Crazed mind of a techie

Facebook Profile Late 2010 Revamp Review

Facebook, constantly changing up their designs for better or for worse, has changed up the use profile pages quite radically from their old style. The old style, which has been around for 2-3 years it seems, is now met with a new style with emphasis on relationships and media.

Gone are the personal tabs at the top of the page, and it seems they've completely done away with the application boxes, a feature few seldom used at all. Personal information is hidden away as a list of highlights at the top and via the info navigation link on the left.

Photos of you are placed up top, which I think is a little odd since I know what I look like. On the other hand, when viewing another person's profile, you can see their photos up top which is actually handy.

Facebook has taken away the status message box and sidebar information boxes though, which I do lament. In order to update your status, you need to click the status button on the share bar, which is an odd step backwards I think. It seems as if Facebook is trying to de-emphasis the posting of statuses and sharing in general in my opinion, which is counter intuitive to their social sharing goals.

Overall though, I think it's a good look, and would be even better if they put the quick status/sharing box back onto the profile and home pages

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How to hide your Facebook friend list from public view

Though you can't hide it from your friends...or their annoying applications.

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FarmVille ad tells the truth

via mashable.com

For all my Farmville playing peeps.

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Facebook iPhone App 3.1 Push Notification, Contact Syncing

via techcrunch.com

UPDATE Below about phone number lookups

UPDATE 2 Below about "nicknames"

The App Store finally released the latest version of the Facebook iPhone app, version 3.1. It now has the long awaited push notifications for Facebook notifications, and includes a bonus feature, contact book syncing.

Since I'm sure there will be some reservation as to what the syncing involves, I've graciously risked my entire contact book to try it out for you! =D

After a (lengthy for me) sync operation, Facebook simply takes your entire contact list and matches it first name-last name to your Facebook contacts. From there it downloads the current profile picture and inserts (or replaces as wanted) the picture into the contact card on your phone. It also adds a homepage with a fb://profile link for direct linking to the Facebook app itself.

One thing it has problems with are friends who get married and change their names on Facebook without my changing it on my phone itself, (and probably vice versa).

Also, if the name is not and exact match, it will fail.

I wish it would auto insert missing phone numbers and emails onto my phone for contacts if the information on Facebook is normally visible.

I don't know if the iPhone app will upload your book to Facebook and allow them to collect more information from you than you'd like, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did.

UPDATE: The app does compare registered phone numbers in your contact lists, even if the name is totally wrong. What this means is it will link contacts based on phone numbers registered with Facebook mobile, even if you are not friends! So beware giving out fake or wrong numbers because you can link to someone else! *cough*ladies*cough*

UPDATE 2: I haven't quite figured out exactly what it's doing yet, but it seems to be populating the "Nickname" field with something for some contacts. Perhaps the "Full Alternative Name" field? Maybe middle name? I guess I should see if one of my married friends can help me fiddle with it.

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Facebook Privacy Settings - The Way They Impact YOU

via facebook-privacy.org

Facebook-privacy.org has a 15 min video detailing the current status of the Facebook privacy system. It's quite scary how much information Facebook is allowing the public to see about your personal life by default. I highly recommend that you watch this and take action accordingly.

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How addicted am I to Facebook?

Created by Oatmeal

Sigh.

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Facebook Required Site? Lies and Deceit!

There has been a recent new change to the Facebook Connect system that concerns me greatly.

On sites with Facebook Connect implemented, that you have not given permissions to yet, you will see this popup.

Innocuous at first glance, this popup allows you to activate the Facebook Connect feature with that site, bridging your with their systems.

This change is a result of a backend change made by Facebook as noted on their developer blog.

There are two major issues with these changes. First is in the wording of this modal. "This site REQUIRES that you Connect with Facebook."

For a less experienced user, this looks like a warning of an action they must take. To them, they MUST use their Facebook account to use this site.

The reality is that this is not true. It retains the same function as before when Facebook Connect "asked" if you'd like to link your Facebook account.

The second issue is the fact that Facebook is using the javascript system to bypass user popups. Currently, many less honorable advertisers are employing a lot of javascript floating div based popups that circumvent current popup blocking. Having an automated Facebook popup in this similar fashion runs the risk of training users that modal popups are just a fact of life and are safe. In reality, these modal popups are just as dangerous as the previous window popups.

Related to the first issue, having the Facebook Connect popup appear automatically with the current message could lure a user into giving Facebook access to a less than reputable site....an obvious security risk.

Though I think Facebook Connect is a useful system, the idea of forcing your users to use it, even implied, is against the freedom of choice of the internet and poses a risk to all users.

As a developer, (ironically developing a Facebook Connect based application) I would like to see Facebook remove this automatic popup, or at least change this form to something less...dire.

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