Facebook is known for the many changes that happen to it without user notification. The company has a reputation for changing everything from the interface to user privacy settings without warning. Their newest, sneaky little feature: A Facebook page featuring you that you didn’t create.
If you’re in a relationship and your Facebook settings reflect that fact then you now have a “couples” page. It’s a combination page for you and your significant other, spouse, or whomever Facebook thinks you are romantically attached to.
I first became aware of it via a CNN article on the subject. You can see what yours looks like by going to this link to have a look. If you’re in a relationship everything you and your partner have in common, Facebook-wise, will appear on the page that link points to. If you both like something, share something, are tagged in something – any of it is fair game and can appear on that page.
I tested it regarding information about myself and my wife. Sure enough, everything we have in common is there. While the CNN piece quotes a Facebook exec singing the praises of this new feature internet users have a different opinion: they’re freaked out and angry, according to the Global Post. It describes the new couples pages as “stalker-ish.”
That’s a pretty apt description, as it turns out. You can’t stop items from being added to the page. Anything you and your relationship partner have in common is there. The closest thing you have to control is agreeing with your partner not to like the same things, to manually untag yourselves from everything, or to delete content from both of your profiles if it appears on the couples page.
Why go through all that trouble? Simple: You have no control over the couples page privacy settings. If Facebook decides these pages should be public you will have no say in the matter at all. Since it includes information about both members of a couple that would effectively nullify the privacy settings on two accounts simultaneously. Does anyone who knows how frequently Facebook changes user privacy settings in ways that make you more visible online want to bet against that happening?
It’s disturbing to say the least, and highlights the need to stop tagging people in any way on Facebook without getting their permission first. It’s never been more apparent just how ready Facebook is to abuse information about connections between its users
