Facebook is too invasive

Soon after Facebook rolled out it’s latest layout it was hit by the inevitable  backlash that has become traditional whenever they make changes to the site. Again privacy was the main concern, particularly amongst young people who shared their thoughts on The Student Room.

In a discussion titled ‘Facebook is too invasive’, the 14-26 year old users of TSR scrutinised the changes with one user questioning ‘has Facebook gone too far?’, whilst others compared it to Twitter and failed social networks MySpace and Bebo…

“why do they always have to go and ruin stuff….this is how bebo died.” atomos

The majority of comments in the discussion share the opening posters viewpoint that the new layout is too invasive and hard to control in terms of privacy. However some argue that if Facebook is used to connect with ‘real’ friends then privacy should not be an issue…

“I dont get why people complain about all these privacy issues when it comes to your friends. I have 40 true friends/relatives on my facebook. I feel comfortable sharing anything with all my friends on there, and if it is something i only want certain people to know i will pm them. Simples!” Br1stol

One of the main issues that young people have with the new Facebook, other than the layout, is the advertising, ‘likes’ and new features that show your friends what newspaper articles you’re reading.

Young people are all too aware that ‘the more invasive it is, the more money they can make’ (KingGoonIan) and they think that Facebook ‘don’t really care if we like it or not’ (jmfc).

Only time will tell if Facebook continues as THE social network or if as one user puts it

“Facebook is going to be something we all look back and reminisce about in years to come as a big social phenomenon of our times and we will think back sadly how it slowly lost its original fun and excitement.” MagicNMedicine