Why anything Facebook related on Android probably isn't a good thing

I had no clue what I would write about today, up until the point I checked my Google+ feed and was alerted to the news of a Facebook event to be held on the 4th of April, which is supposed to reveal their 'New Home on Android'.

Under any normal circumstances, I'd welcome almost any new organisation to the Android game, but as far as the things go with the social media giant - I can't be nearly as excited. To be honest, I care very little about what it is they plan to announce. Whether it be a Facebook phone with integrated Graph Search and a UI akin to their News Feed, or that they plan to release more of their services on the Play Store, Facebook are the last group I personally want to see in the smartphone game - heck, push me far enough and you might even get me to consider an iPhone over a FacePhone if I had no other option. Even if I did have a gun to my head, I'd still probably take the bullet if it meant not having to give any more of my personal information to Facebook.


In case you haven't got the hint, I don't like Facebook. Never have and never will. I use it because everyone else in my social circle uses it, and indeed my social life hinges on the fact that they create events and we send messages between each other. In my perfect world, everyone I know would be using Google+, but it's not my world to control so at least until then, I try to distance myself from the platform as much as possible.

I've always had an inkling that something fishy is going on behind their closed doors, and I know it's improper for me to say that when I'm a complete Google junkie. I use so many of Google's services and they're just about all connected to the one Google account, yet I still feel safer that Google have more information about me than Facebook do.

This post is a rant, yes and I don't make any apologies for it. Anything that Facebook contributes to the Android ecosystem can be only be an omen in a nice tuxedo. Things may start off all good and well, but eventually they'll turn sour. I for one, already have a sense of what Facebook are up to, and by Google and potentially OEMs allowing them to build upon this, I worry about the privacy of individuals gullible enough to give in to whatever they plan to serve up to us.

My thoughts are my own, what are yours? How do you feel about this news and what it could mean for Android?