How is Facebook like an Elephant? It Never Forgets
As your college frat bro often slurred, “Here’s to the nights we can’t remember with the friends we’ll never forget!”
Unfortunately, if you or a fellow partygoer uploaded any of those forgettable moments caught on film on to Facebook, odds are they won’t actually be forgotten anytime soon.
According to yesterday’s post on All Facebook, the behemoth of social networking is still trying to figure out how to eliminate cached version of photos deleted from the platform. This “bug” is cause for concern not only from a customer service standpoint, but also as a privacy issue.
As a somewhat recent college grad, I was among the first to have the ability to use Facebook as a resource for chronicling and sharing my life. Like clockwork, the morning after a party, photos would be plastered across Facebook, allowing friends to recall particularly noteworthy moments that may have otherwise slipped everyone’s minds. Of course, the usual request to “detag” was obliged, but photos were rarely deleted.
Fast forward a few years later and most of my college photos are difficult – though not impossible – to find. This is due in large part to dramatic changes and privacy options Facebook rolled out in 2007, when the platform stopped requiring a .edu address to create an account. I don’t mind being friends with my mom (Hi, Mom!) but for some people, Facebook’s frequent changes were cause for complaint beyond the usual “I hate the new Facebook newsfeed!” declaration. Combine that with working in social media, and it’s easy to understand why my Facebook profile is now pretty bland.
There are nights – and days – and perhaps even friendships we’d rather not remember, but thanks (or no thanks) to Facebook, they are now even harder to forget – and easier for potential employers to find. But what can you do about it, since Facebook has dropped the ball?
For now, it’s best to accept the adage, “once on the internet, always on the internet” and let those nights you didn’t remember in the first place be forgotten the old fashioned way.
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