Today is "Quit Facebook Day", an initiative launched by Joseph Dee to get users to cut the ties that bind them to Facebook.
Concerns about dubious privacy settings have culminated in tens of thousands vowing promising to quit the popular social-networking site todaY. Amid concerns about dubious privacy settings and accusations of securities fraud, Facebook is enduring public animosity that’s culminated in tens of thousands vowing to quit the popular social-networking site Monday.
Whether the users follow through remains to be seen. Closing an account is tricky in more ways than one. For starters, figuring out how to navigate the delete option is difficult. Secondly, the reality is that in today’s digital world, logging off of Facebook can leave you out of the loop socially. Many others have attempted to axe their accounts before – only to find themselves pulled back in.
The first-ever Quit Facebook Day is the brainchild of two Torontonians, Joseph Dee, a Web technologist, and Matthew Milan, a partner at Normative Design. So far, more than 23,000 people have pledged their commitment to going cold turkey on the movement’s website (quitfacebook.com).
link: It's Quit Facebook Day. Who will dare delete their profile? - The Globe and Mail
I'm more than happy to wade through the minutiae Facebook throws up to hinder subscribers from closing their accounts (indeed, I did suspend my account for a few months last year when a certain "friend" was abusing information gleaned from mutual friend's accounts), but quitting is not on; I would miss the information a few friends and relatives share about their lives and for the fact that some contacts prefer their Facebook mail accounts over regular e-mail. A lot of intimacy would be lost with nieces and nephews who I wouldn't expect to write me with the details of their lives; did I write my uncles and aunts when I was their age? But then there are friends located nearby, or whom I see regularly, for whom I don't really need so much information.
As noted in The Globe and Mail story, the problem for many users is not privacy, per se, but the breach of trust between Facebook and its users. Constantly changing privacy policies and settings which require users to regularly review what they are sharing and make adjustments is an affront to subscribers.
Because I don't want to be completely out of the loop when it comes to being on the receiving end of shared information, I haven't and won't close my account today. My response is to be a consumer but not a producer. Aside from my name, you won't find much more information about me on Facebook. No photos, no work or education history, no wall posts, etc; only a few bits of basic information that Facebook will not permit users to leave blank. When I want to communicate with someone I use "regular" email. When someone messages me on Facebook, I reply to their "normal" address.
If more were to follow my approach, we wouldn't need a quite Facebook day; it would die a natural and deserving death.
