4 ms·

I think I'll try to jump into the question of why adding someone you've never spoken to, though see regularly, is creepy. The fact that you were classmates make

I think I'll try to jump into the question of why adding someone you've never spoken to, though see regularly, is creepy. The fact that you were classmates makes it less so, but imagine if you were a regular customer at a coffeeshop and got a facebook friend request from the barista. Would you be a little weirded out? People post personal info (pictures, status updates, etc.) on Facebook, and I think the expectation when you accept a friend request is that the requester will at least make a cursory glance through your profile. If you, out of the blue, request someone you've never spoken too, I'd say a reduction in the creepiness factor could be sending along a message with the request saying "Hey, I've seen you around in class, I'm dvt". If there doesn't seem to a be any rhyme or reason to the out of the blue friend request, someone could just make the assumption you just want to look through their profile at their pictures and stuff.

dvt 13y ago
Actually I would be weirded out, you're 100% correct. But that's exactly my point. I think that whomever solves this problem will bring out the next big thing. There's nothing inherently weird about approaching and/or talking to someone. Maybe because FB has so much personal information, it just becomes awkward. So here is where FB's Achilles Heel may lie. On one hand, it's great that it stores pictures and stuff. But on the other .. do you really want your pictures and personal information out there? (Besides, even if your profile is private, pictures can still be linked/shared, if you get the raw .jpg url.) Maybe we (as tech nerds) are just more aware of these caveats whereas most people trust FB like they would trust a family photo album under the couch.
- tmzt 13y ago
  It seemed Google Circles could be an improvement on this, and the original paper discussing it suggested as much, but the implementation leaves much to be desired. Shouldn't the Friends circle have more information shared than the Acquaintances circle? Close Friends might even require double mutual confirmation. (Missed schmozz's comment below, I link we are trying to say somethig similar. Google Plus's major failing is discoverability.)
schmozz 13y ago
I think that is quite a large part of it. From what I have seen many people don't really filter their privacy settings on Facebook. Most relationships develop around a shared interest or activity and each develops at its own pace dependant on many different factors. Accepting a friend request for a lot of people would be like you going up to them in class and saying 'Hey, I've seen you around. I'm dvt.' and the person responding by pulling out their phone and handing it to you to leaf through their photos, check their calendar and see who;s numbers they have. Google tried to address this with circles, which Facebook responded to and implemented a similar solution, but I think most people just don't like to classify their 'Friends' when first accepting a connection and are very unlikely to reclassify them later.

dvt 13y ago

Actually I would be weirded out, you're 100% correct. But that's exactly my point. I think that whomever solves this problem will bring out the next big thing. There's nothing inherently weird about approaching and/or talking to someone. Maybe because FB has so much personal information, it just becomes awkward. So here is where FB's Achilles Heel may lie. On one hand, it's great that it stores pictures and stuff. But on the other .. do you really want your pictures and personal information out there? (Besides, even if your profile is private, pictures can still be linked/shared, if you get the raw .jpg url.) Maybe we (as tech nerds) are just more aware of these caveats whereas most people trust FB like they would trust a family photo album under the couch.

tmzt 13y ago
It seemed Google Circles could be an improvement on this, and the original paper discussing it suggested as much, but the implementation leaves much to be desired. Shouldn't the Friends circle have more information shared than the Acquaintances circle? Close Friends might even require double mutual confirmation. (Missed schmozz's comment below, I link we are trying to say somethig similar. Google Plus's major failing is discoverability.)

schmozz 13y ago

I think that is quite a large part of it. From what I have seen many people don't really filter their privacy settings on Facebook. Most relationships develop around a shared interest or activity and each develops at its own pace dependant on many different factors. Accepting a friend request for a lot of people would be like you going up to them in class and saying 'Hey, I've seen you around. I'm dvt.' and the person responding by pulling out their phone and handing it to you to leaf through their photos, check their calendar and see who;s numbers they have. Google tried to address this with circles, which Facebook responded to and implemented a similar solution, but I think most people just don't like to classify their 'Friends' when first accepting a connection and are very unlikely to reclassify them later.