Facebook is about to piss me off.No, I didn't get hacked. I am not getting stalked. My privacy has been no more compromised than I allow it to be. Mark Z. has announced a new Facebook program that he so affectionately dubbed a "Gmail killer."
'xcuse me?? Surely I didn't hear him correctly. You're planning on killing my beloved Google Mail? With my sweet little Gchat? With my Google Reader built right in? With my handy dandy Google Calendar? Over my dead body.
I love Facebook, let me say that first (even though this is at least paragraph 2). I do. I love reconnecting with old friends (even though, if we were really friends we wouldn't need Facebook). Okay fine! I really just love Facebook because I am 90% nosey and 10% self-absorbed. I like to know what people are doing, when they break up, when they have bambinos. And I enjoy that there are people out there who feel that way about me! Plus, I hate talking on the phone, and Facebook is a way to contact people whose email I may not have. Which, I suppose, that is why they thought of this whole Facebook Email in the first place.
But I digress.... I will not switch to Facebook Email or whatever it will be called. I may get a facebook email address, just because it's free and I am a hoarder of sorts, but will I use it? Doubtful. Here's the cut and dry of why:
1. Privacy concerns. I trust Facebook with my photos. I trust Facebook with my friends' names. Would I trust Facebook with my credit card information? Um, no. I don't think you can reasonably post a picture of yourself photobombing at your friend's wedding under the same account with which you pay your student loans. I might as well hand over my diploma and my bank account. Some things just need to stay separate for sanity's sake. (BTW, this is the only semi-mature reason I have.)
2. It sounds ridiculous. When I say xxxx@gmail, I sound hip. I sound young and techno and cool. If someone told me that they used AOL, I would think they were old as dirt and probably only check their email once a month. But if someone told me that their primary email was @facebook.com, I would think that they spend umpteen hours a day on Farmville, fight in Mafia Wars, and are going to forward me a lot of crap I don't care about. Yes, Facebook is the new hot thing (even though I've had mine since 2003, when it was still a COLLEGE networking site), but it still has a certain immature connotation ingrained with it.
3. Gmail killer. Now I just want to keep Mark Z. from doing that. If I have the sole Gmail account left in the post-apocalyptic world. As long as there is breath in my lungs... As long as there is life in my veins... As long as there are witty comebacks in my repertoire... I will never give up my Gmail!!!!
Here are few articles I found on the subject:
No comments:
Post a Comment