“How Do I Delete My Facebook Account” Search Volume Drops. Facebook Privacy Fiasco Over?

Is it time to officially declare the Facebook privacy fiasco over? While a record number of users were previously searching for “How Do I Delete My Facebook Account” as “Quit Facebook Day” approached, it appears as the number of users searching for this phrase has dropped back to pre-privacy fiasco levels. Facebook has officially failed to back down on their “Instant Personalization” program and it appears that users definitely don’t really care all that much.

While the measure of people searching for “How do I delete my Facebook account” may not be the most accurate representation of users’ thoughts on Facebook privacy, it’s definitely a good measure of how users are responding to new Facebook activities. The recent uproar over Facebook’s privacy settings and new products most definitely had a measurable impact, as the graph below illustrates, but it’s difficult to tell how many users actually deleted their accounts.

While I still strongly believe that Facebook’s “Instant Personalization” program has crossed many boundaries with users, the reality is that Facebook users are tired of hearing about the issue. Additionally, the information revealed about most users through the program are not really that significant. With less users actively deleting their accounts, Facebook can continue their race toward 500 million users.

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1503917 Comments2010-06-16+17%3A58%3A12Nick+O%27Neill »

Here is the link to delete your account permanently: http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_for...

Comment by Nathan Stephens — June 16, 2010 @ 11:03 am
Yes and no. Look. If you had tried to generate that chart back when I first wrote about the apparent rise in queries for this topic, you got no data. You got no data because there wasn't enough for Google to decide it was solid enough to publish. Now you do get a chart. That's because the queries have hit a certain level.

You have to discount that big spike. That's not "natural," in the sense it's due to media attention about the rise in queries. Those are curiosity searches, rather than real people with real concerns about wanting to kill their accounts.

What the chart shows you outside the spike is that the numbers have been rising. They appear to have leveled off, but they haven't disappeared. While they're only a drop in the number of Facebook users out there, there are enough that they are noteworthy — something that was NOT the case before Facebook started messing with privacy settings last year.

But I'd agree that Facebook's recent press conference and privacy settings overhaul sure helped kill a lot of the criticism. I still disagree they've cleaned enough things up, but it did serve to defuse a lot of the attention they'd been subjected to.

Comment by Danny Sullivan — June 16, 2010 @ 12:42 pm
The thing that a lot of people don't realize is that Facebook's "Instant Personalization" is that it is not really a security breach although it does come across as one. What happens is when you are logging into your website and without logging out go to another website you my see personalized ads or something like that. The website that has the ads on it doesn't have any of your information and facebook is not giving away your information, it is just personalizing what you already made public on other sites. But no personal information is shared. The real problem is that it takes a programmer to understand this, and it leave the general public freaked out about what they don't understand. That's just my opinion.

Comment by Latoya Hackett — June 16, 2010 @ 9:29 pm
I WANNA GO OUT OF HERE

Comment by Ishani Imaduwa Gamag — June 18, 2010 @ 4:41 am
That's very true Latoya!

Comment by J — June 18, 2010 @ 6:16 am
Well, the story had about a 6 week run, which given todays media cycle is saying something. A lot of trust has definitely been lost. And then of course there's been that little thing called the Oil Spill to take people's minds elsewhere.

Zuckerberg may have gotten most of what he wanted, question is if early adopters will begin to see Facebook as just another social network and seek greater privacy/intimacy elsewhere. Some of this is already under way.

BTW, a very interesting take on this excerpted here:

http://alexschleber.amplify.com/2010/06/17/key-ex...

Comment by Alex Schleber — June 18, 2010 @ 9:23 am
Peopl may desire different things for dont be sad if u dont get all those

just satisfy the things u got and rock the world

Comment by prabin — June 19, 2010 @ 5:15 am
HOW DO I DELETE MY FACEBOOK ACCOUNT?

ESPECIALLY, SINCE I CAN'T GET A COMPUTER FEMALE PROFILE INSTEAD OF PUTTING MY OWN PICTURE IN MY PROFILE.

Comment by vanessa berejkoff — June 19, 2010 @ 10:09 am
If you ain't on there by now you'll never be. Maybe people are just over Facebook. Period.

Comment by Ned — July 10, 2010 @ 10:39 pm
HOW DO I DELETE FACEBOOK

Comment by David Bordon — July 25, 2010 @ 10:44 am
how do i delete my facebook

Comment by marvin deocampo — July 31, 2010 @ 7:52 pm
I deleated my facebook and now I can not get back onto it. Can anyone help me. Is this a tech thing? Thank you

Comment by joanne Gordon — September 5, 2010 @ 1:53 pm
It will not let me reconnect. this is a farce if ever I saw one. Fix it now I disconnected it by mistake thank you

Comment by joanne Gordon — September 5, 2010 @ 1:54 pm
How do I delete certain facebook friends or family? Help

Comment by eileenfeather — October 26, 2010 @ 7:28 pm
please help me to fix my facebook,my problem my old facebook i can't enter just why i make new facebook but samething i can enter.so i like my old facebook,can you help me to delette my new facebook

Comment by eva pineda — October 29, 2010 @ 3:43 am
I used a very simple way and it works perfectly
Delete facebook account is not as hard as people think !

You can go to http://www.fbless.com and follow the easy steps it works ! true and verified

Comment by delete facebook — April 27, 2011 @ 4:12 am
nice article! but the easiest way to DELETE your facebook account permanently (and backup ALL yor data) is http://www.goodfbye.com

2 clicks and you're done!

Comment by Edeltraut Bingen — August 29, 2011 @ 4:53 pm

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Here is the link to delete your account permanently: http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_for...

Comment by Nathan Stephens — June 16, 2010 @ 11:03 am

Yes and no. Look. If you had tried to generate that chart back when I first wrote about the apparent rise in queries for this topic, you got no data. You got no data because there wasn't enough for Google to decide it was solid enough to publish. Now you do get a chart. That's because the queries have hit a certain level.

You have to discount that big spike. That's not "natural," in the sense it's due to media attention about the rise in queries. Those are curiosity searches, rather than real people with real concerns about wanting to kill their accounts.

What the chart shows you outside the spike is that the numbers have been rising. They appear to have leveled off, but they haven't disappeared. While they're only a drop in the number of Facebook users out there, there are enough that they are noteworthy — something that was NOT the case before Facebook started messing with privacy settings last year.

But I'd agree that Facebook's recent press conference and privacy settings overhaul sure helped kill a lot of the criticism. I still disagree they've cleaned enough things up, but it did serve to defuse a lot of the attention they'd been subjected to.

Comment by Danny Sullivan — June 16, 2010 @ 12:42 pm

The thing that a lot of people don't realize is that Facebook's "Instant Personalization" is that it is not really a security breach although it does come across as one. What happens is when you are logging into your website and without logging out go to another website you my see personalized ads or something like that. The website that has the ads on it doesn't have any of your information and facebook is not giving away your information, it is just personalizing what you already made public on other sites. But no personal information is shared. The real problem is that it takes a programmer to understand this, and it leave the general public freaked out about what they don't understand. That's just my opinion.

Comment by Latoya Hackett — June 16, 2010 @ 9:29 pm

I WANNA GO OUT OF HERE

Comment by Ishani Imaduwa Gamag — June 18, 2010 @ 4:41 am

That's very true Latoya!

Comment by J — June 18, 2010 @ 6:16 am

Well, the story had about a 6 week run, which given todays media cycle is saying something. A lot of trust has definitely been lost. And then of course there's been that little thing called the Oil Spill to take people's minds elsewhere.

Zuckerberg may have gotten most of what he wanted, question is if early adopters will begin to see Facebook as just another social network and seek greater privacy/intimacy elsewhere. Some of this is already under way.

BTW, a very interesting take on this excerpted here:

http://alexschleber.amplify.com/2010/06/17/key-ex...

Comment by Alex Schleber — June 18, 2010 @ 9:23 am

Peopl may desire different things for dont be sad if u dont get all those

just satisfy the things u got and rock the world

Comment by prabin — June 19, 2010 @ 5:15 am

HOW DO I DELETE MY FACEBOOK ACCOUNT?

ESPECIALLY, SINCE I CAN'T GET A COMPUTER FEMALE PROFILE INSTEAD OF PUTTING MY OWN PICTURE IN MY PROFILE.

Comment by vanessa berejkoff — June 19, 2010 @ 10:09 am

If you ain't on there by now you'll never be. Maybe people are just over Facebook. Period.

Comment by Ned — July 10, 2010 @ 10:39 pm

HOW DO I DELETE FACEBOOK

Comment by David Bordon — July 25, 2010 @ 10:44 am

how do i delete my facebook

Comment by marvin deocampo — July 31, 2010 @ 7:52 pm

I deleated my facebook and now I can not get back onto it. Can anyone help me. Is this a tech thing? Thank you

Comment by joanne Gordon — September 5, 2010 @ 1:53 pm

It will not let me reconnect. this is a farce if ever I saw one. Fix it now I disconnected it by mistake thank you

Comment by joanne Gordon — September 5, 2010 @ 1:54 pm

How do I delete certain facebook friends or family? Help

Comment by eileenfeather — October 26, 2010 @ 7:28 pm

please help me to fix my facebook,my problem my old facebook i can't enter just why i make new facebook but samething i can enter.so i like my old facebook,can you help me to delette my new facebook

Comment by eva pineda — October 29, 2010 @ 3:43 am

I used a very simple way and it works perfectly
Delete facebook account is not as hard as people think !

You can go to http://www.fbless.com and follow the easy steps it works ! true and verified

Comment by delete facebook — April 27, 2011 @ 4:12 am

nice article! but the easiest way to DELETE your facebook account permanently (and backup ALL yor data) is http://www.goodfbye.com

2 clicks and you're done!

Comment by Edeltraut Bingen — August 29, 2011 @ 4:53 pm

“How Do I Delete My Facebook Account” Search Volume Drops. Facebook Privacy Fiasco Over?

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