Facebook Privacy Considerations

Facebook’s algorithms to suggest friendships often bring to light convoluted yet amusing coincidences. You might see an acquaintance from high school reach out to a colleague at your workplace, or perhaps a long-lost love knows a fellow daycare parent. But these algorithms can also have a troubling side if your profession requires client confidentiality, as a psychiatrist who occasionally uses Facebook found out. Her patients started receiving friend recommendations for people they’d never meet otherwise, deducing that they were also patients of the same practice. Read on to see how this happened, the role her cell phone played in the process, and what you can do to protect your clients’ private information.