Monday, August 9, 2010

Facebook keeps getting creepier

First thing this morning, on my first day back from vacation, my good friend at RTC, Katie Donohue, reminded me why I love to hate facebook. Working in social media I have a good excuse for being fascinated (not obsessed) with facebook, so I spend a lot of time on there... and being both a consumer and a marketer I take issue almost daily with almost all of facebook's frequent changes. (An aside: facebook is notorious for their ability to web-dev the heck out of the platform, piss people off and then retroactively change their positioning or technology to appease their users- what a way to both demonstrate technical dominance and customer appreciation...)

This morning Katie sends me a screenshot of her facebook's right side bar with a section that says "tag you friend Cecilia" and a PICTURE OF CECILIA from an actual posted picture (names changed to protect the creeped out)...How Creepy? How does facebook know who is in the picture??? Visual search? What if Cecila purposely untags herself from a heinous picture? Does it still show up on someones wall with her name?? Facebook fail.

I'd post a screenshot too, but that's not very nice.

3 comments:

  1. This takes Facebook stalking to a whole new level. You're just minding your business, looking at pictures and reading status updates. Then BAM. You're faced with a creepily cropped shot of an image with just your friend's face staring at you- with the request to tag the picture. Does Facebook employ some sort of face recognition software, like you see on CSI?

    Picture tagging at Facebook is, understandably, a highly controversial topic. Underage kids are being tagged drinking. Public political figures are tagged mocking opponents. So if a person is not tagged in a picture, it's usually for a reason. Embarrassing, unflattering, controversial. Let people tag at their own peril. Do not, Facebook Big Brother, constantly suggest that tagging occur.

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  2. Yeah. I'm getting the "who is this" with my face next to it. It's really weird and creepy.

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  3. Thanks Katie and Carly! Yes, Facebook privacy issues are questionable at best. The way they role things out are scary...I've often thought that a user should be allowed to approve any tagging prior to posting. Proactive monitoring rather than reactive, but for the teenagers and politicians...where's the fun in that?

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