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BLOG  |  DECEMBER, 2007

A Facebook Bombshell and all the Gory Details

December 3, 2007 at 11:46 am
by

Amidst the Beacon furor and fallout, some new details about your control over your Facebook profile have come to light from BlogNation- and they should concern you. Read Below (the post has been deleted on BlogNation, so I pasted a screenshot of my Google Reader archive of the original article):

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Update: Advertisers Snub Facebook: Apparently the Beacon fallout has cost Facebook its accounts with Coca Cola, Overstock.com and Travelocity. Read More >>

Read how Facebook is always watching you!

Update 12/06/07: Read Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's thoughts on Beacon


Comments
Forrest O. | December 4, 2007 11:28 AM

Don't be such a h8r... it didn't cost them their accounts, they just put plans to roll forward with Beacon on hold until changes were made.
Chris | December 4, 2007 11:36 AM

Ok, ok. I'm not trying to be a h8ter. Here's the quote:
'Reports suggest Travelocity has yet to start using Beacon yet, Coca Cola has put it on hold, and Overstock.com pulled out of Beacon a couple weeks ago, according to spokesman Judd Bagley. "We are big fans of letting Overstock customers notify their friends of things they've bought on Overstock, but only if they intend to," Bagley said. Bagley added that Overstock may consider joining the network if the necessary changes are made to Beacon.'
So, it definitely looks like Overstock.com is not into it, while the other two handed over an ultimatum (essentially saying 'no' to how Beacon is working now). This means that whatever they do go forward with, it won't be the Beacon situation we have now, which is a good thing in my opinion.

In any case, the advertisers reaction is less important to me. I really wouldn't expect them to advocate for the users' interest. My growing unease with this service comes from the overall privacy issues and the gathering momentum around that, not just the Beacon response from advertisers.
Chris | December 4, 2007 2:16 PM

Here's another quote from CNet.com:
The privacy groups EPIC and the Center for Digital Democracy are preparing to file FTC complaints against Facebook. In the meantime, advertisers including Overstock.com and Coca-Cola have dropped their connection with Beacon. As Henry Blodget observed in the Silicon Alley Insider blog, "Ouch. You can dismiss whiny 'pundits' all you want, but when major advertisers you touted as being charter members of the program decide you jerked them around, you had better start apologizing in a hurry."

I wish that consumer pressure were enough to turn this program around (or off!) but advertisers and regulatory agencies may be the ones to ultimately get Facebook's attention.