By Katrina Walter, Senior Consultant
Did you quit Facebook on May 31? There was plenty of push and reminders to do so across all mainstream media outlets as well as Facebook pages dedicated to it.
I didn’t. I thought about it but like all vices, there is something about the voyeurism that kept me with an active account. It is also really hard to quit, have you tried?
When you go to your account settings, you’re given an option to deactivate your account, which turns out not to be the same thing as deleting it. Deleting is a process that is well hidden and takes about five different pages but, now so many people have raised the issue, the message is starting to spread.
There are many reasons to stop using Facebook. The major one and the key reason for the ‘Quit Facebook Day’ is the site’s complete war on privacy. Facebook’s management don’t care about people’s privacy and they even say so in its terms of service. Facebook states that not only do they own your data (section 2.1), but if you don’t keep it up to date and accurate (section 4.6), they can terminate your account (section 14).
As one blogger puts it, “they see their customers as unpaid employees for crowd-sourcing ad-targeting data.”
I know the Facebook management is not driven by goodwill and so do most people. Zuckerberg didn’t set it up just for you to find your old school friends and lost lovers, he had world domination in mind. Facebook is often used poorly especially in the numerous cases of cyber bullying but it is also used well – to generate public awareness and debate about grassroot issues (such as saving a live venue from inappropriate licensing rules) and to educate people about international politics (Tehran elections).
All the attention Facebook is getting about its mismanagement of people’s data and arrogance is a good thing – it needs to lift its game to secure its long term success and flagging goodwill.
