COMMENTARY | Facebook unveiled its latest offering to users Wednesday: the ability to make video calls to friends on the social networking site, according to the Washington Post. Skype, the video calling service, has teamed up with Facebook in what could be considered one of the greatest technological partnerships in recent years. The tech industry is buzzing about this news, but is video chat on the site a good thing?
Facebook already allows users to contact people from their friends list for an online chat. Many people use this function regularly, but how many times have you forgotten that your status was "online" when you were contacted by someone you really didn't want to talk to? You may have said a few things out of politeness so no one would think you were being rude, but you still had the privacy of them not knowing what you were doing at that particular moment. No one would ever have to know that you were sitting on the couch in your underwear. With video chat, you are literally inviting that person into your home to talk to you, letting them see you at your most vulnerable state.
The key difference between regular users of Skype and those who will use the application on Facebook is that regular users typically communicate with people they know: parents, spouses, and friends. Facebook will allow even the most casual acquaintance to contact you, giving them a glimpse into your personal life that you may not be prepared for.
We use the site for the exact opposite reason. We are able to have short conversations with people while multitasking. A one-sentence comment is all we need to get our point across. Many people we communicate with on Facebook have no interaction with us in real life. A video, face-to-face chat shatters that relationship, allowing relative strangers to know us better than we ever intended.
We have to think about kids who use Facebook too. Online predators are already experts at finding children through chat rooms and online games. Giving strangers a window into your child's home and life is one of the scariest propositions out there. You would never greet a stranger at the door and allow them into your child's room to play, yet that is exactly what could happen with Skype via Facebook.
Facebook is a marketing tool as much as it is a social networking site. People's personal information is a commodity that is bought and sold. Interactions with apps on the site are used by marketing companies to gear ads toward users. It isn't hard to imagine Facebook compiling data on who you Skype with the most or when you Skype. Letting a huge corporation have intimate knowledge of your personal conversations is never a good idea; letting one whose business it is to sell your information is just dangerous.
The pairing of Facebook and Skype will undoubtedly be beneficial for both companies. Facebook has entered into this agreement to stay competitive with Google, which already offers a video chat feature on its networking site. Skype is guaranteed to gain new users, since Facebook has over 750 million members, according to USA Today. The question remains: With all of the concerns swirling around the new app, will Facebook users have anything to gain by compromising their privacy?
Sources:
Haylee Tsukuyama " Facebook announces video calling " The Washington Post
John Swartz " Facebook says membership has grown to 750 million " USA Today
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