Facebook Connect

[Cynthia Mosher]

We're getting ready to launch Facebook Connect as a way to link your Facebook account with your account here. Before we do so I'd love to get input on our wiki that explains the feature, the how-to's and certain privacy concerns. You can read it here.

Please post to this thread to share ideas and suggestions. Thanks!

[Cynthia Mosher]

Bumping this up to see if anyone has any questions about this before we launch it. 

[HappyMommy2]

This is scary.  It sounds just like that dreaded feature that you had to turn off quickly after the launch of the new system.

I use the same email for facebook and MDC. 

I do NOT want my FB friends to see my very personal posts here.  I do not want my email available for "friend" searches .... AGAIN.

In the link you posted, it sounds like you are trying to avoid these pitfalls.  I hope we don't have unforseen breeches of privacy again.  Please reassure us!

Good grief.

[woodchick]

Yes, suppose I use the same email here and on Facebook.  And suppose I have FB friends who are also members on MDC and they use Facebook Connect. Will I automatically be listed in their 'facebook friends' list?  Or would I only show up if I, too, was using facebook connect?

[Cynthia Mosher]

As long as you do not associate your account here with your Facebook account by using the Facebook Connect feature you should have no privacy concerns. 

What about my privacy?

First and foremost: if you are frightened by the thought of connecting your Facebook identity to your forum presence, simply don't use this feature. It's not required and it never will be. We respect the fact that many members want to keep their online accounts separate, and we'll never force you to use Facebook or engage it automatically or anything of the sort.

If you do choose to use the feature here....

Here's what information may be used, and how:

Your Facebook name: If you're using the Facebook Connect link to register here, we'll automatically populate the "Desired username" in the registration form with your Facebook name. If you approve this, your Facebook name will be your forum username here. If you are an established member already, don't worry. We will never replace your forum username with your Facebook name. It would be confusing to everyone if people's names changed unexpectedly.

Your Facebook profile picture will be used as your forum avatar. This is true for newly registering users and established members who decide to try connecting with Facebook.

Your Facebook email address: Site admins will have access to the email address you use on Facebook, but it will not be exposed to other members.

Your friends list: We will scan your Facebook friend list to see if any of your friends are here - and we'll show them to you. We don't use this information for any other purpose, and we don't send messages to your friends.

[HappyMommy2]

Originally Posted by Cynthia Mosher 

As long as you do not associate your account here with your Facebook account by using the Facebook Connect feature you *should* have no privacy concerns.

(emphasis added...)

I think I better get another free hotmail account for MDC
 

[Cynthia Mosher]

A few things to be aware of now that this is live:

Right now, the Share to Facebook option when posting in a forum is on by default, so please make sure you understand this. This feature remembers your last action, so if you deselect the Share box, it will stay that way until it's clicked again.

The other issue: the Share feature appears in private forums, but anyone who tries to click into the thread from Facebook will not be able to do so. The only content that would be displayed on Facebook is the first sentence of the post -- anyone who tries to click through will either be prompted to log in to Mothering, and if they're a member, they'll be notified that they don't have permission to see the forum.

We have our engineering team working to remove the FB Share functionality from private forums. In the meantime, feel free to share content to Facebook, but please know that Share = on is the default setting and this is particularly important for members who post to private forums until this particular issue is addressed on the backend to disable it from private forums. 

[HappyMommy2]

This is a quote from the wiki ....

Your friends list: We will scan your Facebook friend list to see if any of your friends are here - and we'll show them to you. We don't use this information for any other purpose, and we don't send messages to your friends.

What if we don't want our FB friends to be able to find us on Mothering?  (i.e. One of my FB friends decides they DO want to turn on this new FB Connect feature.  I don't use it.  Will they see my FB email equals my MDC username here?)

Thanks.

[wehrli]

i can't believe this is defaulted to connect automatically! boo on you MDC! bad bad choice in my opinion!

[Cynthia Mosher]

HappyMommy2 I'm asking for clarification about that as my understanding of it when I asked earlier was different. I'll let you know what I find out and if there is any privacy concern.

wehrli, this was activated in a new release of the software. I'm making everyone aware of what I understand to be the default and asking for clarification about it before I decide to keep the feature enabled or ask for it to be disabled. Our announcements before the launch of the feature and our new announcement today is to keep everyone informed so their privacy is protected. 

As I understand it, it is not defaulted to connect you to your Facebook account. The default occurs when you OPT to connect to Facebook via Facebook Connect. This is the default for any site using Facebook Connect. When you click on the "Connect with Facebook" link:

You get this popup from Facebook:

If you don't want share your posts to your wall you simply do not use the Facebook Connect feature. 

[Galatea]

If I am a business member with a business avatar, and I choose to use the FB connect feature, will it connect as my business FB account, or my personal FB account?  If it connects as me, will it replace my MDC avatar with my personal avatar, or can I choose, and if it connects as my business FB account, will it take that avatar?

[Cynthia Mosher]

Galatea, I just tested this and by connecting with Facebook Connect it does replace your current MDC avatar with your Facebook avatar. To put your business avatar back you'd have to go to your profile and upload it again to your avatar window.

[Cynthia Mosher]

Once you connect via Facebook Connect you will see this at the bottom of all new or reply post windows:

That is what is set as a default - the box is checked. You can uncheck it if you do not want your post featured on your Facebook Wall.

[journeymom]

OK, so this is an 'opt in' only, not an 'opt out' decision.  OK, I'm fine with that.

Nothing happens 'automatically' unless I opt in for it.  I don't have to go hunting down some hidden privacy setting under my account in order to opt out of this feature.  Right? 

Honestly this sounds like great fun if you're happy to have your FB life connected with your MDC.  But I'm not into that. 

[Cynthia Mosher]

Yes, it is opt-in only. :)

HappyMommy2 no need to worry about the Friends feature as we are going to keep that disabled on our site. So Facebook should not pull a list of your friends if you decide to use the FB Connect feature here. 

[woodchick]

Originally Posted by Cynthia Mosher 

Yes, it is opt-in only. :)

HappyMommy2 no need to worry about the Friends feature as we are going to keep that disabled on our site. So Facebook should not pull a list of your friends if you decide to use the FB Connect feature here. 

Okay,  suppose we don't use the FB Connect feature, but someone else on our FB friends list is also on MDC and does use FB connect.  If our email here is the same as FB will they be able to find us here.  (I have FB friends who might be on MDC, but that doesn't mean I want them to find me here, y'know).

So ultimately, does the FB connect identify other users, even if those users have opted out?
 

BUT, since you have disabled the Friends feature no one should be able to find any of their facebook friends here, right?

[Lillian J]

Even though I use FB, I'm not up on a lot of the online terminology at all, so this question comes from that lack of information. I don't know what FB  Connect is - does this mean that people who opt to use it are linking their FB Friends to all our posts here?

And where will the FB Connect option buttons be located? Will it be set up in such a way that we can just opt in or opt out once and for all if we want?  Lillian

[Lillian J]

Sorry to pop up with another dumb question, but people here keep mentioning email - what has email got to do with this? Maybe someone needs to talk to me in baby talk and tell me what in the world this is all about, because I'm lost.  - Lillian

[philomom]

OMGosh... I'm so glad I don't have facebook account.

[woodchick]

Originally Posted by Lillian J 

Sorry to pop up with another dumb question, but people here keep mentioning email - what has email got to do with this? Maybe someone needs to talk to me in baby talk and tell me what in the world this is all about, because I'm lost.  - Lillian

I think that email address is how the software would match people from your facebook friends list with members here at MDC.