While trying to find an interesting topic to blog about I did some reading on many different subjects and issues ranging from new technologies like wireless electricity, to revolutionizing business models where banking (making payments, sending and receiving money) is conducted through a simple SMS message in Africa, to how social collaboration has been used to undertake complex projects like NASA space exploration.
However, after accidentally entering a forum on the internet where a lot of people had criticized Facebook for some recent-made changes to their site (Facebook calls them improvements--?) and since most (if not all) the people in the class are Facebook users I ended up choosing a seemingly more trivial but also more generally interesting topic (in the sense that it might affect and thus interest a broader number of classmates).
At the end of October Facebook introduced new types of “suggestions” which appear on the right-hand side of the home page and remind you to take some sort of action with your Facebook friends that haven’t used the site for a while or haven’t been very active. The profile picture of one of your friends appears and a message recommends you to do things like suggest friends to this person or write on his or her wall. Considering that, according to Facebook´s founder Mark Zuckerberg’s blog, by mid September of this year the service had reached 300 million users worldwide and the fact that the site is approaching its 6th birthday on February 4th 2010, there are an ever increasing number of Facebook members who have, during this time, passed away and whose profiles are still “floating” around the site.
The problems and complaints started to arise in various sites and internet forums when these new “suggestions” started popping up in people’s facebook home pages, recommending them to interact with deceased friends or family members.
According to a recent blog post by Max Kelly, the head of security at Facebook, they “understand how difficult it can be for people to be reminded of those who are no longer with them” and that is why Facebook encourages friends or relatives to contact the site in such cases to have the profile of the deceased person “memorialized”. Once the account is memorialized, people will no longer see that person appear in their Suggestions. Other changes would also be undertaken by Facebook to protect the deceased’s privacy while still allowing friends and family to view photos and leave posts on the profile Wall in remembrance. Some people are already calling this Facebook’s virtual cemetery and in the future it might become yet another possible source of income for the company. In the beginning it might be through advertisement (for example flower shops offering delivery on the pages of people recently deceased) but later they could start charging for the space like any private cemetery. If you want your remains stored there (your virtual remains that is, or your profile to remain visible) after you pass away … you might end up having to pay for it...
On a last comment, it is important to note that some of this modern, hugely successful companies and technologies like Facebook are so recent that they still haven’t fully understood how to deal with some very important issues like user privacy or the complex impact they have on people’s relations. For them (the companies) as well as for us (the users), it’s still largely an on-going and exciting learning process.
Mark Zuckerberg’s blog: http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?blog_id=company&blogger=4
Max Kelly’ blog: http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?blog_id=company&blogger=190200044
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1 comment:
FB outlives its members, now there's a concept. Online immortality. Scary, no?
I applaud the creativity of your post and your suggestions, but there is one major issue: your sources are all FB people. It's not likely that they are going to have an opposing viewpoint, is it? This is a complex issue, and there's plenty published on it, on both sides.
RT
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