So how many of you were planning to quit Facebook to ‘protect' yourselves? One, two, three….and you think you scared the hell out of Facebook into changing its policies? So it seems. Facebook responded to a worldwide backlash Wednesday night by announcing it is simplifying its privacy controls that will be effective over the next couple of weeks, changes that come after Facebook rolled out a set of new features in April, including a program called “instant personalization” that uses information from a person's profile to customize sites and applications. The site has now revamped privacy, making it simpler to navigate and manage, giving users the control they desire, and deserve. Are Facebook users happy now? The question is: Who was really upset? “I don't care much about Facebook's privacy settings because I only publish things of public nature; although I would prefer to keep my stories within my connections, they wouldn't have much effect on me if they were made public. So the point is: never publish anything you wouldn't want the world to know,” said Manal Assaad (aka The Manalyst), 24, a marketing advisor at Promax Media Company in Dammam, and a social media strategist, who constantly updates her privacy settings on Facebook to make sure that new changes don't affect her settings by much. “If you really want your privacy respected then simply stay private and offline. This backlash on privacy settings is an issue because some people having once published embarrassing stories and photos are now realizing the magnitude of their actions and their adverse effects on their future,” she added. The company's announcement comes just a few days before a planned public protest against it on May 31, Quit Facebook Day, which though has only managed to attract 21,312 participants - not even five percent of Facebook's daily growth. A self-confessed “media addict”, Assaad said she had “no reason to quit Facebook as it's been a valuable tool for me in my personal and professional life”. “We've come to a point where we can't function properly without such media channels. In the context of Saudi Arabia, Facebook is a huge asset and would definitely not fade away easily or be replaced any time soon because it precedes all other alternatives by far in terms of combining all you need to do online in one place” she said. “Within my circle of friends and connections, no one seems to be bothered that much by the privacy settings changes to the point that they would just quit. They might just complain then adapt,” she added. The closest critics came to praising Facebook's Wednesday's improvements was a cautious it-needs-to-do-more response. Some users complain of the changes that Facebook makes to its privacy settings every now and then, making it quite a task to keep up with them. “It is irritating and confusing how Facebook keeps changing its interface and privacy settings. From a business point of view, such inconsistencies are bound to cause trouble for Facebook sooner or later. Facebook is just realizing how millions of people are hooked on it and it's now taking advantage of that fact under the pretence that it's enhancing its services for their benefit,” said Assaad. She point out that the Internet has never been safe or private. “I'm sure there are many other networks taking advantage of our information without our knowledge, because how many of us read the terms and agreements? Leaving Facebook wouldn't make it any better.” Seconding Assaad, Dr. Alhumood Abdullah, Associate Professor, Department of Mass Communication, Imam University, Riyadh, and vice president of Saudi Association for Media and Communication, described online privacy as “one of the biggest issues of online connectivity as a whole”. “Regardless of online privacy controls, no one trusts the Internet, and, no one should. A person should always be aware of the information he or she writes on the internet, and about the sites he or she uses. There will always be sites that will try to misuse the posted information. I will not recommend that a person should hide his identity on the Internet, but he should never post too much information online, because it's never safe. People should be as careful online as they are in real life, or even more,” he said. Asked if there was a potential social networking site alterative to Facebook in the Kingdom, Assaad said that providing an alternative to quitting Facebook is a better idea than an alternative to Facebook itself. “Given the popularity and the significance of social networks, there should be coordinated initiatives whether from the government, or schools and universities, and even private corporations to organize seminars or workshops to help people, especially the youth, in learning how to use these tools effectively and for the right purposes. We should be a nation of learning and knowledge, and instead of condemning, quitting and boycotting each thing we don't approve or understand, why not make an effort to learn how to use it to our advantage!” she said. “However,” she continued, “Twitter is gaining popularity in the GCC but not as much as Facebook because many people don't really understand it and think it's complex. It just needs a bit of effort and patience”. Assaad has a point. Companies will listen to customers who are still with them or those who are threatening to leave, surely not the former customers who have already left. So is quitting Facebook a wise option? “Quit for what? Big Brother or Eagle Eye is already recording every of our moves – credit cards, mobile phones, Internet accounts, CCTV, and the likes – why quit?” asked Toni Riethmaier, a hospitality professional in Jeddah.
