Investors seemed to appreciate Facebook's
Is this a good thing? In the short term, it may very well be. Over the long run, Facebook's obsessive desire to track, catalog, and record every user's every move could be its greatest downfall.
Zuck knows all your secrets
Facebook already has the technology to recognize who's who in your latest party pictures. Users who uploaded group photos will see suggestions to tag anyone in their friends list who happens to trigger the company's existing algorithms. That's actually Face.com's technology in action, but by absorbing it completely, Facebook can funnel more resources into making it more effective and more multi-platform. The next frontier is clearly mobile photo tagging.
The technology is currently limited to people already on a user's friends list, but Facebook has a long history of undermining privacy without consulting anyone. It's certainly conceivable that the company could use enhanced Face.com recognition software behind the scenes, without informing users.
A Slate article on the acquisition pointed out that existing Google
More worrisome still are recent reports that Facebook is rolling out a feature called "Find Friends Nearby." The feature, which may be similar to the "Nearby" tab of the Google+ mobile app (am I the only one who uses that?), allows users to connect with others based on proximity and shared interests.
Consider the kerfluffle that erupted over Girls Around Me, a short-lived app for Apple
No honor among snoops
Facebook's hardly the only company that risks eroding your privacy in pursuit of its own profits, but it could face a heavier backlash because of how its actions are perceived. Every effort the company makes to target users more accurately, from sponsored stories to facial recognition to location-based services, usually has a direct impact on the users' experience with the site.
When Microsoft
The public's distrust of Facebook earned it one of the lowest customer satisfaction scores among major companies in the United States, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index, placing it below such hated symbols of financial malfeasance as Bank of America
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