I could not agree more with your request for greater control of Facebook profiles. In the second half of last year, after weeks of irritating ‘your friend wants you to join Facebook’ emails, I created myself an account to see what all the fuss was about. It did not take long for friendships to be made and for embarrassing photos to appear. Like many others, I use this account to keep in contact with overseas relatives and friends. However it becomes awkward when you try and portray yourself in a positive light despite photos of you, in frankly a less than healthy state, following your post. Consequently I completely agree that a little more control on Facebook could go a long way!
Interestingly, I read recently in Time magazine that Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook.com, agreed to allow users to adjust his original settings of the site (Kirkpatrick, 2007, online), through individual programming (Grossman, 2008, online). In previous times, when users have attempted to alter a site and still use the trademark name, court cases have ensued. This is demonstrated through Yahoo’s 1996 case against a group of French teens who attempted to better its literature search engine (Yahoo!, 2008, online). Consequently, someone endeavouring to become the next Bill Gates might create a tool which allows Facebook users to control their own ‘online communities’ more successfully. Either way, your blog has brought about some interesting ideas!
Interestingly, I read recently in Time magazine that Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook.com, agreed to allow users to adjust his original settings of the site (Kirkpatrick, 2007, online), through individual programming (Grossman, 2008, online). In previous times, when users have attempted to alter a site and still use the trademark name, court cases have ensued. This is demonstrated through Yahoo’s 1996 case against a group of French teens who attempted to better its literature search engine (Yahoo!, 2008, online). Consequently, someone endeavouring to become the next Bill Gates might create a tool which allows Facebook users to control their own ‘online communities’ more successfully. Either way, your blog has brought about some interesting ideas!
References
Grossman, L. 2008. Facebook: the future. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,00.html (accessed May 1, 2008).
Kirkpatrick, D. 2007. Facebook’s new face. http://money.cnn.com/2007/05/24%20/fastforward_facebook.fortune/ (accessed April 31, 2008).
Yahoo! Developer Network. 2008. http://developer.yahoo.com/history (accessed April 31, 2008).
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