It’s a common problem in any social network; an acquaintance or coworker invites you to connect, yet you’re not completely comfortable sharing all of your information with them. However, a refusal of the invitation can create an awkward social situation offline. In many social networks, such as Facebook, the invitee will be able to see your activity, and know that their invitation has gone unaccepted, which can lead to feelings of rejection, frustration and even anger. What good is a social network if it only alienates others?
A solution to this problem would be to accept the invite and then hide information you don’t wish to share with that individual, yet it seems like Facebook makes this intentionally difficult. In order to hide even one piece of information from any one individual, you have to go through over 10 steps- and then repeat most of those steps over for every subsequent piece of information. To change every setting, you would need to repeat these steps up to 15 times- and even then, there’s no guarantee it will be kept private!
Here at Hibe, we make it our mission to create easier solutions to these problems. Why should it be so hard to keep your information private? On Hibe, you can create facets to reflect the same social contexts you interact through in real life. When you create an account, you can simply choose to create a facet with information you are comfortable sharing with those you add to it. That way, when you get invites from those you don’t want to reject, but prefer not to share everything with – it’s as simple as placing them in that facet!
Let’s take a look at how simple it can be to make a change on Hibe, versus how complex it can be when trying to maintain privacy on Facebook. Remember, while on Hibe it’s as simple as changing facets- on Facebook, you need to proceed through several steps for each individual piece of information, up to 15 times!
On Facebook there is a maze of privacy settings, but Hibe eliminates the need for these settings by interacting with others contextually. Interested in simplifying your privacy Online? Pre-register on our homepage and while you’re there, check out our video!
