Facebook Community Pages Won't Let You Personalize Your Interests

Facebook's latest round changes to the site have been criticized by users and tech pundits alike for reducing the amount of control people have over their personal information.

Much of the criticism has focused on issues of privacy, with many frustrated by how widely their private data can now be shared.

But Facebook's tweaks have not only made privacy settings more complex and more permissive, they've also diminished users' abilities to customize their likes and interests on the site.

Facebook recently introduced "Community Pages", which require users to combine their pages and interests/activities. For example, if you've listed "cooking" as one of your interests, you'll also be required to join the "cooking" Community Page.

Before, the pages that users were a "fan" of were separate from their interests and "likes." By combining the two, Facebook now prevents users from listing under their interests activities, books, hobbies, movies, or other things they like that do not have a corresponding page.

In other words, users cannot list specific, obscure, or personalized phrases under their interests, but have to put down more generic, "cookie cutter" terms that groups them along with others. The change promises to detract from the individuality of users' Facebook profiles.

Here's an example. Let's say you want to edit the "likes" and interests on your Facebook page to reflect your interest in cooking Japanese food.

If you type in "cooking," you'll see a dropdown list of Community Pages from which you can choose the one you want to join. (see image below)

But if you keep typing, and try to specify that what you really like is "cooking Japanese food," the dropdown list of Community Pages disappears, and you will be unable to select or add "cooking Japanese food" as one of your interests.

Here's what it would have looked like if you'd simply added "cooking" to your interests, and joined the Community Page.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has also taken issue with the privacy repercussions of the Community Pages:

The example Facebook uses in its announcement is a page for "Cooking." Previously, you could list "cooking" as an activity you liked on your profile, but your name would not be added to any formal "Cooking" page. (Under the old system, you could become a "fan" of cooking if you wanted). But now, the new Cooking page will publicly display all of the millions of people who list cooking as an activity.

Cooking is not very controversial or privacy-sensitive, and thus makes for a good example from Facebook's perspective. Who would want to conceal their interest in cooking? Of course, the new program will also create public lists for controversial issues, such as an interest in abortion rights, gay marriage, marijuana, tea parties and so on.

What do you think of these tweaks? Do you mind that you won't be able to specify your interests, or are the Community Pages fine with you?

More on Facebook and privacy:

• Facebook Alternatives: 9 Other Secure Social Networks You Could Switch To

• Facebook CEO 'Doesn't Believe In Privacy'

• Facebook Privacy Policy Explained: It's Longer Than The Constitution

• Facebook Calls All Hands Meeting On Privacy

• Visual Guide To Facebook's Privacy Changes Over Time

• The Ultimate Guide To 11 BIG Facebook Changes--And What They Mean

• Facebook Usernames, Email, Photos exposed on Yelp!

• 'How Do I Delete My Facebook Account?' Query Soars In Popularity

• WATCH: How To Fix Your Facebook Privacy Settings In 2 Minutes

• Facebook CEO Allegedly Mocked Users For Sharing Personal Data With Him

• FLIP FLOP? Facebook CEO Praised Privacy Controls In 2008

Comments

[wassilij]

09:27 PM on 05/26/2010

This site will scan your privacy settings on facebook so that you can make the necessary adjustments.
It works real well......took less than 5 minutes to adjust mine....then rescans to make sure the settings are ok!!

http://www.reclaimprivacy.org/facebook

[FloridaJudy]

04:54 AM on 05/23/2010

Drives me nuts. I put down "The Family Tree" - a feminist Science Fiction novel by Sheri S. Tepper - as one of my favorite books. Now I'm somehow linked by Facebook to a whole lot of Mormons. I either have to "unfavorite" the book or keep getting invited to research my ancestry.

I suspect it makes it a whole lot easier for Facebook to sell advertising: "Hey! We've got 75,000 people who are interested in XYZ!". But it's not doing its users any favors. Sometimes concepts that are entirely unrelated use the same words, as the silliness surrounding one of my favorite books illustrates.

And dammit: when I put down "The Producers" as one of my favorite movies, I want to specify the *original*, not the remake!

[Sharon1951]

06:36 AM on 05/24/2010

Eventually, FB will go the way of eBay, when they gave all the power over to buyers, terrifying sellers, as now a buyer can leave negative feedback without cause and without recourse, and ruin the reputation of a seller of many years with a 100% positive rating. They made it very clear that they were no longer interested in small sellers, favoring huge stores and sellers, and raising listing fees monthly. I no longer use eBay, either.

[garrychauarria]

04:34 PM on 05/21/2010

I am very upset. It will not allow me to add as an interest even very important books such as: "A Call to Conscience: The Landmark Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr."

This is a serious mistake on the part of Facebook.

[Sharon1951]

06:41 AM on 05/24/2010

Absolutely. Where do they get the stones to choose for you what you want to communicate about yourself? Those listings had a purpose and intent. Infuriating

[Vic S]

10:04 AM on 05/21/2010

One more change and I'm outta there.

[oneseagreen]

09:51 AM on 05/21/2010

the day this went live and i saw the change i laughed SO hard. to get started, facebook took the obscure, weird stuff we already had listed and made them into community pages. i have always just had funny or weird things listed as my interests...so when i saw that facebook had actually taken 'searching for Manbearpig' and made it into a community page...priceless. i just kept picturing some guy in the bowels of facebook forced to make all these pages and grumbling about having to make a 'civil war reenactment while dressed as bunnies' page.

[Spekkio]

02:57 PM on 05/23/2010

I had a similar problem - my high school was listed as "Prefer to Forget." When everything got switched over, I was the only person on FB who attended "Prefer to Forget" high school.

[Nancy Walker]

08:39 AM on 05/21/2010

I originally joined Facebook to communicate a group of about 25 friends scattered all across the US; we were all focused on another mutual friend dying of cancer in a town none of us lived in. It was a good way to share updates on his condition with all of us at once. In the end, he passed away but in the meantime, I reconnected with hundreds of people I used to know from various states I used to live in. That was fun. But the constant battle to maintain privacy and individuality, not to mention seeing FB's pathetic attempts to lure me into reading ads created "ESPECIALLY for me" has grown tiresome. My friends know where I am and they can reach me through my email address. I'm pulling the plug on FB at the end of the month.

[NoPCZone]

03:21 AM on 05/21/2010

You could always get a life and stop posting and looking at FarceBook.

[fishnetdiver]

04:44 AM on 05/21/2010

but that requires going outside...and outside is a scary place where scary things happen in scary ways!

[aero56]

07:25 PM on 05/22/2010

Here is my take. I use Facebook. Facebook is part of the wide world web. There is no guarantee anything you put on the www is private!! If you don't want information out, then don't put it out there.

[Sharon1951]

06:46 AM on 05/24/2010

Why don't you try reading some of the posts, SUPERUSER. How did you get that designation without spending a lot of time inside posting on HP?

[Sharon1951]

07:50 AM on 05/21/2010

Aaaaaahhhhh! How many times do I have to say it! Some of are not lucky enough to go outside. Some of us are homebound as a result of disability, and used FB and other sites to stay in touch with the world and be active in the only way I can. Also used it to stay in touch with other artists, whose work is, by definition, solitary. It was a boon for those of us who are isolated for one reason or another. Posts like yours just reinforce my belief that everyone thinks that everyone else is just like themselves, have the same carefree lives. Go outside! Take a walk! Get off that computer and LIVE! Jerk.

[fishnetdiver]

03:21 AM on 05/23/2010

my youngest brother lost his legs in car accident 2 years ago. he can still get out and about but leads most of his 'social life' on FB, chatting with relatives, swapping pics, flirting with old classmates, etc.
I have two other friends who are doing contract work overseas and we use FB to keep in touch vs paying $14 per min on phone calls.
So yeah, even though my original reponse to this guys post was gallows humor I agree that their is the stigma that everyone on Facebook or MySpace or HuffPo etc. are all just losers in their grandma's basement who have chosen to live a life of solitude and anonymity as opposed to those who use it for what it is: a place to keep up with your friends.
#33

[Spekkio]

03:06 PM on 05/23/2010

Fanned!

[lastep]

03:21 AM on 05/21/2010

help lead the fight HP by deleting Facebook from the site

[Legal Schmegal]

12:50 AM on 05/21/2010

I hate facebook specifically because of the privacy, but ALSO because of crap like this.
I totally tried to add my likes--e.g. cooking hash brownies, blunt rolling, grinding weed, smoking keif, hyper-hydroponics--and was befuddled exactly as depicted above. TERRIBLE!

But that's ok. Facebook has got another 5 min or so of fame and popularity, before it goes the way of Myspace and Friendster. By 2012, some other networking service/site some spoiled geek ripped off (or Apple "conjures" up) will be stealing personal info and what you look like wet, screaming and naked. But everyone will still be on it like Whitney Houston on crack.

[Legal Schmegal]

12:53 AM on 05/21/2010

...hey isn't that that Spitzer's ho-ho up there with the blurred out face?

[Weiwuwei]

01:46 AM on 05/21/2010

You should write for Cracked. Love it!

[Velo Vol]

12:05 AM on 05/21/2010

This is the lamest change Facebook has made since I became a member.

[CK4NYSenate]

11:47 PM on 05/20/2010

easy fix. I removed all my likes as soon as I found out that they automatically made me a fan of some random group

[dspencer3491]

11:23 PM on 05/20/2010

I like facebook but you can't tell me privacy is not a risk if you choose to use it like millions do. I think many people are unaware with the privacy concerns posed to them. The've surpassed google

[JRaich]

11:23 PM on 05/20/2010

I have mixed feelings on Facebook. I think the whole lack of privacy issue is overblown. The settings are more advanced than they used to be, but some people would call that customization. You can still be completely unsearchable and invisible to anyone who's not your friend.

I did really dislike how they changed the interests section. I just signed on one day and all my favorite bands, books, etc. were gone, and I was supposed to retype everything just so I could be "connected" to other people with similar interests. That's just trying too hard to be innovative.

Also, I don't understand why it will only display a certain number of interests, and, I'm guessing, just "stores" the ones it doesn't display. It was a great feeling to have reentered all my favorite bands just to see that Facebook was only going to display 10% of them.

The only reason I haven't deleted it yet is because it's still undoubtedly the best tool ever for keeping up with acquaintances who would otherwise just fall out of your thoughts and your life.

[hoppybunny]

11:37 PM on 05/20/2010

"That's just trying too hard to be innovative. "

Methinks it has more to do with making money off of a huge index of ad impressions tailored to people who are willing to categorize themselves. No thanks.

[JacksonD]

03:40 AM on 05/21/2010

I completely agree with you. I think what many people freak out about is how FB will change things and not make an announcement or otherwise tell people. In the meantime, their privacy settings may not be where they want them to be.

[Tom Volkskrieger]

10:49 PM on 05/20/2010

Why you would join FB in the first place is beyond me.

[Bayho]

10:27 PM on 05/20/2010

Facebook tried to force me to link to that crap and I just deleted all my interests instead. I personally think it is absolutely absurd that they would force you to not just link like that, but not even allow you to list something they have not made a page for. It is obvious that this is just being done so that they can better organize your information for data mining, and that is quite pathetic.

Facebook is a great way to stay in touch with people, but this is two strikes and I have a feeling the third one is not far behind.