Facebook streamlines ‘stalking’

From: 
http://www.thetowerlight.com/2010/11/facebook-streamlines-stalking/

4 NOVEMBER 2010      BY JEREMY BAUER-WOLF

The term “Facebook stalking” has become relatively commonplace among social networking users, with Facebook releasing new features to aid these so called “creepers” on their mission.

Facebook Friendship Pages is the newest feature, an expansion of the now obsolete “wall-to-wall” page. With Friendship pages, users can access not only two individuals’ wall-to-wall, meaning basic posts, but also every photo they have tagged together, events both have attended, all comments on status updates and pictures, as well as all mutual “Likes,” encompassing music, movies and innumerable other forms of entertainment and subjects.

The project launched Oct. 28 when Facebook engineer Wayne Kao announced on his blog the implementation of the feature and the inspiration behind it.

“One of my favorite Facebook moments is browsing photos from friends in the News Feed after they’ve begun a new relationship, gotten engaged or gotten married,” Kao said on his blog. “It gives me a fun and meaningful glimpse of the friendship between two people I know. I realized that a similarly magical experience was possible if all of the photos and posts between two friends were brought together.”

While it may be important to note that Friendship Pages do not divulge any information not already available to those with access to both friends’ Facebooks, it does compile wall posts and events dating several years back.

Despite this, users still are uneasy.

“I understand that when you have Facebook, you obviously know what you’re putting on [it],” junior mass communication major Victor Hanas said. “You wouldn’t want to put anything you’re ashamed of, but I feel like Facebook is making this [information] a little bit too accessible.”

Friendship Pages are accessible under “Filters,” where the “Wall-to-Wall” tab used to be located, then under “Friendship Page.” From there, the user can navigate and match any two friends they wish, even if the two are unrelated. The friendship page will still show all mutual friends and “Likes.”

Beth Haller, a professor of mass communication specializing in online journalism, said that friendship pages further confuses the meaning of what an actual friendship is.

“It sounds like Facebook engineers, of all people, are thinking that ‘friends’ on Facebook means actual friends, when most of us on Facebook only have a few dozen true friends and the rest are just part of our social networks,” Haller said in an e-mail.  “So I think Facebook is working under the wrong definition of ‘friend’ if the engineers there think a program can select our ‘friends’ for pairing.”

Haller also explored the idea that keeping a historical record of the banter and memories between couples might result in upsetting results.

“It could be a fun app where they stroll down memory lane,” she said. “Otherwise, after a couple breaks up, will one member of the couple be tortured by this page being up forever? That could range from annoying to down right devastating.”

A fan page on Facebook, “Opt Out of the FB Friendship Feature,” has already formed and its members have begun spamming the link to it on Kao’s blog post.

The page takes the same stance as Haller, that Facebook has not provided the choice for users to opt out of the feature and that it has taken away ex-friends’ and couples rights to “forgive and forget.”

“That’s definitely dangerous,” freshman Dylan Lahman said. “It could really hurt for whoever is looking at it. I think it’s really weird that your entire relationship is open to the public.”

Freshman exercise major Corrie Dubyoski agreed the feature could be fine for the individuals in a relationship, but outside of that, she said the idea is gross.

“Everyone can see and comment on everything said to that person,” she said. “It’s plain creepy.”