Daily Times

Yes, it is about Facebook and the very social media is telling us so.

Oh my god! What will happen then? A post where you might have a good bitching about some friends, and then hide it from the public view, if goes public, is the last thing you want.

Why not delete the posts?

But wait, and read the next sentence: “Even the messages that have been deleted or the photos not allowed.”

So, the solution is to copy, paste and post a message that has gone viral, securing your privacy rights about the posts, photos and everything on Facebook.

You might be feeling safe, now.

Updating a Facebook status secures your privacy on internet? The answer is either a big “no” or a loud “yes”. Is this the way, the social media works?

If you continue reading this piece, you might come to know the conclusion. After all, it will take not more than three minutes of yours.

Social networking platform provides all of us an opportunity to share our views, opinions or any other news that we feel is necessary for our friends and loved ones to know. Facebook is one of the best platforms to share and discuss your opinion with people collectively. It is used for both mischievous and reformative purposes and both types of news spread like a wildfire as the world has become a global village.

You might be coming across this message in your newsfeed several times a day: “All your posts can become public tomorrow. Even the messages that have been deleted or the photos not allowed. After all, it does not cost anything for a simple copy and paste.

“Better safe than sorry is right. Channel 13 News was just talking about this change in Facebook’s privacy policy. Better safe than sorry. I do not give Facebook or any entities associated with Facebook permission to use my pictures, information, messages or posts, both past and future. By this statement, I give notice to Facebook it is strictly forbidden to disclose, copy, distribute, or take any other action against me based on this profile and/or its contents. The content of this profile is private and confidential information. The violation of privacy can be punished by law (UCC 1-308- 1 1 308-103 and the Rome Statute). NOTE: Facebook is now a public entity. All members must post a note like this. If you prefer, you can copy and paste this version. If you do not publish a statement at least once it will be tactically allowing the use of your photos, as well as the information contained in the profile status updates. DO NOT SHARE. You MUST copy and paste.” But it is no more than a hoax.

Let’s ask the Facebook users, what do they think of this post?

Mohsin, a computer teacher, says that such statuses are just to fool innocent people. He says that billions of people are using Facebook worldwide, and it cannot share the stuff of a particular person as it requires lots of space and time.

“Messages like this can be used to determine how many people are afraid of being disclosed if they have done something wrong in the past,” he explains.

A Facebook page manager says that the original warning from Facebook was for them. “It was to inform us that the posts of people will appear prior to the pages’ posts in the newsfeed,” he says, and adds the message is correct.

Rameen says that such posts are not authentic as their source of origin in unknown. “Just because your friend is updating such statuses doesn’t prove its authenticity,” she laughs.

Mehma calls considering such statuses a waste of time. “Some of the very rational-looking people have come in this trap, too. But well, I haven’t, even after people advised me to post or forward this but still,” says Mehma.

The fuss goes on, when Facebook realised the issue and issued the following statement about this post:

“You may have seen a post telling you to copy and paste a notice to retain control over things you share on Facebook. Don’t believe it. Our terms say clearly: You own all of the content and information you post on Facebook, and you can control how it’s shared through your privacy and application settings. That’s how it works, and this hasn’t changed.”

So, the conclusion is a big NO.

You can run a privacy check for your profile on Facebook that will allow you to limit the audience for posts and decide what information you want to share on your profile.

If you think this article helped you understand the issue, there is no harm spreading it on your social media pages, after all it brought a big smile on you too.