The truth? I resisted installing Facebook Messenger when Facebook first rolled out the app. They were forcing us to install a new app on our smartphones or lose the ability to use the Messenger functions through mobile devices. I resisted for months. I just didn’t want to do it, didn’t want to be forced to install something I hadn’t chosen for myself.
Eventually, I gave in. These days I do a considerable amount of my daily communications through Facebook Messenger. In fact, most of my casual conversations with friends and acquaintances are done through Messenger. It’s replaced email as the most effective way to reach me (though I still do a lot of work through email).
So you can imagine my dismay upon learning that there was a glitch that made it possible to see a map of every place from which you’ve sent a Facebook Messenger message. This was possible even if you hadn’t chosen to send your location. Yes, this was only if you had location services enabled. Yes, this was only “visible” by using a specially-made new Chrome extension (no I’m not linking to it). But the idea that the information was stored for all future “viewers” made me pause.
Facebook has announced that they’ve fixed the glitch. Now you have to choose to share your location from within Facebook Messenger. And you can select and deselect with each message.
Of course, all your “old” location information is still out there. I find that more than a little scary.
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