So, it seems that Facebook has changed again. I actually didn’t notice until I began to see a number of my friend’s bitching about Facebook via Facebook, as if it represents much of a protest to the Facebook gods. Only then did I notice the new right-hand scrolling status bar, and the slightly streamlined look of the whole page. I yawned, as I find I keep doing when my friends are up in arms about some issue of the day, and wondered why the new Facebook made them so indignant. I suppose that part of the reason I’m writing this article is because I can’t figure out what the big f—ing deal is. Maybe you, dear reader, can help me out on this.
And it seems like Facebook’s biggest change is yet to come. At the recent F-8 conference, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO/President of Facebook, announced that the site would revamp their profile pages. The new feature, called “Timeline,” is a weird sort of virtual scrapbook that allows users to tell their life story, a shitty memoir generator, a stalker’s dream. Or, as Facebook itself describes it, “This is where you can tell your story from beginning, to middle, to now.” Notice that the question of who users are telling their life story to is conspicuously absent. Corporations are listening.
With any change comes inevitable growing pains. But has Facebook really changed that much? I don’t think so; I just think its intentions are becoming more and more transparent.
Let’s not forget the ultimate goal of a social networking site like Facebook: to create an intimate and all-encompassing marketing tool for international corporations. That’s why Rupert Murdoch bought MySpace back in 2005. Remember that? The rise of Facebook seems to have began once Murdoch took over MySpace. It became obvious that MySpace had become a top-down marketing database. Facebook grew in popularity because it appeared more organic, but Facebook and MySpace are in the same business. Facebook’s eventual victory over MySpace happened simply because of Facebook’s more subtle manner of corporate subversion, which has grown much less subtle in recent years as Facebook spends less and less energy pretending that it cares about user privacy. After all, why would it? The bottom line says otherwise.
Facebook’s goals as a business reveal the central paradox of social networking sites: They empower and exploit users at the same time. It’s democracy with hidden masters, shackled agency.
Once Facebook’s true intention becomes clear, controversial features like “frictionless sharing,” the automatic sharing of Internet activities, begin to make more sense. This potentially embarrassing and intrusive feature has drawn some ire from privacy watchdog groups like the Electronic Privacy Information Center. But privacy concerns are nothing new for Facebook and it’s keeping with the corporate goals of social networking sites to push for the minimum acceptable privacy restraints and maximum user apathy. Constant Facebook changes keep this struggle constant.
Don’t get me wrong. I use Facebook. I’ll probably be sharing this article on Facebook later tonight. And I’m not exactly advocating for Facebook’s destruction, because if the social networking site du jour was not Facebook, it would be something else. It would be a folly to think that MySpace and Facebook’s revolution of self-promotion can be rolled back. Nor would I want it to; the platform that social networking sites can provide to artists, small businesses, or just the average Joe with something to say, is ultimately positive. But, we should at least be aware of who we’re really sharing our secrets with: Business forces that wish to harvest our private lives for profit. I’m sure most Facebook users see their lives as more than just marketing tools. At least, they should.
Mikey Angelo Rumore can be reached at michaelangelorumore@gmail.com.