Social media

[Bob38S]

Having been brought up in the era of “big brother” and having been surprised, amused, shocked, etc about what people will voluntarily broadcast about themselves, it appears that my suspicions re social media were not really paranoia.

Check out the last section of the news article which shows how you can find out how to download your file.

Facebook: ‘The video I was shocked to rediscover on file’

[BobL]

I downloaded the file and I found only one slightly interesting thing which I will mention further down.

The rest is just a regurgitation of what I have already posted (repackaged in a compact format) so it's already public knowledge.

One of the lists shows the advertisers you associate with (ie clicked on) and I have a grand total of 6 (in 7 years).
None were for advertisers that FB puts up on my FB pages because I run FB Purity which blocks FB adds so there is no temptation to click on these.
5 of the advertizers in my list were European were my relatives are into nordic sports. These appear to have registered because I clicked on a "like" which showed a relative participating in a nordic sport sponsored by a business. The one link to an Australian business was to the Floor sanding business of the bloke who sanded our floors probably because I added him as a friend.

The interesting thing was the list of ~100 books it claims I have read and I have indeed read all bar two of the listed titles.
The list consists mostly of older very common/popular books, that a good proportion of the population has probably read.
Some may have been gleaned from comments about various books that I may have posted about, although a recent discussion on FB about WWI books does not appear to have picked up any of titles I mentioned in that discussion
Some of the older books may have been extracted from my use of Librivox Audio books but most of the 100's of Librivox audio books I have listed to or read are not listed

I complete a book about every 3-4 days and it looks like FB has not picked up the names of any of the ~200 books I have read/listen-to in the last two years.

My summary is if you stay clear of ad bait ( clicking/linking to commercial businesses) and don't mention businesses in posts you won't have much to worry about.

[Bob38S]

BobL, I’m sure you are aware of what you post/read, my concerns are more with the younger generation who appear to share many personal and private things which they think are safe.

In a past life when I worked with kids I strongly advocated that the only “stuff” you should put on the internet was what you would be happy seeing on the front page of the local newspaper or would be happy sharing with your grandmother.

”Have more than you show and speak less than you know” still holds true in my opinion.

[artme]

I find face book both useful and frustrating. I guess we all do!!

One worrying trend I see is the manner in which so many people are prepared to issue vile insults, especially US posters
when it comes to political "discussion"" I see no need for it.