Facebook is creepy, according to Wired

According to Simon Dumenco over at Wired, Facebook is too creepy to offer business value. I certainly agree that there are aspects of Facebook that might be creepy, but I do not think that alone is the main reason to not use Facebook in a business environment.

A couple of his comments are good, though:

"The ease with which Facebook can be used to broadcast your whereabouts adds a particularly disturbing dimension for executives who would surround themselves with security in real life but are lulled into complacency by Facebook's tidy veneer. Last year, the British military sent a directive to its army units to avoid revealing their service connections online—"Be particularly careful if you are on Facebook, MySpace, or Friends Reunited"—fearing that, yes, Al Qaeda could use them to track prey. Your business competitors might not be terrorists per se, but Facebook can be useful for anyone trying to poach your M.V.P.’s."

I think this point is valuable to Twitter, Plaxo and LinkedIn too - they all love the Status update these days.

Another point, made by David Weinberger is particularly interesting:

"Younger people violate older people's idea of proper behavior when it comes to privacy,"

Now, is this a challenge for the younger people, or for the older ones? Who needs to adopt? The Young? The Old? The Wise? Or heaven forbid - me?

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More on Facebook:

• Facebook open to ID-theft
• Howto use Facebook to gather Intelligence, Part 1
• Howto use Facebook to gather intelligence, part 2
• Facebook exploited