Mashable - The Social Media Guide - Latest Comments in Beacon Now Optional: Reports of Facebook’s Demise Greatly Exaggerated

Re: Beacon Now Optional: Reports of Facebook’s Demise Greatly Exaggerated

anon — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 16:47:28 -0000

Of course people aren't aware of Beacon because Beacon partners are silently transmitting information about *all* of their txns over to Facebook. Even if users opt out, their Beacon information is still being sent to Facebook (Facebook just won't post it into a feed). Facebook is even getting Beacon information for non-Facebook users.

It doesn't matter if Facebook users area aware of it or if it's opt-in or opt-out. The issue is that Beacon partners have somehow been coaxed into sending information about 100% of their txns over to Facebook.

Re: Beacon Now Optional: Reports of Facebook’s Demise Greatly Exaggerated

Sobchak — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 16:20:28 -0000

yeah FB really seems to have a hardcore user-base that will stick it out for a while. someone should fund/start a socialnet that takes the stepford analogy to 11. i'd blind join.

Re: Beacon Now Optional: Reports of Facebook’s Demise Greatly Exaggerated

Matt Schapiro — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 13:46:08 -0000

Facebook users aren't going to leave unless they have another online social network. Even with another option, many will not leave Facebook, but its users will use it in a different capacity.

Facebook and Zuckerberg have a long history of preferring opt-out as opposed to opt-in, and this will come back to bite them.

Facemash
PeopleRadar
Wall-to-Wall
Newsfeed
Default privacy settings

There is a lot of wrong in Facebook, and its coming to light. This isn't immediately reflective in Facebook's user #'s, but the bad PR is just starting.

Re: Beacon Now Optional: Reports of Facebook’s Demise Greatly Exaggerated

thepete — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 13:33:56 -0000

Sorry, I had some trouble concentrating on your post with those annoying "Whack-A-Virus" ads for ZoneAlarm on *either* side of your content. I'd get a flash ad blocker, but I actually want to support sites like Mashable. After that mess with Engadget and their flash Mac ads a few weeks back you'd think ad-people on the 'net would understand how ads can turn people off and therefore turn them away from their products.

That aside, I agree that Facebook isn't dying, but it is for me. I'm one of those people that finds it to be like MySpace if it were run by the Stepford Wives (the original creepy ones, not the cheesy "funny" Nicole Kidman ones). Too "perfect" on the surface and completely flawed once you look deeper.

Getting bitten by zombies?

Human pets?

Pokes and super pokes?

wth is this crap?

Beacon or no, Facebook is dying to me.

Re: Beacon Now Optional: Reports of Facebook’s Demise Greatly Exaggerated

greasyguide — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 12:18:52 -0000

I personally haven't signed in to Facebook since they have started these advertising methods. The only social network I mess with now is MySpace and Doof.com. Other then that Facebook was fun for a few months but I'm over it now.

Re: Beacon Now Optional: Reports of Facebook’s Demise Greatly Exaggerated

Kyle — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 11:50:54 -0000

As Fernando points out above, the Beacon partners still send data to Facebook, which it "won't store".

Sure. Why store all of that valuable data? We wouldn't want that. That's not why we set up Beacon. It was because you asked for it.

On the other hand, I DO see an option to globally forbid stories being sent to my profile, so maybe the change was just slow percolating through the system.

Re: Beacon Now Optional: Reports of Facebook’s Demise Greatly Exaggerated

Fernando — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:55:09 -0000

Mark's post implies that Beacon can be turned off: "If you select that you don't want to share some Beacon actions or if you turn off Beacon, then Facebook won't store those actions even when partners send them to Facebook."

When following the link provided in the post you are presented with a page that will list out "stories" issued by Beacon, but not implicit controls to turn off the utility. Losing faith in this spam service known as Facebook.

Re: Beacon Now Optional: Reports of Facebook’s Demise Greatly Exaggerated

Adam Ostrow — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:28:02 -0000

Agreed. I was going to change up my article after reading that FB was going optional, but the update kinda supports my point.

Re: Beacon Now Optional: Reports of Facebook’s Demise Greatly Exaggerated

Adam Ostrow — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:27:09 -0000

I never actually had a Beacon story published myself, other than when I intentionally tried something out to test for a story or something. There aren't enough partners yet for a huge amount of people to notice.

Re: Beacon Now Optional: Reports of Facebook’s Demise Greatly Exaggerated

Sobchak — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:17:50 -0000

I think part of it was that by the time people really read up on what Beacon was (esp non-Facebook fanatics) it was already in the process of being resolved.

If FB had fought this, I know I would have cared more but the first stories I read were about how FB was pulling back and adjusting it based on complaints.

The bigger story to me is, maybe MySpc is finally falling off.
Maybe

Re: Beacon Now Optional: Reports of Facebook’s Demise Greatly Exaggerated

chris — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:13:36 -0000

I'd be interested to see if Facebook users simply didn't know the term Beacon or really didn't notice the advertisements in their feed. Also, how many users have actually been affected by Beacon, I know many people myself that have never had it show them anything.