Today, it was reported that Facebook is investigating a fault which has seen some of its members re-registered to groups that they had quit.
What does this mean for you? Well, get ready to sit down for at least 30 minutes while you stroll down memory lane. In testing the effects of this glitch, I've noticed a few interesting things.
It's not only groups you've joined...
Facebook still has an option to add someone to a group. It is then up to the user to leave if they are not happy. This is still the case today. An unfortunate side effect of this glitch is that it's also bringing those groups people have added you to (even ones you swiftly left) back from the dead. Here at my office, some of the gang found it pretty funny going through the list, especially when one male co-worker was added (in what must have been a joke at the time) to the group entitled "I hate getting my period." According to Facebook's own privacy statement:
Can I prevent people from adding me to a new group?
- Only your friends can add you to groups.
- When a friend adds you to a group, you'll get a notification right away.
- You can leave a group anytime. To do so, just go to the group page and click "Leave Group" in the right-hand column. Once you leave a group, you can't be added by anyone else unless you explicitly request to be re-added.
No Forget Button
Facebook may have tipped its hand a bit about what data they store. It's reasonable to assume that when you leave a group, it is forgotten, but clearly it is stored in the rich data history Facebook has for each and every member. I suppose this is not a big surprise, we all know Facebook hoards a lot of data, but it's slightly unsettling.
No Multi Delete
A lot of this could have been saved if Facebook put in a multi-delete button at the top of the groups page. Simply being able to select all at once and removing would make this task take about 3 minutes tops.
Moving On...
We may wake up tomorrow and find out Facebook sorted the problem and everything is back to normal, but in this fast paced rapid development world, I wouldn't count on it. Chances are you'll be left to take care of it yourself. I suppose it's a good reminder that humans make errors, when even Facebook engineers make mistakes! So, sit back, and enjoy the trip down group memory lane... I'm sure you're having a better day than whoever is responsible for the glitch at Facebook ;).