5 ms·
Facebook removes regional networks, revamps privacy settings
- nsfx 17y ago"...and create a simpler model for privacy control where you can set content to be available to only your friends, friends of your friends, or everyone." Hopefully they'll keep the more granular privacy settings, e.g., "Allow everyone except these people", e.g., "View your profile as Person X".
- ajg1977 17y ago"Regional networks are hugely popular... so we've decided to remove them".
- modeless 17y agoI really like this about Facebook. They're not afraid of change and are willing to make decisions that are unpopular with users but ultimately improve the service.
- makmanalp 17y agoThe part you omitted is the meat of the argument
- ashu 17y agoBut omitting it makes it a pointless but sensational one-liner. Win! :/
- ajg1977 17y agoBut there's no real argument, just a flimsy assertion that this will somehow allow people to better control their privacy. The inference is that often people are unaware that a network such as "Los Angeles" has millions of users and thus are inadvertently sharing their private data with strangers. Frankly, I call bullshit. If Facebook was serious about my privacy they would a) Create a single page for security instead of the current maze of pages, b) Change the defaults for new content to just "Friends" and not "Friends of friends", c) Make it far easier to find how to remove yourself from Friends/Fans/Groups than it currently is. Apart from a), which has been mentioned before but never materialized, you won't see these happening because they go against the interests of Facebook, and Facebook seems quite fearless when it comes to upsetting their users.
- Elessar 17y agoSo long as removing regional networks is only a temporary solution (as they move towards a better privacy implementation), then there's nothing wrong with their approach to a production issue. It's a bit unfair to expect them to rollout the perfect fix for security. This could have been a simple mistake, where one team pushed out a great new feature that had unintended consequences.
- jsz0 17y agoFacebook has way too many users for regional networks to be useful in its current iteration.
- joshwa 17y ago... and therefore essentially meaningless.
- ivankirigin 17y agoThey've grown beyond their intended purpose
- bumblebird 17y agoThe regional networks were pretty useless. Putting the whole of the UK in the "London" group? :/
- smh 17y agoEven worse, they put Southampton in the "Portsmouth" group.
- whereareyou 17y agoNot long ago Facebook added the option to browse by city, which was a great improvement. When I travel I always look for friends in whatever city I am in. I don't think that removing regional networks will affect this...at least I hope not!
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- zaidf 17y agoIf privacy was the reason for removing regions, why not just remove any privacy stuff associated with regions instead of removing regions all together? Facebook without region info will look awkward. No longer would I be able to visit a city and in a click see friends I should hit up.
- machrider 17y agoOf course, the real privacy issue with Facebook is the applications: http://pjf.id.au/blog/?position=590 http://pjf.id.au/blog/?position=590