For those who follow me on Google+, you would know that I’m a big fan of the music streaming service Songza. Like most other streaming services, Songza gives you the option of signing up for the service using Facebook (it does offer other options) instead of signing up using another username and password. Cause I sign up for many services, I tend to use the sign by Facebook option whenever possible.
Now, one of Facebook’s more recent (of many) privacy controversies has been the development of frictionless sharing from Facebook apps. With approval from the user, an app using Facebook to login can automatically share your usage within that app directly to Facebook without your input. In this case, when asked, I set Songza to auto share my music playlists as I’m listening to them.
A couple of times, I’ve check my activity section in Facebook to see what it has posted. Everytime it would show the name of the playlist I was listening to, but not the specific songs. What I forgot to realise was that because I don’t have the activity stream above my chat window (not by choice, my account just doesn't have it for some reason), I didn’t notice that it was posting every song I was listening to as it loaded.
Fast forward to Tuesday, 14th August. I was on the train, headphones in my ears listening to a Grown Folk Hip-Hop playlist; featuring artists such as Jay-Z, Notorious B.I.G etc. While reading on my tablet and enjoy the beat to a song I didn’t recognise but knew the artist, I received a Facebook notification from my wife: “What do These Bitches want???? pmsl”.
A little bemused, I pulled the phone from my pocket to look at the song I was listening to, which happened to be DMX’s What These Bitches Want.
Now, it’s a good thing I have the most awesome wife ever so I just laughed at the song choice. However, it did get me thinking about different situations where this could get people in trouble. Teachers sharing this type of info with students, young nieces & nephews that see my profile, over-bearing partners etc.
Fact is that these days, many of us install so many apps and try different things that we would just keep selecting whatever options without thinking them through just to get access to the app as quickly as possible. While personally I still don’t care if my song lists are posted online, many still find it intrusive.
I don’t blame Facebook or Songza for this, when it comes down to it I chose to let the app post to Facebook on my behalf; despite not really thinking about any potential issues. This is just a cautionary tale for everyone out there to pay more attention to what the app you just installed can really do, especially if it’s tied to one or many of your social services.