Facebook is a radioactive spider bite away from self awareness.
Facebook is doing something new and creepy...again!
So say you are a public figure of some kind, lets say, oh, Mel Gibson, and you don't have a facebook fan page, because you are a crazy Jew hater who believes in divorce, but not birth control. Thats okay, you've got a wikipedia page, which has automatically established a facebook "community page" on your behalf. This community page looks and acts just like any fan page, and you can "like" it just like anything else.
Across the top are three tabs; Info, Related Posts, and Wikipedia. Info and Wikipedia contain the same information, basically anything you would find on a Wikipedia page about Mr. Gibson.
Related Posts is where it gets fucking creepy. Go on, check it out. I know you've got facebook opened in another tab, search for Mel and click the "Related Posts" tab. I'll wait.
You'll see what a bunch of people have said about Mel Gibson in status updates, comments, etc. Thing is, these people didn't use the tagging service to link to his page, they just said his name. That's it. Just typing Mel Gibson anywhere in facebook automatically links whatever you say to his community page. So lets say you happened to watch The Road Warrior yesterday, and to commemorate the occasion you change your facebook status to say, "The Road Warrior is fucking awesome, Mel Gibson is so young and cute and badass and nobody knew he was crazy yet" or better yet, you comment on a link to an NPR article that your liberal friend posted about a Jewish pancake breakfast, "Don't invite Mel Gibson, he would behave insensitively at an event like that," and BAM. You are famous on Mel Gibson's community page. (PS, I did watch the Road Warrior yesterday, and it is fucking awesome).
Check out Barak Obama's, maybe you'll see my post from earlier today about the Barak Obama dildo. Thats definitely something I want strangers to see me talking about.
Or maybe strangers can't see it. I don't actually know. I can't find anything about this, um, "service" in the privacy settings, so do I assume that this falls into the parameters of the "Only Friends" settings I have chosen for everything else I say? I dunno. Assuming things about your privacy on facebook is like sitting patiently in your burning house because you assume the fire department will be here to save you any minute...
The most appalling thing about it is, I don't give a flying fuck what strangers have to say about Mel Gibson or Barak Obama or Dee Bradley Baker.* Related Posts isn't something I'll ever want or need. I don't even see how its good for the public figure in question, Obamas is mostly death threats. On a smaller level, how could it possibly be good for your band to link unfiltered bad criticism directly to your fanpage?
We're sacrificing our privacy for bullshit. Yay us.
(As an aside, not every fanpage does this. I don't know how 'they' decide who gets a Related Posts tab, but it seems to be related in some way to Wikipedia.)
*He's the voice of Klaus on American Dad and also the rock thing on Legends of the Hidden Temple, among other things. Its a long story, but searching for him is what got me started on this. Also, Dee Bradley Baker is the best name ever.
So say you are a public figure of some kind, lets say, oh, Mel Gibson, and you don't have a facebook fan page, because you are a crazy Jew hater who believes in divorce, but not birth control. Thats okay, you've got a wikipedia page, which has automatically established a facebook "community page" on your behalf. This community page looks and acts just like any fan page, and you can "like" it just like anything else.
Across the top are three tabs; Info, Related Posts, and Wikipedia. Info and Wikipedia contain the same information, basically anything you would find on a Wikipedia page about Mr. Gibson.
Related Posts is where it gets fucking creepy. Go on, check it out. I know you've got facebook opened in another tab, search for Mel and click the "Related Posts" tab. I'll wait.
You'll see what a bunch of people have said about Mel Gibson in status updates, comments, etc. Thing is, these people didn't use the tagging service to link to his page, they just said his name. That's it. Just typing Mel Gibson anywhere in facebook automatically links whatever you say to his community page. So lets say you happened to watch The Road Warrior yesterday, and to commemorate the occasion you change your facebook status to say, "The Road Warrior is fucking awesome, Mel Gibson is so young and cute and badass and nobody knew he was crazy yet" or better yet, you comment on a link to an NPR article that your liberal friend posted about a Jewish pancake breakfast, "Don't invite Mel Gibson, he would behave insensitively at an event like that," and BAM. You are famous on Mel Gibson's community page. (PS, I did watch the Road Warrior yesterday, and it is fucking awesome).
Check out Barak Obama's, maybe you'll see my post from earlier today about the Barak Obama dildo. Thats definitely something I want strangers to see me talking about.
Or maybe strangers can't see it. I don't actually know. I can't find anything about this, um, "service" in the privacy settings, so do I assume that this falls into the parameters of the "Only Friends" settings I have chosen for everything else I say? I dunno. Assuming things about your privacy on facebook is like sitting patiently in your burning house because you assume the fire department will be here to save you any minute...
The most appalling thing about it is, I don't give a flying fuck what strangers have to say about Mel Gibson or Barak Obama or Dee Bradley Baker.* Related Posts isn't something I'll ever want or need. I don't even see how its good for the public figure in question, Obamas is mostly death threats. On a smaller level, how could it possibly be good for your band to link unfiltered bad criticism directly to your fanpage?
We're sacrificing our privacy for bullshit. Yay us.
(As an aside, not every fanpage does this. I don't know how 'they' decide who gets a Related Posts tab, but it seems to be related in some way to Wikipedia.)
*He's the voice of Klaus on American Dad and also the rock thing on Legends of the Hidden Temple, among other things. Its a long story, but searching for him is what got me started on this. Also, Dee Bradley Baker is the best name ever.