Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Facebook Privacy "Instant Personalization"

You may not realize information you are sharing from Facebook when you visit current partner sites Bing, TripAdvisor, Clicker, Rotten Tomatoes, Docs, Pandora, Yelp, and Scribd.  The information includes your name, profile picture, gender, networks, and other information shared with everyone.  The concept is to provide a "personalized experience" at the partner sites; i.e., results targeted at public information in Facebook.

Facebook assures members that with "instant personalization"
  • Participating sites will provide a notification and a way to turn off the customized experience in one click.
  • Your information can only be used to present you with a more personalized experience and cannot be transferred to advertisers or used for any other purposes.
What happens when you allow "instant personalization"?  According to the Facebook description, you will see your Facebook friends reviews (favorites) first when you search for a movie or your favorite songs will play automatically when you visit a music site.  I don't consider that "personalization" but rather an invasion of privacy. 

To check the settings for instant personalization, do the following:
  • When logged on to Facebook, click Account then click Privacy Settings.  
  • Under Apps and Websites, click the "Edit your settings" link.
  • Go down the list to Instant personalization and click the Edit Settings button.
  

  • Don't be surprised when presented with a video telling you about the Instant personalization features.  To access the page, click the close button on the video:

  • After closing the video, the option to manage the Instant personalization setting is at the bottom of the page.  The box next to Enable instant personalization on partner websites. should be UNchecked

Facebook Information:


Remember - "A day without laughter is a day wasted."
May the wind sing to you and the sun rise in your heart...

No comments: