Facebook will send you an email today, November 22, 2012. Here’s what the email looks like, just in case you think it’s not really from Facebook:

 

There is a link inside the email, here it is: https://www.facebook.com/fbsitegovernance  The link leads to a Facebook page titled : Facebook Site Governance. Even though the email only went out today, 2.4 million Facebook users have ‘liked’ the page. Go figure.

The information that Facebook wants you to read is on the Documents box or ‘tab’, as they call it. Here’s a shot of it:

Read the next page carefully. It outlines the changes and contains some interesting wording. Here’s something that we have mentioned before but you should take note of it now:  “Reminders about what’s visible to other people on Facebook. For instance, when you hide things from your timeline, those posts are visible elsewhere, like in news feed, on other people’s timelines, or in search results.”  Even though we try to help you hide things on Facebook, even Facebook tells you that those things may be visible elsewhere. You’be been warned.

The links to the changes are down at the bottom. If you want to read about the changes now, click on the top link in each group of two links. The ‘Redline’ link leads to a page which allows you to download the ‘redlined’ version of the changes. Basically, this is a .pdf file that shows each change from the last site governance. The changes are in red. Here’s what they look like:

 

Read the redlined pages carefully. Make sure you know what Facebook is doing with your data and what they are sharing with their advertisers (basically Google).

Two things bother us about this email. With all of the fake Facebook emails that we get almost every day, why would Facebook not use your Facebook name at the top of this message? PayPal uses your name when they send you an email, just so you know it’s from them, right? There are plenty of fake PayPal emails but when a company uses your name in a message, you can be pretty sure that it’s what it says it is. Secondly, most Americans are on holiday today and will be for the next few days. It’s Thanksgiving in the United States. If this message from Facebook was so vitally important, why would they send it out on the very day that most of its recipients will be doing something else? Call us sceptics but we think that Facebook doesn’t really want its user to actually read about these changes. What do you think?

While we like Facebook, we don’t trust Facebook. We think the company is irresponsible and totally lacking any kind of moral responsibility to it’s millions of users. Facebook is a business, plain and simple, only interested in money, not the safety and privacy of the people who use it. Remember that. Have fun with Facebook but don’t share things that you wouldn’t share with a complete stranger.

Comments, questions and tips are always welcome.

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