site and requires you to accept their Terms of Service to use their site. They make changes to it on a regular basis.
Yes, they are now a publicly traded company. Yes, they now have shareholders. Before they were public they were positioning the company to be public. Being a free service they have to find other ways to pay for you to have this free service. Would you pay for Facebook if that gave you more privacy? Some would but the majority of people who use Facebook would not.
As we’ve said many times, Facebook owns Facebook. They can terminate your account at anytime and along with your account may go pages, groups and other related Facebook products. If you have a business Facebook page and have depended on it because it’s free, what happens now? ( I will note here that you should immediately assign another Admin user for your Facebook Pages to protect them from going down with your account or from going with an employee who may have set them up.)
Most websites have a privacy statement and/or terms of service or terms of use. Most are available but most sites don’t require you to “accept” them. Ours are linked in the first sentence of this paragraph.
You can get shared hosting and a domain for less than $150 per year. If you have no clue about what you’re doing it will cost a little more unless you’re willing to learn to do it yourself. In most cases, your time is more valuable being used to get business or do the work, not build your website. In that case, it will cost more but it won’t break the bank! You can have a website for personal use, it doesn’t have to be for business. Bloggers use a website. With your own website, you can back up your content but you can’t back up your Facebook content. If they close your account, your stuff is no longer accessible until you go through their process to possibly be reinstated.
Facebook and other social media should be an extension of your website. You should work toward getting customers directly to your website, not to Facebook or Twitter. You do however want customers to be able to find you wherever you may be.