Facebook is the digital equivalent of a car wreck - I'm both fascinated and repulsed by it at the same time. Social networking has so many interesting geographic implications, but my concerns about the lack of privacy freaked me out enough to cause me to delete my Facebook account several months ago. Facebook's privacy issues seem to be getting worse - check out, for example, this interesting data visualization that illustrates the changes in Facebook's default privacy settings over time, or Gizmodo's "Top Ten Reasons You Should Quit Facebook."
If you're concerned, you might consider joining the Facebook protest, which involves a boycott of Facebook on June 6th. If instead you decide you're ready to take the ultimate leap and delete your account (be brave - I have no regrets), then check out the "We're Quitting Facebook" project, which aims for a mass account deletion on May 31st. Deleting your account turns out to be a rather labyrinthine process, however, so you may want to read cnet's "Deleting Your Facebook Account" FAQ.
I've been searching for some kind of alternative, but the only promising thing on the horizon is Diaspora, which is due for release in September 2010.
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