I have a facebook account. I use it mainly in fun to keep abreast of my colleagues and friends happenings. It is a great way to quickly post pictures for interested people when you are traveling as well. One of the features is the ability to Import an external RSS feed. I have used this for a while now, to import posts on my personal blog to Facebook. When Facebook imports a post it adds it as a note which will appear in your mini-feed. An individual can click on the note in the mini-feed to see the full note, which is a copy of the post.
Up until the other day, viewing the full note, included a link at the top entitled “view original post.” Selecting this link would bring users off Facebook to where the original post was located. This has suddenly disappeared as an option. Given the recent discussions around Facebook, Google, and others, I hope this isn’t part of a grand plan to “Keep what is their’s” ….. theirs being “your data” and attempt to stop external linking and access. I am of course not naive enough to believe it is not.
There is a general problem that companies and start-ups love the Internet and the openness it brings when they are beginning and it works for them. But as they grow, become more dominate, and business and money become part of the equation the openness of the Internet changes from a benefit to a threat. There arises the need to “protect what is ours.” You can see this in most internet businesses.
I have sent a note to Facebook customer support asking them what has happened to the “view original post”. I am hoping it is just a change in code and the functionality got missed — I’m not holding my breath mind you.
