A couple weeks ago my now-former roommate Joe got married. Like most couples Joe and his bride Mandi had wedding pictures taken on the big day, and like most twenty-first century couples those photos hit Facebook not long after. My friend Scott and I have been having a lot of fun with one of those pictures. Here’s the original shot, taken by Krista Stone, depicting Joe jumping for joy.
Does anyone else dislike Facebook’s “Reconnect” feature? It’s on the home page, under the box that suggests people or pages you might want to connect with. Suggesting a first-time connection with someone is actually somewhat helpful. But suggesting I contact a friend I’ve been out of contact with for a while because some Facebook algorithm thought it’d be nice? That’s nearly useless. And because I can never leave well enough alone I found a way to block the bothersome nag.
I’ve become pretty serious about the responsible use of social networks after hearing so many stories of digital mishaps that have proven costly offline. I’m sure you too have heard a number of anecdotes about people who have shared something publicly that should have stayed private or posted a status that slammed a boss that was read by that supervisor. Personally I have very strict privacy settings on Facebook, whereas on Twitter I have an open profile and thus am guarded about what I post there.
Furthermore, I’ll soon be making a Facebook Page for where I work. In preparation I’ve been reading up on the ins and outs of the site’s privacy settings and policies. As a rule, they’re pretty good.
However, there are two features on Facebook which each lack a privacy filter, and I would argue each needs one. I’ve sent numerous inquiries to Facebook, but since they haven’t replied or tightened things up I figured I’d point them out.
Google Voice is Google’s take on voicemail. It offers those of us without an iPhone or other fancy smart phone some pretty slick features for saving and organizing voice messages. But it does much more than archive messages. Google will give you a new phone number. You can then direct all your existing numbers to that one number. Indicate which line should ring when Person A calls. Block Person B entirely. Even listen in on Person C’s voicemail as they’re leaving it and, if it’s too important to wait, pick up the call mid-message just like back in the day when we all used our answering machines to screen our landline calls.
The feature set sounded awesome from day one, but I didn’t like the idea of needing to give out a new phone number to everyone just so I’d have a few more features on my phone. Google has hinted at allowing users to port their existing number to their service sometime in the future. They still haven’t added that ability, but today Google released the next best thing. You can now use many of the Google Voice features with your existing cell number.