Facebook - Fix Your Application Connection Messages

Facebook Apps - "I'm in your Facebook, stealing your data."Sometimes I hate Facebook for how it connects me to people I loathe. Other times, I hate Facebook for its war on taking over my digital life. And sometimes, I hate Facebook because it is just dumb.

I don’t put much information on Facebook to begin with because it’s like selling your soul to the devil, if the devil was a billionaire named Mark Zuckerberg. I also don’t connect a lot of applications to Facebook because I don’t trust them. Facebook applications are like insurance agents.  You know you need to deal with one, but you can’t trust them and even if you read everything they put in front of you they’re still probably going to screw you over.

Facebook doesn’t make it any better though for honest developers trying to use Facebook’s platform. The other day, when I wanted Facebook to connect Instagram, a cool iOS photo sharing social network app, I was greeted with the message that the app could access my data anytime, day or night. The message read

Instagram may access my data when I’m not using the application.

Yeah, that doesn’t sound sketchy at all. I really want to connect that app now Facebook.

Thankfully, Instagram got in touch with me and explained that all Instagram wanted is the ability to update my Facebook page anytime I chose to publish my Instagram pictures there without having to ask me for my e-mail and password every single time. That’s nice of them, and it’s how I’d want to use that app.

Still, it’s pathetic that Facebook words it in such a way  to make me think that the app will have access to everything I’ve ever put on Facebook and my firstborn son. I realize there are developers who will use that access for evil and Facebook needs to write the message that way so if it does, it won’t be blamed, but it just makes me want to avoid using Facebook Apps.

Facebook, you want people to trust you, you don’t instill the fear of God into them. Start by making your access messages make sense, and get to work on that privacy thing you keep talking about.  Maybe then I’ll give you some more of that juicy, precious data you crave.

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