One thing about Facebook is they sure listen. When Facebook’s user base cries, like a bird coming to its chics, Facebook opens up and supplies an answer. The most recent uproar coming from the Facebook crowd was something we have been following for a few days. The reported problem of deleting user data from Facebook.
Facebook gave no concrete information on how or when these changes would take place, but in the perfect PR sense, Facebook is playing damage control. Facebook is trying to stop the flood of complaints before it becomes a true ocean of complaints. According to Mark Hawthorn, of The Age, nearly 10,000 people have joined the group called “How to permanently delete your Facebook account.”
Facebook is taking a page from the ‘Scrabulous’ page and trying to stop another Facebook movement before it gets out of hand. As we have seen in the past Facebook users tend to join groups and movements that directly effect them. Facebook should be commended for trying to fix a problem before it gets totally out of hand.
I am not letting Facebook off the hook, there should have been clear instructions on how best to delete your profile, but they did (in a round about way) tell users how to delete their account. At the same time privacy protection has to be on the forefront of every Facebook users mind.
Both users and Facebook should learn from this experience. Facebook shouldn’t assume that users are going to jump through hoops to try and delete profiles. Users shouldn’t assume that Facebook is going to spoon feed them solutions to every problem. As social networks grow and change there are going to be growing pains. We shouldn’t light the torches and grab the pitch forks every time we think a new monster is coming.
How do you think Facebook is handling the situation? Is Facebook taking the proper steps to protect user data? Are users expecting to much from Facebook? Let me know.
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Great article Anthony. It's a big topic. It will have a lot of weight on whether or not social networking turns out to be an, eeek, fad. The whole "you can check out but you can never leave" thing is very intimidating to a lot of people… and once Facebook is finally forced to make a big red account-delete button, the longer they wait, the more people will click it.see also http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/11/technology/11…..and the brilliantly named post “2504 Steps to closing your Facebook account†( <a href="http://www.stevenmansour.com)” target=”_blank”>www.stevenmansour.com)
Comment by Jonathan Kleiman — February 13, 2008 @ 6:08 am
Ooops.. wow that was a long URL
Comment by Jonathan Kleiman — February 13, 2008 @ 6:09 am
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/11/technology/11…..There
Comment by Jonathan Kleiman — February 13, 2008 @ 6:10 am
Great article Anthony. It's a big topic. It will have a lot of weight on whether or not social networking turns out to be an, eeek, fad. The whole "you can check out but you can never leave" thing is very intimidating to a lot of people… and once Facebook is finally forced to make a big red account-delete button, the longer they wait, the more people will click it.
see also http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/11/technology/11fa...
and the brilliantly named post “2504 Steps to closing your Facebook account†(www.stevenmansour.com)
Comment by Jonathan Kleiman — February 13, 2008 @ 7:08 am
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/11/technology/11fa...
There
Comment by Jonathan Kleiman — February 13, 2008 @ 7:10 am
"Users shouldn’t assume that Facebook is going to spoon feed them solutions to every problem"They shouldn't assume it, but they should demand it.
Comment by Anonymous — February 13, 2008 @ 10:46 am
Ooops.. wow that was a long URL
Comment by Jonathan Kleiman — February 13, 2008 @ 10:09 am
"Users shouldn’t assume that Facebook is going to spoon feed them solutions to every problem"
They shouldn't assume it, but they should demand it.
Comment by Anonymous — February 13, 2008 @ 11:46 am
Its crazy as I forgot my address and login and no one is there to help me get in my account does anyone have any idea .Thanks Phyllis
Comment by Phyllis — June 2, 2008 @ 9:09 am
Its crazy as I forgot my address and login and no one is there to help me get in my account does anyone have any idea .
Thanks
Phyllis
Comment by Phyllis — June 2, 2008 @ 10:09 am