I confess - I’m a lousy FaceBooker. I don’t log in enough, I don’t respond to join requests enough, I certainly don’t keep my activities well enough logged, and I don’t join in all the latest and greatest apps. It’s a wonder I have any friends left at all.
Thing is, I’ve never really been able to muster enough enthusiasm for it. My online presence (i.e. the precious amount of time that I can afford to spend online) is mostly directed towards Litopia, where (I hope) I can be of most use to people. I guess FaceBook seems too vague, too unfocused for me to really get the point.
Also, it’s often concerned me that they own your data. On joining, you let them data mine your address book. That’s a pretty damn big act of faith in itself. Then, when a scandal such as the recent Beacon fiasco erupts, you lose all confidence in them. Hey - they’re young kids, they’ve made more money in a few shorts years than most will ever make in a lifetime, and they’re masters of the universe, right? Why on earth should they care about your data?
And how the heck do you ever get your own data out of FaceBook, if you want to move on?
More and more people are starting to wonder that. Ace blogger Robert Scoble ran a script the other day to move data from FaceBook to rival Plaxo, and FaceBook promptly kicked him out. Bad for FaceBook, actually, because Scoble has millions of readers on his blog - FB need him more than he needs them.
