This week's overhaul of Facebook groups quickly led to an outcry over the way the service works, but the bigger lesson may be simply this: Be careful who you befriend.
The problems started on Thursday, the day after Facebook revamped groups, giving users a way to compartmentalize their Facebook lives and post certain items to pre-designated groups of people. That's when technology blogger Michael Arrington, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Mahalo founder Jason Calacanis all found themselves added to a group called NAMBLA. It wasn't immediately clear what this page was set up for, but NAMBLA is an acronym for the completely unsavory North American Man/Boy Love Association. (For South Park fans, it refers to the National Association of Marlon Brando Look-Alikes).
Mahalo CEO Calacanis quickly fired off an email to Zuckerberg Calacanis quickly fired off an email to Zuckerberg saying that he was troubled to have been added to the group without being given the opportunity to opt in.
That was followed by general confusion, with some reporting that Facebook's new feature could be used to unilaterally add anyone to a group.
Full story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20101008/tc_pcworld/facebooksnewgroupsfeatureworriessome
The problems started on Thursday, the day after Facebook revamped groups, giving users a way to compartmentalize their Facebook lives and post certain items to pre-designated groups of people. That's when technology blogger Michael Arrington, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Mahalo founder Jason Calacanis all found themselves added to a group called NAMBLA. It wasn't immediately clear what this page was set up for, but NAMBLA is an acronym for the completely unsavory North American Man/Boy Love Association. (For South Park fans, it refers to the National Association of Marlon Brando Look-Alikes).
Mahalo CEO Calacanis quickly fired off an email to Zuckerberg Calacanis quickly fired off an email to Zuckerberg saying that he was troubled to have been added to the group without being given the opportunity to opt in.
That was followed by general confusion, with some reporting that Facebook's new feature could be used to unilaterally add anyone to a group.
Full story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20101008/tc_pcworld/facebooksnewgroupsfeatureworriessome
