Dear Facebook
Wow, oh great book of faces. It's been almost 5 years since I was a lowly high school student getting invited onto the greatest social network ever, by a college student. In those 5 years, I've seen you grow from Myspace's college-educated brother to an opiate for the masses only comparable to heroin. Obviously, since I've moved on to Twitter, you've taken somewhat of a backburner. However, stalking on your network (everyone does it; I'm not afraid to admit it) is still a highlight of my day. That brings me to my point.
When you unraveled your new privacy settings, I thought to myself: So? Since Facebook started, it's been no secret that privacy was going to be of utmost concern. No on wants those drunken pictures from the weekend, or that message/wall post that they weren't supposed to send to end up a laughingstock. It's good that you guys finally decided to simplify and make your privacy settings better. That said, why was it ever NOT a priority? I suppose at the growth stage you're at, it's all about tightening up the ship. But that's not even my point.
When it comes to privacy, the responsibility should lie with the user first and above all. Facebook, you're a company first; a business, not a social network. You're resolve is to make money through social networking, no matter how nasty the results. If as a Facebook user you know you took some less than flattering pictures this weekend, then UNTAG THEM! If you don't want everyone seeing your profile, limit that thing! If you don't like pokes, disable them! The problem with you, Facebook, is that you've made put of our dirty laundry into nice blue boxes, so that people forget that it's the internet, and NOTHING is safe. Yet and still, people continue to lose their jobs, friends and dignity off of internet stupidity. It's like the person who buys an untrained rotweiller and then is surprised when it bites someone's hand off. Facebook, you've tightened your end of the bargain in terms of privacy. Now it's time for the users to do their part...