Facebook is notorious for gambling with its users privacy. But no one is willing to leave. So what can be done?
Then a Toronto-led protest called Quit Facebook Day rolled around earlier this week.
But neither was able to make a dent in near 500 million user population (Facebook has reported no change in usage), and not for lack of media attention.
But as feeble as protests have been, they were not without merit. Facebook has been cavalier with privacy on numerous occasions (remember Beacon?), and will probably continue to be careless.
So what can be done?
Technology critic (the best in the world, IMHO) Farhad Manjoo seems to think making a lot of noise does the trick, as that’s what’s got Facebook to change its tune the past couple times.
But who has the energy for that? Those poor dudes at NYU can’t make up a new social network every time Facebook messes up.
My advice is to promote plurality. Sure, go ahead and continue to tag photos, add friends and poke hot strangers in Facebook, but also use Gowalla, Twitter, LinkedIn and the plethora of other great networks that are out there.
Don’t divorce Facebook outright, but cheat on it. Find other ways of connecting – there seems to be new social media sites by the day – and use them.
The goal of this, hopefully, is to restore some balance to the world of social networks. It’s a gesture that applies to entire web.
Microsoft didn’t lose its top spot because of government regulation or users complaints (though there were enough of both), but because other firms gained enough steam to challenge its monolithic dominance.
Can’t the same thing happen to Facebook’s fortunes? [rssbreak]
