While you were sleeping…

If you are like most people, you don’t spend a lot of time studying your Facebook profile.  Even if you are internet security minded and Facebook savvy, there just isn’t a whole lot of need to review your own information.  Well, that’s how they got us!

Sign into Facebook right now and check out your e-mail address.  Its not .edu or .gmail anymore…It’s @Facebook.  Tricky tricky.

Over the weekend, without any announcement, Facebook changed all of our e-mails from the emails we provided to the @Facebook e-mail addresses. This is an attempt by the company to nudge us into using the Facebook E-mail service created in 2010.  Originally called “the Gmail killer,” Facebook’s e-mail service lets you use your Facebook inbox as your main email. Yawn. 

To change your email back, follow the steps below.  They are slightly different depending on if you are using the timeline or not.

If you have timeline…

1)  Log into Facebook

2) Go to your Profile (click your name, either on the top left corner of the page or top right)

3)  Click “About”

4)  Go to “Contact Info” and click “Edit.”  You will need to scroll down for this.  It’s on the right.

5)  You will see your Facebook Email and any other email you provided.  Use the drop down provided to prevent e-mail addresses from displaying on your wall.  There will be two images next to each email – one is a circle with a line through it.  This is the drop down that will hide your e-mail.

6)  Curse Facebook for making this change without your permission

If you do not have timeline…

1)  Log into Facebook

2)  Go to your Profile (click your name, either on the top left corner of the page or top right)

3)  Click on “Info.”  This should be on the left hand side of the page

4)  Scroll down to “Contact Info.”

5)  Click “Edit.”

6)  You will see your Facebook Email and any other email you provided.  Use the drop down provided to prevent e-mail addresses from displaying on your wall.  There will be two images next to each email – one is a circle with a line through it.  This is the drop down that will hide your e-mail.

7) Curse Facebook for making this change without your permission

       

Garvis Markham discovered the switch on Saturday and voiced his impassioned opposition.  

 “In other words, Facebook silently inserted themselves into the path of formerly-direct unencrypted communications from people who want to email me. In other contexts, this is known as a Man In The Middle (MITM) attack. What on earth do they think they are playing at?”

Others are equally upset.  Forbes called the move “lame” while Lifehacker explains that Facebook messages will never be a viable replacement for e-mail.

On this issue, I don’t think the problem is that the change was made.  The problem is in how the change was made.  Facebook is no stranger to making changes for users.  Sometimes they do it with a message at the top of your feed.  Sometimes it’s a press release.  Sometimes it’s in secret.  Customers/users don’t like feeling tricked and rolling this change out in the way they did showed complete disregard for users. 

What do you think?

-Nicole P