On Openbook

I first heard about Openbook a few weeks ago. Having seen a few blog posts on it recently, I thought it was time to put my thoughts out there, on the search engine that allows you to search through status updates on Facebook.

Firstly, the very concept of the site is nothing new in itself. It appears as if blowing the lid on Facebook by showing that you can search through updates from people, if they don’t have the necessary privacy options in place that prevent them from showing up. But this is something that Facebook has offered for quite a while now. Through their option to display posts ‘by everyone’ in their own search function.

Obviously, the key differentiator is that you don’t need a Facebook account to use Openbook, whereas you do to use Facebook’s own search function. I don’t think that this is really enough of a difference though – the searches performed in both for random search terms are returning roughly the same results. It’s not really exposing a huge security flaw, when it’s a search option that Facebook are themselves promoting and making easily accessible. And I’m surprised that more people haven’t mentioned this in their write-ups of the site.

And let’s not forget either, that Twitter allows you to search people’s public updates right from within their own homepage, whether you have an account or not!

Backfiring

I may be completely not seeing the wood for the trees here, but I’m not sure I understand the point that Openbook is trying to prove, by providing the service so readily. It’s one thing to show that you can access Facebook’s API to expose status updates, but to keep the search engine up there, for anyone to use? It kind of defeats the purpose, when we see blog posts like this, that may well keep names hidden, but quite happily keep picture up. For having been developed by 3 users that are personally peeved with Facebook’s privacy settings, this seems completely illogical to me. Prove you can do it – fine, but no need to keep it up there if you have a genuine concern about privacy.

I don’t doubt that the 3 behind this have a good campaign at heart – their desire for a clear privacy policy by Facebook is hardly an outrageous demand but I just don’t think they’ve gone about it in the right way. It does get to the crux of the wider issue around Facebook’s privacy control and options. But I prefer to go along the line of – if you want to use Facebook, then go by their rules. We’re not paying for the service, so the least Facebook can expect is that you adhere to the guidelines they set, on, what is actually their own site. If it’s not for you, then don’t use it. I take it as a given that if it’s okay for me to put on Facebook, then I’m pretty much accepting that it’s okay to go on the internet. And accept that it will invariably find its way there.

Initiatives like Quit Facebook Day are great if you want to create a bit of a stir, but I can’t see why there needs to be such a fanfare about it. It just turns out that Facebook may not be for you, after all. I’m sure there will be many that disagree with me. And you can certainly argue that Facebook have changed the rules since it first started, so it’s not what people signed up for. But you enjoy the service for free, so accept that it will change, and get out if you don’t like it!

About SimplyZesty

Simply Zesty are a Social Media Agency located in Dublin, Ireland who offer a range of Social Media Services (including Facebook Marketing).