Change is hard! When you are used to doing something in a certain way—it’s hard to change and do it differently. Seems like the entire free world is up in arms about the recent Facebook changes. I’m not sure if we should be or not. For the most part, I’m liking the new changes—maybe that’s because, as a geek–I have to deal with change everyday.
I have a few thoughts that should ease your mind and let you take back mental control of your Facebook Situation:
1) You are always in charge of your security–you always have been. I’ve always said: “If you don’t want the whole world to see it—then don’t post it online!” — especially in an open format like Facebook. This is Really Important when change takes place. Understand and apply this rule, then take comfort in knowing that everything you posted is OK for the world to see. Then you won’t have to worry about who has what security settings on their profiles and who will see what you posted.
2) Don’t expect me or anyone else to change my settings to protect your privacy. I’m telling you right now–I won’t do it. It’s not that I don’t care about our privacy—I really do care. But it’s not the right thing to do for either of us. If you see someone that says please change this, or do that for me—remind them of rule number #1. Then you are both protected and a whole bunch of wasted effort didn’t take place.
3) If you want only one person to see a message and nobody else—just send it directly to them and nobody else. Did you know that every time you post to a friend’s wall, that every person who shares the same contact sees that post? They always have. Again back to rule #1! Facebook is not a place for private conversations–it’s a place to share. Yes you can send a private message on Facebook and it’s convenient because almost everyone you know is there. Use this feature to be more careful with your privacy and theirs. If you want some privacy–don’t share it on their wall or yours.
4) It’s not your sandbox. When you were a kid in school and played in a friend’s sandbox–you played by their rules. Especially if they were bigger than you were. When you started your profile on Facebook or any other social media site–you agreed to their terms. Their terms always say it’s their sandbox and they can do whatever they want. You can play in their sandbox as long as you abide by their rules. So stop asking Facebook to change things—or not to change things. It’s their sandbox and you have to play by their rules. If you don’t like it—find another sandbox.
5) Major changes take time to implement. First it will take time for you to become familiar with what has changed, and then to deal it with it internally. That’s OK because change is hard. Just say the Serenity Prayer a couple times per day. Also recognize that it’s hard for Facebook to implement all this stuff exactly as described. There are a number of places I’ve seen, where they said it works one way—but it really doesn’t. That’s the nature of technology. Give it some time on your end to accept the changes—because one thing is for sure—it’s going to change again soon. Then it starts all over again. Say that Serenity Prayer again……
Before you run off and start changing all those settings again—just remember Rusty’s rule #1. “If you don’t want the whole world to see it—then don’t post it online!”
Then you may decide to let it ride and enjoy the sharing you have with friends online.
Have a Great Day,
Rusty Lee
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Wow……..excellent piece Rusty. Thank you for your efforts in putting this together.
Thanks Penny–really appreciate your feedback. Hope all is well in your world.