If you have missed the latest facebook fiasco, let me bring you up to speed.

1. The timeline was fretted over for a long time, but the consensus among heavy fb users is that it Kicks Ass!

2. The news feed, however, continues to get littered with crap. Or filtered by facebook for some secret reason, to "maximize" your fb enjoyment. But what it means, is fb is curating your friend’s content and putting only what fb deems important in your newsfeed. Uh… Just let me see them all, fb, and stay out of my way.

3. With the simple change from one word "sponsored" to "featured" facebook is attempting to blur the lines between a friend’s requested content and ADVERTISING. Since the fb advertising metric is SO BAD, they are now going to insert stories into your newsfeed. And before it was easier to recognize them when the said, "sponsored." Now they are going to say "featured." But isn’t that the same word they use for posts from your "close friends"?

With all of fb’s privacy blunders this deceptive change seems cut even deeper into the problem with facebook. Facebook OWNS your news feed, they OWN every post you make, and if you decide to delete your post or even your entire account, facebook is under no obligation to delete your content from their databases. In fact, in the small print, they specifically mention that they can resell your information, retain the rights to all of your posts, and reuse your profile information, photos, and stories however they sit fit. And that content ownership extends forever.

Try and eliminate your profile and fb will keep everything and continue to sell your preferences and demographics to all companies willing to pay for it. And perhaps "government agencies" willing to pay for it as well.

Understand this: what you say online, stays online. And facebook owns all of your content and personal information. (relationship status, brand preferences, likes, clicks, purchases) It is no more insidious than Google, who knows all things about you. (email, search habits, purchases)

But at least Google tells you "this is an advertisement" or "this is a sponsored" link. And facebook used to abide by this ettiquette as well. But they are now selling your newsfeed to the highest bidder and hiding the "story" under "featured" rather than "sponsored."

Do you think this is bullshit, or just good business? I’d love to hear what your experience on facebook is like. And let’s tell them how we feel.

"Featured" vs "sponsored" stories, what’s in a word? Am I over reacting?

@jmacofearth (also seen on Google+: jmacofearth)

permalink: https://uber.la/2012/01/facebook-fx-up/

Check out the Social Media for Business page and these other posts about learning social media:

• Social Media Banter Is Critical Path: Chat, IM, TXT, facebook, Twitter
• Twitter Bot Network Invades Social Media for Business: How BotNets Work
• Existential Social Networking; Making Sense of the Absurd Amount of Data We Must Filter
• Essential Twitter Lessons; Play it Safe, Be Real, and Have a Two-Way Conversation
• Fire Everything! – Social Media Rules of Engagement – Twitter Facebook LinkedIN Convergence
• Do You Play On Social Media Sites? Are You a Playa? Are You "Workin" It All the Time?
• Why Google+ Is Not Competing Against Facebook; The Google+ Platform Play
• Losing My Way on Dell.com < How the Retailer Still Confuses and Coupons Us To Death
• Work Life Balance and Survival; It’s Up to You to Grab It
• SEO: You Have to Know Your Search Engine to Understand How to Optimize – Content Marketing
• How to Get Useful Business Information Out of Twitter: Hashtags for Social Media Research

It’s been a great year. Thanks for being part of it. See the 2011 Summary and Best of 2012!‎