Facebook doesn't have the best of reputations here in Silicon Valley, While it's gotten to be a huge company (in terms of its real estate appetite and number of employees), and a "cool" place to be able to say you work there for youngish local millennials, many with a more mature perspective see it as a bit of a caricature of a SV company with an excess of arrogance. A bad parallel would be to say they've "gone Hollywood" to excess. More sizzle than substance in much of what's said and done, and you may not be happy if you knew more about what really happens behind closed doors.

Zuckerberg had a good idea but the company has obviously had little regard for reasonable boundaries in trying to become a major cultural force, make money and cultivate an aura and public persona for Z ala Steve Jobs. Whatever comes out in the news about its conduct won't surprise me.

There have been buzzings about less than choir boy conduct at Facebook for a long time. Here's an article from last year that skirts today's issues but is an example of a lot of the conversations that have taken place in recent years.

Facebook reputation

A good, thoughtful article. I have decided to take a vacation from Facebook, so I have "disengaged" myself. No, I haven't closed my account, but for the time being, it is not available to anyone.

I like Facebook and have my settings to strict specifications. I only use it to keep in touch with colleagues, friends and relatives. Also, I have two games I enjoy playing on Facebook. No Twitter, No instagram, etc....only Facebook and use it to my advantage!

I found a couple of interesting articles in the NY Times: one from yesterday about the disclosure of an incriminating internal memo, the second from last November by a former Facebook employee who said Facebook can't be trusted:

Nefarious words from a Facebook VP

We Can't Trust Facebook to Regulate Itself

There was an article in this morning's local paper (San Jose Mercury) talking about how Facebook was in damage control mode. The guy who made the outrageous comments is still with the company in a key role though now disavowing the words. Right, does anyone believe that?

The big issue here is the invasiveness of their collective data. They not only collect what content you think you’re sharing, but your call logs, all the stuff you look at online, and what your connected friends interests are as well.

On one hand, Facebook was built to share everything with everyone so I feel like people shouldnt be surprised or outraged. But on the other hand, I dont think they realize all of what is bieng shared or collected because Facebook didnt provide a list of that on a silver platter. Why are people outraged? Because that data was used by Trump to target would be voters to win the election. The left and right are so polarized that they’re looking for anything to discredit or shame the other side (not that Trump needs any help in the shame dept).

Personally, I’ve never liked facebook, or social media for that matter and recent events, and the way people treat other people, and the fact that people believe whatever they read on it as the truth and real news confirms my thoughts on it.

That said, I agree with you jane, I’m assuming Google/Apple/MS and others are no different than facebook in collecting data. It just hasnt come out yet.