Pushing the Privacy Button

In December of 2008, Alex French addressed the impact Facebook is having on our perception of privacy and the ways our perception of privacy has limited Facebook (FB). FB started with a goal of recreating the "social graph", or replicating online the social connections already in place in our 3D world. This approach seems to have had the most significant impact on the evolution of our collective view on privacy compared to similar ventures; individuals volunteer a variety of information in a "safe" environment on Facebook, which started off in an even more insular, academic environment.

The evolution of media and technology is rapidfire so much has changed even over the year and a half since French's article was published. The Facebook Connect feature introduced at that time has continued to grow and integrates with additional sites such as CNN. The initial backlash to NewsFeed has dissipated and is now a top feature, displaying this shift in perception of information privacy on the internet. There is certainly a great deal of debate on what should be allowed and how information can or should be shared, but this is changing rapidly.

Personally, I don't put anything on the internet that I'm not okay with everyone and anyone knowing. I think that has to be a general expectation for shared information on the web (or anywhere with the prevalence of smartphones and mobile technology). That being said, I also am comfortable sharing a great deal more than my parent's generation as a whole. Privacy perspectives, in my experience, do  vary greatly along generational lines.

How will Facebook change in the next year and a half? Only privacy-forward-thinking Mark Zuckerberg knows. The question that is more intriguing and likely more important, is how Facebook will change our privacy social norms in that same time.