Facebook makes user data portable

It has been all the rage these past couple of weeks. Social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace are "letting" users transfer their personal profiles to other websites. Why the big deal? And the bigger question, why is the common press printing stories about it?

Facebook makes users' data portable Last Updated: Friday, May 9, 2008 | 5:56 PM ET CBC News Social networking site Facebook is following rival MySpace's lead by letting users transfer their personal profiles to other websites. Facebook on Friday said it will implement a system that allows its 70 million users to copy pictures, personal information and other customized applications established on its site to other websites without additional effort. [From Facebook makes users' data portable]

All I can say is "meh". What is really going is that these social networking sites are trying hard to remain in control of your personal information. The more they have on you the better. Better for retention of their existing user base, better for delivering ads to you, and better for their perceived acquisition value.

Will it be better for the users? That's not a difficult question to answer, really. And since we're not the cheerleaders that the common press have become on this issue (and one has to ask why they seem so excited about it), I'll answer that question.

The bottom line is that this will be bad for users in the long run. In the short term, having an easy way to consolidate your profile information between sites does sound appealing. No more copy and pasting your information from one site to another (ohh the horror). But consider what will happen when you wish to leave Facebook or Myspace. Poof, where did all your information go? Ultimately, this sharing ability will act as a disincentive for users to leave for the next great thing in social networking that will inevitably occur.

One last thing. The press is getting this story is wrong in implying that Facebook is following MySpace's lead. Facebook has already beaten MySpace to the punch—there are (at least) three apps that allow Facebook users to import their MySpace profiles into Facebook, and a large smattering of others that grab info dynamically from MySpace so that it is shared across both sites.