Facebook woes? Not so fast…
Robert Scoble is angry because his Facebook account was shut down due to a debatable terms of use violation. Charlene Li felt a little violated when Facebook’s Beacon put information about her purchases in her mini-feed without asking her. People are predicting the end of Facebook and using some pretty harsh words when talking about it.
So I decided to step out of the Silicon Valley (and Alley!) world and ask a small sample of Facebook users that do not work in tech or read tech blogs on a regular basis if they were aware of or have heard any of the news about Beacon or the controversy surrounding their favorite and indispensable social network. First, I asked my little cousin at Berkeley who had no idea what I was talking about and said his roommates didn’t either. Next were two other Bay Area college students who also had no idea, yet seemed intrigued that Beacon could be a cool new feature they weren’t aware of. It’s a small sample size, but three college students in Silicon Valley had no clue and really didn’t care either.
Next, I moved to my demographic — young professionals, as we are called. First, a lawyer, hadn’t heard anything. Next, a law student: “I don’t know about that stuff.” Finally, a finance guy — still no.
A couple of the college students conveyed to me how indispensable Facebook is to their social lives — it’s how they invite people to parties, show pictures to their friends, see when their crush has broken up with a significant other, and then “spit game” once that’s happened. It’s not a nice-to-have, it’s a necessity. Much like Gmail and iTunes, which people know track their every move, Facebook has reached a point where people are so dependent on their useful services that it will take a whole lot more than a PR crisis or blogstorm for people to even consider going elsewhere.
When controversies like those mentioned above come about, the question becomes: will people care? In Facebook’s case, it’s not about whether people will care, instead it’s whether they even know. These may seem like big bumps in the road for people in the tech industry, but they are tiny blips on the radar for everyone else. In case anyone was worried about Facebook’s well-being, they’ll be just fine, and you’ll be able to go about your everyday Superpoking for a long time.
Trackback
Trackback url for this entry.
robojiannis
Posted on January 4th, 2008 at 11:16 am.
In Facebook’s case, it’s not about whether people will care, instead it’s whether they even know.
That’s where the problem lies don’t you think? If Facebook tries to monopolize the market (the social networking market, that is) or considers your network as information that should stay in Facebook and not go outside, people should know.
It is written in the Terms of Use, but who reads it?