Everyone social network user has at some point typed something they knew they’d regret sharing and has promptly erased it before clicking “post.” However, Slate’s Jennifer Golbeck reports that these discarded thoughts don’t completely disappear. Rather, Facebook uses a code that keeps track of every time you delete a would-be message and sends metadata about that message back to its own data bases.
We spend a lot of time thinking about what to post on Facebook. Should you argue that political point your high school friend made? Do your friends really want to see yet another photo of your cat (or baby)? Most of us have, at one time or another, started writing something and then, probably wisely, changed our minds.
