Facebook is on another of it's anti-anonymous campaigns again. It's determined that everyone should use their real name to prevent bullies hiding behind pseudonyms. The question is, of course, how facebook knows what your real name is.
My initial speculation was that they'd go for people with unusual names, or punctuation in them, or non-roman characters. I figured maybe people who changed their name might get hit. I wasn't expecting Kate Aaron's blog post - she does use her real name, it's a very normal name for her stated location, she hasn't changed it... but she does use a profile for business.
What facebook wants is to force people using profiles for business purposes to switch to pages, so they can charge them to boost posts and reach a fraction of their previous audience - e.g. performers, authors with pseudonyms, small businesses, etc. What facebook is doing, however, it hurting any user with a stalker, trans* users who aren't out, teachers who don't want their students to find them, people in jobs that might fire them for how they conduct their private lives, etc. In the name of preventing bullying, of course.
The trans and drag communities have already started a petition objecting to this change. I'm not convinced it'll do anything, since they're calling facebook out on this being a money thing rather than a bullying thing, which facebook aren't going to admit to any time soon.
So, yeah. If you use a profile to promote your work, whether you use a pseudonym or not, brace yourself to be suspended.
My initial speculation was that they'd go for people with unusual names, or punctuation in them, or non-roman characters. I figured maybe people who changed their name might get hit. I wasn't expecting Kate Aaron's blog post - she does use her real name, it's a very normal name for her stated location, she hasn't changed it... but she does use a profile for business.
What facebook wants is to force people using profiles for business purposes to switch to pages, so they can charge them to boost posts and reach a fraction of their previous audience - e.g. performers, authors with pseudonyms, small businesses, etc. What facebook is doing, however, it hurting any user with a stalker, trans* users who aren't out, teachers who don't want their students to find them, people in jobs that might fire them for how they conduct their private lives, etc. In the name of preventing bullying, of course.
The trans and drag communities have already started a petition objecting to this change. I'm not convinced it'll do anything, since they're calling facebook out on this being a money thing rather than a bullying thing, which facebook aren't going to admit to any time soon.
So, yeah. If you use a profile to promote your work, whether you use a pseudonym or not, brace yourself to be suspended.