Comments on: Will Facebook Adhere to OSW Bill of Rights?

By: This Week In SEO - 9/7/07 - TheVanBlog

This Week In SEO - 9/7/07 - TheVanBlog — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 03:40:36 +0000

[...] Will Facebook Adhere to OSW Bill of Rights? [...]

By: Buy and sell

Buy and sell — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 21:36:15 +0000

I can’t really see how a tiny page with a little picture and a name identical to millions of others will boost their traffic.

By: Mike Mothner

Mike Mothner — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 17:03:05 +0000

I believe that Facebook’s move to integrate profiling searching is just another means by which they hope to increase their member base. If non-Facebookers are able to search to see who they know is on Facebook, they in turn will be motivated to become a member of Facebook themselves. I think it will be highly effective in attracting more visitors to the site and therefore result in an increase in members in this social network.

By: Ciaran

Ciaran — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 07:26:20 +0000

With regards to the pants down picture (have you been looking at my profile again btw?!), from what I understand, that won’t be visible at the moment – just the user’s chosen profile picture.

And if “Facebook have worked hard implementing privacy on all kinds of things”, then why have they rather quietly made so many profiles searchable already?

By: Andy Beard

Andy Beard — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 20:25:27 +0000

Paul I am not saying that.

That picture with “you with your pants down” could already be shared in Google Reader and headline news all over Twitter, Pownce and 100s of splogs with one mistake of a hotkey.

What real difference does very limited search make?

I currently have a mixture of my updates and shred items being broadcast on my blog, and a link through to the shared feed that has the data.

Facebook has data protection built in to prevent sharing, Bloglines supports it, and no one in the tech industry gives a damn.

By: Paul Bennett

Paul Bennett — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 19:54:00 +0000

So that’s a unanimous don’t give a shit then! Well don’t come running to me when your mate posts that picture of you with your pants down on their indexed profile. But seriously, I guess most of us use social media for professional purposes anyway – so controlling search inclusion is not a terrible idea. Aside – I do believe network portability is worth pushing.

By: Jordan McCollum

Jordan McCollum — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 19:21:37 +0000

How is this “Bill of Rights” supposed to be binding? It’s like a blogging code of conduct. Woohoo, it’s got big names attached to it, but unless every other major social network jumps on board, or there’s a major outcry (from the college students?), Facebook is unlikely to feel compelled to go along with a suggestion from a site and organization that began today.

By: Mark Barrera

Mark Barrera — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 19:08:24 +0000

Is there going to be much of a difference from what Myspace offers on its public profiles (of people who have private profiles)?

I think as long as they tell people that it is there and how to manage it, it is a great idea both for users and for Facebook. I know I wouldn’t mind having my profile appear in the search listings.

By: Jordan Hughes

Jordan Hughes — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 18:35:51 +0000

I agree with Ciaran, if people have the choice to hide their profile from public search, no big deal. I don’t care if i come up in the search results, the main thing of which i’d be afraid is potential employers, or other “non-friend” types viewing at my personal profile, so i just modified my security settings on facebook.

By: Andy Beard

Andy Beard — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 17:18:12 +0000

you are missing half the problem, Facebook have worked hard implementing privacy on all kinds of things such as preventing personal RSS feeds being shared, and Google doesn’t the standards introduced a year ago.

By: Ciaran

Ciaran — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 16:49:54 +0000

Interesting post Paul. I have to say that I agree with some of the other comments, in that I doubt most users care too much about their profile turning up in the listings, so long as they are made aware of it, and can stop it/choose what goes public. As Owen says, some people may want to go further.

The real issue here is the one raised by Danny & Tom (on SEL & Distilled respectively) which is that a lot of profiles are already public, which seems to have been done with no notification. Facebook’s first PR slip-up maybe?

By: James Morell

James Morell — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 16:36:22 +0000

It’s not really much of an issue is it? Linkedin have allowed user profiles to be searchable for ages, and they did this, as far as I recall, without telling anyone that they were going to.

By: Owen Cutajar

Owen Cutajar — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 15:30:23 +0000

I think this is a bit of a storm in a teacup. I’m quite happy for people who search for my name on Google to come up with my FaceBook profile. If anything, the public profile is a bit limited, there are other bits I’d like to add, but Facebook wants to keep these closed off to the outside world. It’s a step in the right direction I say.