Refusenik

I don't do facebook. I am a "Facebook Refusenik". I've always thought there was something dodgy about it. So, these days, after a continued (continuing?) series of stories about bad Facebook security, I can feel pretty smug. I don't want to say I told you so (but...)

So, what's it like to be on the outside? Never having had a Facebook Account (and yes, I *have* been tempted) is a strange experience. Let me elucidate.

Firstly, I am left-out. There's lots of stuff I don't get to see. That's obvious and expected and I can cope with that... There are various photos and games and jokes which have passed me by. Fine. My time is busy enough without Facebook. After all, I'm on various other social-networks: Twitter, Flickr and Last.FM are my favourites. I'm also on MySpace, LinkedIn and even Odadeo (a network for Dads) but I don't use those much.

But there are other aspects of being on the outside. I am occasionally beyond the reach of some companies advertising. Sometimes, a gig, or flash-mob or festival or some event I'd *like* to go to escapes my notice because I'm on the outside. I might see an interesting link, and attempt to follow it, merely to be presented with a Facebook logon. Damn.

But the darkest aspect of all this is the suspicion I have that Facebook *does* know about me. There probably are photos of me on Facebook. I've probably been identified and tagged. I believe I even have fans on Facebook! (I guess that's cool, yes!?) And yet all this is entirely beyond my control. Of course, I could take (some) control of this, or at least be more aware of some of this data if I signed-up. But only by submitting more data to them.

I think that's sneaky. Which is why I refuse.