A week after the “big” announcements about commitment to being open, seems like not everyone in the sand box wants to play nice. The issue? Facebook has taken their bucket and spade and decided to Opt-Out of Google’s Friend Connect.

TechCrunch’s Steve Gillmor has put together the must read article on the issue entitled “Facebook’s Glass Jaw”…

Facebook’s rationale is that Friend Connect “redistributes user information from Facebook to other developers without users’ knowledge, which doesn’t respect the privacy standards our users have come to expect and is a violation of our Terms of Service.” Give me a break. Can anyone say Beacon?

Err, let me understand this … It’s OK if Facebook does this with exactly the same API with Facebook applications to enable their users to share data with sites and applications they choose … however, as Gillmor states “…somehow Friend Connect does its dirty work without users’ knowledge”.

Once again (becoming a broken record … ) Facebook users are expressing anger. Facebook users are expressing anger. …. Seems like their product management strategy is to take a concept, throw it at the wall, see if it sticks … or the audience complains and expresses anger. The response is either PR babble or “oops, my bad”.

Facebook, do yourself a favour – you’ve raised nearly half a billion dollars. Spend a little on strategy and product management … or keep gambling with your audience and credibility. We understand that the value is in your audience. Maybe you should as well.

Let the games continue.

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