Are Like Buttons Evil? The Open Web Reacts To Facebook’s Not-So-Open Graph | Hacker News Reader

Are Like Buttons Evil? The Open Web Reacts To Facebook’s Not-So-Open Graph

techcrunch.com

26 pointsferostar15 comments

I really dislike this title. It seems like ever since Google said they would 'Do no evil', people have been calling any company that does anything they don't like evil. Facebook isn't evil, they are a company just like any other. As much as some people hate this open graph idea (and I REALLY hate it), it does not make the company evil.

Mark Zuckerberg on the other hand is evil. :D

To avoid confusion: this comment refers to a prior version of the headline which said "Facebook = Evil" or something like that.

"[E]ver since Google said they would 'Do no evil', people have been calling any company that does anything they don't like evil."

You haven't been on the Internet long, have you?

Mark Zuckerberg on the other hand is evil. :D

That totally helps make your case.

The real issue is this concept of putting a frame in a website that you click on and then automatically does something with your credentials on another site. It really should be handled by a browser toolbar plugin (for those who want this obnoxious feature) not by something that sites can embed to use your credentials as they see fit. It's fundamentally insecure.

You don't have to use the iframe, that's there for the people who don't want to use the fbml markup and javascript in their own pages.

You mean like...StumbleUpon?

This article has a Facebook like button right under the title.

It really gives their article much more weight.

And 120+ people clicked it to share the article on Facebook.

This is some quality tabloid journalism from Techcrunch.

They have lined up some open advocates who they can trot out to call "Facebook" evil, then ride the controversy, while suggesting Facebook will "win" because of their "500 million users".

Whatever you think of Facebook's currently strategy all the people quoted in the article work at huge companies, Kevin at BT and Chris is at Google. Both of those companies, along with many other (like mine, Yahoo!) have huge user populations and they aren't going to sit idle while Facebook attempts to dominate.

At the end of the day this will be decided by how much Facebook users like or dislike the new features, not by anything else.

This is some quality tabloid journalism from Techcrunch.

This surprises you?

Looks like Facebook is now taking the heat off of Apple for being the "evil" company...

These new facebook plugins that have been released, are they useful to us small web business? Can we use these to make more money or gain more users?

Ease of signup. If all I have to do is click a "sign in with my facebook account" and I don't have to sign up for yet another site, I might be compelled to join your site and thus be your customer.

Not saying facebook login is the best way to do this, but as a user, it's comfortable enough.

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