Open Thread: Have You Had it with Facebook?
December 5th, 2007 (11:00am) Mike Gunderloy 21 Comments
Sometimes a company goes from media darling to media whipping boy seemingly overnight. Case in point: Facebook, which seems to have changed from essential networking tool to evil violator of privacy in the blink of an eye, thanks to its “Beacon” advertising platform. If you read the tech press and social media blogs, it’s become hard to avoid stories about how this is a PR disaster and a real stumble for the company. One of Fortune’s columnists has even written Facebook’s obituary, and the company has backed down from its initial design and done some public apologizing.
But you know, the media and the blogs aren’t the universe. Like any other social network, Facebook is made up of its users, not pundits. So let’s ask you, the users. If you’re on Facebook, have you followed this story? Has it made any difference in your Facebook use? Are you thinking of cutting back, opting out, or leaving entirely? Or is this just the media echo chamber, working itself up over something that real users don’t really care about?
21 Comments Post your own comment
webmaster says: December 5th, 2007 11:13am
I’ve certainly had it with the endless stories about the thing, both the initial wonder and its ubiquity, and not the slide into infamy. One service among many, not that useful, and damned sure not important. It certainly doesn’t warrant all the navel gazing posts that keep cluttering up my rss reader.
dawn says: December 5th, 2007 11:14am
I still like facebook because I can catch up with folks in one fell swoop. But I did install the De-Beacon add-on for firefox.
Broom says: December 5th, 2007 11:17am
I used to be on it. I deleted my account just a few days before Beacongate, simply because I was wasting too much time fighting vampires or doing random useless movie quizzes.
I’ve reclaimed many wasted hours!
Amie Gillingham says: December 5th, 2007 11:27am
While my account is still there, it’s languishing because frankly, I don’t have time for Yet Another Social Network ™. But I will say that we’ve put our company’s development of Facebook apps on hold while Beacongate plays out. Too many other better options for our limited resources right now.
Roberto Villegas says: December 5th, 2007 11:45am
Still an avid Facebook user, though I am a bit put off on the whole Beacon thing, though I didn’t keep up with out.
Amanda says: December 5th, 2007 11:48am
I don’t understand this whole thing. I’m an avid Facebook user, and I’ve seen no evidence of this new feature… and i have probably well over 200 friends, so surely something would have come up?
Jon says: December 5th, 2007 11:53am
I still use Facebook, though I too am tired about hearing about Beacon. Mistakes happen, and at least they are attempting to make amends.
In a living, growing organization it’s easy to go off-course. As outsiders with our hindsight at 20/20 it’s easy to say that they are evil, full of hubris, or whatever. But what we should remember is that smart companies are always experimenting with new ideas. Some of those ideas pan out, and some don’t. It’s the nature of life as well as business. Rare is the time when a single mistake will take down an entire company.
The real gauge of a business (or a person, for that matter) is their behavior over time.
Nick says: December 5th, 2007 12:00pm
Yes, I deactivated my account last week.
Dean says: December 5th, 2007 12:30pm
It’s not much of a thing for me. I use FB mostly for family traffic. As Dawn has done, I installed the De-Beacon addon, but even without it I doubt Beacon would concern me much.
Now, if it was EquiFax we’re talking about. . .
Danny Outlaw says: December 5th, 2007 12:51pm
Maybe a missed the wagon on this, but I never really got into facebook. I use social networking sites that are trade specific.
Count Chocula says: December 5th, 2007 1:02pm
I seriously considered deleting my FB acct. and totally leaving, once BeaconGate came to light.
I ultimately decided to stay on, only because I use it now and then just to keep in touch with some old school-buddies.
Lord knows, I use it FAR less now than I did. Only to send an occasional “What’s Up?” to a friend now. FB’s privacy violations have left a seriously bad taste in my mouth…
While I wasn’t personally affected by Beacon (nothing about my activities was posted, etc.), I don’t need to wait to be punched, to duck.
Stuart says: December 5th, 2007 1:33pm
I use Facebook all the time because my friends are on it. Once they leave I will leave. If they don’t care about Beacon, I don’t care about Beacon.
Bill says: December 5th, 2007 2:16pm
All of this talk is just inside baseball…I don’t think most people care. Facebook is the best thing around to keep track of people and stay connected. Until something better comes along, Facebook is here to stay, in my opinion.
Also, I think that it has become everyone’s favorite blood sport to kick companies who have excelled. For instance, the same has been true with Google. I read all the time of people scared that Google is going to take over the world. I think at the heart of a lot of criticism is that companies such as Facebook and Google has knocked it out of the park and others suffer from envy.
My life has become easier with tools such as Facebook and Google.
I am sticking with them.
Reality Check says: December 5th, 2007 2:35pm
“For instance, the same has been true with Google. I read all the time of people scared that Google is going to take over the world. I think at the heart of a lot of criticism is that companies such as Facebook and Google has knocked it out of the park and others suffer from envy.”
Some of the flack is envy, while some of it is part of what’s absolutely necessary to keep them in check, and not abusing their power (and you can bet your tooshy that information IS power).
Oversight is key. Like good government, the only thing that keeps it honest is if it’s done in the light of day…
Wish we’d have taken that approach in the lead-up to the Iraq war and all that talk about WMDs that ended up DEAD WRONG.
Jillian says: December 5th, 2007 3:03pm
I’m the same as Amanda… I’ve never seen any evidence this beacon thing even exists. And if it does, surely you have to actually sign up to it or tick a box or something to get it to work? Anyone who’s stupid enough to go randomly agreeing to things and still thinks their personal information is safe deserves everything they get.
I haven’t given Facebook any info that I’m not prepared for the whole world to know about.
Mario Olckers says: December 5th, 2007 4:16pm
Thank you, there is life on this planet after all
I choose consciously and intentionally to share my personal info and derive immense value from having my family, university friends and business contacts all inside a secure environment and it is fun and i spend all my time on there and nowhere else
if they need to share my birthday with coca-cola for me getting all that value FREE then go for it by all means
call me an Ayn Rand fanboy but I am disgusted with bashing anyone that achieves success and all the bottom feeders trying to run up hits for their own mediocre attempts by linkbaiting with insincere sensationalist garbage
in fact, facebook unique visits are up 20% in November
there’s many alternatives out there, I am sure a couple of envious losers closing their facebook is not causing any sleepless nights in the Zuckerberg household; cutting off your nose to spite your face
go and excel in the world and build your own successful startup, otherwise use ning or myspace or whatever
nevermindtheend says: December 5th, 2007 4:28pm
I deleted (not just deactivated) my account two days ago. I’m glad they finally listened to people about beacon, but I don’t trust them anymore and the site is horrible and cluttered now.
tiffany says: December 5th, 2007 5:01pm
I deactivated my account, but I haven’t yet deleted it. Aside from a passing Scrabulous addiction, I never ‘got’ Facebook — or rather, I never understood what was so different or special about it compared to other social network(ing) sites. Cleaner interface, middle and upper class users, and … ? I plan to delete it as soon as I figure out how :-). (Going to Google now)
Colin says: December 5th, 2007 5:32pm
It was fantastic…
.. and then they added the Application *SPAM* API.
Ellie says: December 6th, 2007 11:17pm
I quit facebook back in May and it was the best thing I ever did for myself! The time saved was time put toward spending time with my family and friends in REAL LIFE!
Brian says: December 7th, 2007 7:31pm
I agree with some others here, I don’t get the big deal with Facebook. The few times I have logged in all I see is how many people have bitten me.
I use LinkedIn for my professional networking. If I want to stay in touch with friends I use old school technology like the phone, email and instant messenger.
This is great if you haven’t seen it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi4fzvQ6I-o … puts the ridiculous value of Facebook into perspective as well as the next bubble breaking for all these companies that have no hope of creating true revenue models.