Luke Armour – Digital Marketing and Public Relations Observations, Commentary, Frivolity

Someecards achtung user card

A lot of folks are hating on the new Facebook Timeline. Personally, I love it. Got my cover image up and am aiming to be a little more creative with the cover image when I get a few minutes.

But now the new thing is, as reported by Inside Facebook, is Timeline-related scams develop on Facebook:

“A number of scammers are taking advantage of Timeline backlash by developing pages that include deceptive instructions on how to revert to the old profile. These fraudulent Facebook pages prompt users to click a number of Like buttons, invite friends, watch YouTube videos and download files. Timeline, however, is permanent once a user opts in to try it, and will be mandatory across the site within weeks.”

Another post I saw today covers the “Hover Over My Name” scam detailed by Jon Loomer, which unveils a similar scam with a twist on an old scam.

Facebook has always had a problem with the general user being able to keep up with the changes and trends. A lot of people just don’t pay attention. A lot of people just want things to stay the same. But things changes, folks.

I think the most damaging issue here as noted by the Inside Facebook article is:

As of this writing, the Facebook Security page has not warned users of claims to deactivate Timeline. There is also nothing in the Help Center explicitly telling people that the feature cannot be removed.

I think one’s perspective on the educational portion of sites like this changing is how much time you spend researching or reading about the change. If you did, you feel like the site did a good job. If you didn’t, then you feel like they abandoned you. YouTube did a nice job of education folks about the new profile pages when it made its changes. While there are still complaints, I don’t feel that get as much press.

Either way, these services are controlled by the owners of the sites, not you. So we’re at their mercy for now. Don’t like it? Disengage or roll with it. Just be careful and think for a second before you a) blindly do something you think will “secure” you or b) ask others to pass it on.

Filed under: Digital Lessons, Facebook, Security, Social Media, Social Networks | 7 Comments »