Comments on: Getting the creepy out of Facebook http://andremalan.net/blog/2008/03/31/getting-the-creepy-out-of-facebook/ Hacking Education and Technology Fri, 18 May 2012 15:21:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Karen http://andremalan.net/blog/2008/03/31/getting-the-creepy-out-of-facebook/comment-page-1/#comment-73 Karen Wed, 02 Apr 2008 02:17:05 +0000 http://andremalan.net/?p=45#comment-73 I think part of it has to do with being tech savvy. I think people are nervous about the fact that other people can find out information about them, that they haven't explicitly told that person. As tech savvy people, we know what it means when we flip a switch, join a network, or post something publicly. For those who aren't, they may be seeing computers as a tool of people who want to control them, find out incriminating information about them, or use that information to otherwise threaten and manipulate either them or their social networks. That said, it could also be a social maturity thing. The thing is, is that that sort of thing happens all the time in real life *anyway* - it's not too different from meet someone who knew an ex-bf/gf/bff of yours, isn't it? Reputation was/is never 100% under an individual's control. Adding tech to the mix, I think, is what creeps people out the most - because they don't see it as something they have fine-grain control over. I think part of it has to do with being tech savvy. I think people are nervous about the fact that other people can find out information about them, that they haven’t explicitly told that person. As tech savvy people, we know what it means when we flip a switch, join a network, or post something publicly. For those who aren’t, they may be seeing computers as a tool of people who want to control them, find out incriminating information about them, or use that information to otherwise threaten and manipulate either them or their social networks.

That said, it could also be a social maturity thing. The thing is, is that that sort of thing happens all the time in real life *anyway* – it’s not too different from meet someone who knew an ex-bf/gf/bff of yours, isn’t it? Reputation was/is never 100% under an individual’s control. Adding tech to the mix, I think, is what creeps people out the most – because they don’t see it as something they have fine-grain control over.

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