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Comment by MikeCapone | Hacker News Reader

I wonder if this 'disturbance in the force' with regard to facebook is being felt only by us geeks or if regular people are starting to feel it too.

Has anyone heard something about Facebook and trust/privacy/openness from a non-geek in the recent past? Is this going mainstream or are we in a bubble?

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Sales guy I know has said he wants to delete his account (and I'm pretty sure I didn't complain to him about my privacy concerns).

If you haven't already noticed, early-adopting geeks drive adoption to the masses. They are an important part of the vetting process.

If you piss off that same crowd, sooner or later the ripple will be felt. Depending on the order of magnitude, it could very well turn into a tidal wave as it gains speed. Makes you wonder if hockey stick inversion is possible. I think so, but I also think Facebook is smart enough to avoid it. Regardless of this privacy issue, it's still a phenomenal product.

I don't doubt that it can happen this way. I was mostly asking to know where we are in this process; is this still just a geek phenomenon, or are "regular people" (whatever that means) starting to get on board too?

Even if they aren't right now, how many non-geeks get their information on stuff like this to a certain degree from that token geek friend (aka their "tech support" or the like)? After all if you hear from someone you trust that you feel is "more in the know" about something than you feel you could ever hope to be, and their opinion can shape it.

I think the question that needs asking is if the geeks would drive the exodus of non-geeks.

Geeks may have driven the adoption by introducing their friends to FB, would they have the same capabilities of driving their friends away from FB?

I don't think so. They would need to give their friends an alternative which is better.

This is where Diaspora comes in. Getting geeks to set-up the hubs for them and invite all their friends. The non-geeks don't have to worry about the privacy, and server related stuff, but geeks who like that stuff actually get into it.

Can geeks drive a product exodus? Yes, but making people give up a bad habit is a lot more difficult than convincing them to adopt the next cool tech. Case in point: Windows.

bingo. Facebook is a habit and becoming the start page for millions of people.

More specifically, I would point to college-age geeks who influence their peers, who in turn exert the influence of seniority on their younger siblings, and of youth on their superiors as they enter the workforce.

I've heard complaints about FB privacy from a lot of non-geeks - more general and somewhat paranoid rather than predicated on specific changes, but all from facebook users who feel confused about where the line between public and private is (as opposed to non-users who post on the internet about how the internet is bad).

I get the impression that some non-geeks are starting to hear about the issue and wonder about it.

i'm not a Geek by HN standards and I care. Then again, i never opened an account in the first place because i didn't want someone else having all that info about me. The reactions among my friends and coworkers are varied, but generally i'm surprised by how much most people don't care. It's funny because many of them, as far as i know them, do actually "care" about this type of stuff. If (gasp) The Government was doing this, they'd be sharpening pitchforks.

A lot of people haven't thought about it enough to be bothered, or it doesn't seem like the kind of transgression people have learned to abhor. the consequences might be too new to be appreciated.

The thing is, the lack of outrage from nongeeks is not because they don't care, but because they don't know.

I explained Instant Personalization to my dad today and he about shit himself, right before telling me he more or less didn't believe me because Facebook didn't notify him and because he didn't opt into it.

Which is why I'm sitting down with my parents and my brother tonight for a Facebook Privacy tutorial

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