Monday, January 14, 2008

Facebook Friends

So, word on the street has it that friends lists privacy controls are on the way. I believe allowing Facebook users to specify who has access to which information will allow them to take advantage of the self-presentational opportunities afforded by the site without having to use workarounds, such as a dull, dull profile or rejecting friend requests. Grouping people and then being able to control the kinds of information they have access to makes perfect sense. Unfortunately for me and all the other dozens of FB researchers, all those papers on FB Friending will have to be rewritten, trashed, heavily marked "At the time data were collected...." or otherwise tweaked. If only the academic publishing cycle wasn't so incredibly long! Or the technology didn't change quite so quickly!