Good news! It's not contagious!

There was an article posted on Mlive.com today that sort of sent me on a tangent. Maybe I come on a little strong, but I am so sick of "Facebook is evil" rants. They miss the point.
Here is the original article:

http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2010/06/influence_blog_keep_health_inf.html

Here is what I wrote:

The central message of this article is that Facebook is wide open, not password protected, and not secure. It also states that those sites such as Carebridge specialize in safe, secure, private networks that allow you to share private health info with only those it is intended for.

First, Facebook has its flaws granted, but it is as wide open or secure as the end user makes it. There are several ways to privately disseminate sensitive data. One way is to only make your profile viewable by people you have friended. Now when your status reads "Good news! It's not contagious!", only people you trust will see that (provided you don't friend any random person you get a request from).

Second, you don't have to post status updates or anything on the publicly viewable site. You can use a private message. Create groups within your friends that contain only close friends and relatives. Then send an e-mail message that only they can read, "Friends and family, Grandma is not well. Please pray for her". Now only those who need this info can see it and respond to it.
The article also suggests that only naive people would turn to Facebook to get support from their friends instead of sites like Carebridge. Really? How many people do you know that have a Carebridge account? How many have Facebook? People go where the people are. Have you ever tried to get your non technical family members to set up an account on an obscure little used site that you like? Aint gonna happen. Even if they do it, they won't log in everyday and see what you have posted. With Facebook, even my Grandmother who is 80 years old (did I just share too much there?) has an account. She logs in and can see updated pictures of her great grandaughter. Getting her to set up and check another account? Impossible.

Facebook is strong because it is ubiquitous. It is only weak when uneducated users don't tighten their defenses. Besides, should you really share your most intimate secrets on-line anyway? Even if you think it is secure, anything that hits the web is no longer in your control, and exists in the etherworld forever. Be careful, no matter what media you use.

As for the "employers look at all resources to make hiring decisions" point, well that is true. Sort of. I am in charge of hiring in my department, and I did once find a candidate on Facebook. Didn't like what I was seeing and went another direction. But in general, the vast majority of company's don't have the time or resources to scour the Internet before hiring you. Especially to make minimum wage, which unfortunately seems to be the majority of the hiring done these days. If you are applying for a CIO position somewhere, you better bet your on-line presence is important. But then, if you are at that level I would hope you are intelligent enough not to post pics of yourself in a compromising position to begin with. Guns don't kill people, people kill people. Facebook doesn't hurt your chances to land a job, you hurt your chances. Use the technology, just use it wisely.

Just sayin....

Should Obama grab a sponge then?

Ok, quick rant. Like him or hate him, the oil spill is NOT Obama's fault. I get the anger, I get the comparisons to Katrina and Bush, but this is not something that can be fixed easily.

Some people say Obama is not doing enough to get the leak stopped. What would you have him do? Take over for BP? Do you really think the US government is going to be more effective at stopping the oil leak than say a privately held company who employs specialists and sees money flowing at thousands of gallons per day? Having anyone but the oil company stop this is ludicrous.

Some people say Obama needs to step in and clean the spill. Far as I can tell, every available resource is already deployed. Can we do anything else with it? How do you clean a spill that has yet to stop spilling?

Some people say this is Obama's Katrina. Night and day here people. There were colossal failures at many levels of the Katrina relief, most of which centered around the failure of our government to release enough aid, and what aid that was released being stuffed fraudulently in the wrong pockets.

Once BP has stopped the leak, and lets all hope that is soon, then we shall see what Obama does. Clearly we need a regulatory overhaul of the drilling industry. Many investigations as to how this happened in the first place are in order. Gut the departments that let this weak system go live in the first place, and replace them with stronger bodies that have the authority needed to shut down companies that endanger our environment.

Shame on you BP for not having a backup plan. Shame on you for pointing fingers, and shame on you for creating the worst man made environmental disaster in history! Now, Obama, the clock is ticking. Shame on you if you don't take action to prevent this from happening again.