I've discussed before how much Beacon, Facebook's targeted-ad initiative, drives me nuts, but I assumed that after Mark Zuckerberg's speech that things were going to change for the better. Maybe not: When the associate editor of Valleywag.com recently changed his profile to "engaged," he had no idea that Facebook would start spamming him with ads. He quickly did the math and realized that his fiancée had registered them on The Knot.com, which just so happens to be a Beacon partner.
Although she opted not to have ads sent to their Facebook friends, Beacon is still tracking their every move on the site (see exhibit A above). Here's his hilarious summary about the situation: "Facebook, you might want to know I'm not an American Express cardholder. And also, I'm not going to buy that dress. Oh, and one more thing? How hard could it have been for American Express, your partner in advertising bliss, to check off "female" on this order form? Answer: Not very. Next time, try a coupon for discount tux rentals at Men's Wearhouse." On that note, have another look at the entire list of corporations partnered with Facebook's Beacon.
Ikea
Repetto
Singh S. Madan
I don't like it but I believe FaceBook is free so they can determine what they do with your info as you most likely agreed to their terms early on. I really don't want to be part of anything that bothers my friends.
I am always careful to not do any of those "send to a friend" links where you put in someone's email address as you opt them in for spam.
1I don't use Facebook; it just seems like asking for this kind of intrusiveness. The information Yahoo and Google collect on me is more than enough!
2i dont have Facebook i stick to myspace, and livewire.
3i haven't used that thing in over a year. too bad - i thought it was sort of neat at first but as usual when things get too popular...i am thinking it sort of sucks and is kinda like myspace now??
4It doesn't bother me. Seems like everything is tracked these days anyway. Maybe I just don't understand the ramifications as well as everyone else does, though.
5Facebook was better when it was just for college kids. It would be so easy to stalk someone nowadays. It's complete crap.
6facebook was better before the applications, the news feeds, the weirdness.
7i was out at a friend's music "gig" and i saw a good friend of mine from high school. he hadn't spoken to me in over a year and a half, he said hello and what not. and suddenly, he says "you're pledging a sorority aren't you?" and i was like "yeah...how'd you know that?" because the only people who knew were close friends i had bothered to talk to about it.
"facebook" he says "i saw the girls writing on your wall"
i deleted my wall and most of my facebook for a month after that.
but that on top of what i purchase, who i talk to , who talks to me.
it's low level stalking that site.
Isn't that what privacy settings are for? Only my immediate friends can see my profile.
Then again I've never had to experience the nuisance of ad tracking and so I'm slightly biased. Oh and ditto to the apps; they're incredibly stupid and the only reason why I accept is because the Ignore button seems so.. harsh.
8Good thing i don't believe in these online 'diaries'.
9I think it's really narcicistic, its just for people to post pictures of themselves and i prefer myspace or hi5
10I love facebook!!
11All set...
12MySpace is better
13I have never been to Facebook. Call me lame but it is what it is.
14I have a Facebook account but I don't check it regularly since it's the most "ugly" networking site in the world. You have no options to , at least make your site nice looking. It's bland and dull. And in order for you to join their activities, you have to add their application..bummer.
15I don't like MySpace either. There are too way too much going on there---spams, stalkers and scams.
I enjoy Multiply and Friendster more and I hang around in those 2 sites.
Myspace is crawling with sex offenders.
16With wedding planning activities set up a wedding-only e-mail account as well as "dummy" info in other places. Or else you will be hounded on the internet and in your mail box if you start going to bridal shows and using online planning sources. As soon as folks find out you are engaged a serious race is on to get your mooooola for your special day.
17No.
18I don't use facebook. I like mysepace much more. It's more user friendly. I don't have a problem with too much spamming to weirdness on myspace. Maybe it's just because I only have true friends on my list. Facebook is just cumbersome and all this weird tracking crap they do is just annoying
19I dont like myspace or facebook. Based on my opinion and seeing the actions of people I know that have them I think that they're just popularity contests.
20If you want to talk to your friends I think you should just talk to them in person or call or email them.
I think that they should just trash it.
21An overwhelming majority of people hate it... Facebook is turning into Myspace/Microsoft. It's awful.
love facebook, hate beacon. love sugar more! = )
22Popsugar is like my iPhone... you get ALL of your need to know information from making friends, getting fit, celeb news etc.. all in one!! I LOVE IT! Why would you need Facebook and MySpace??
23facebook makes me sad since they always have a dating ad on the page when i log on and it's always there, just because my status is "single." facebook is so disappointing.
24hey geek, do you think that maybe if you used separate browsers for facebook and online purchases, that maybe they won't be able to track everything? i know it could be a pain in the butt, but maybe it would work?
25Hey SeaFoamGreen215, that is definitely an option. Since Facebook's Beacon is cookie based you could use a different browser for purchases (IE/Firefox). Just make sure you clear your cookies on the alternate browser and that you don't have any Facebook toolbars installed
26Facebook was originally just for college students... and now it's not. It actually makes me angry that my mom or dad can have one. But I don't have any problem with facebook now.
27when facebook first came along and was just for college students it was fine. it was neat to find people you went to high school with and to catch up with people you thought you'd never see again. but once they started high school facebook it pretty much went downhill from there...then the companies came in, advertisers, now anyone with an email can have facebook...that's not really what it was intended for, but what it became.
28Not a fan of either facebook or myspace, but have both. I prefer livejournal. It just seems more friendly to group communication.
29I like Sugar better than my MySpace or my Facebook site. There is so much more information to glean from the Sugar sites, than both of the afore-mentioned combined!
30What happened to Facebook man....
31it use to be cool and now its bleh...
Facebook is still better than many of the other social networking sites out there, like bebo and tagged - these particular ones i'm sure were made to make money of the advertising!
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