GIVEN the bad press that Facebook has had in recent weeks over its privacy policy, many people will have considered pulling the plug on their online social networking.
And yet few people appear to have cut loose. A campaign called flopped after only 36,000 people signed up to close their accounts out of more than 400 million users worldwide.
Why? Maybe most people think the benefits of Facebook outweigh the risks. They have a point. Online social networking has changed our lives for the better in many ways: from altering our influence over others to providing handy career boosts (see 鈥淕eneration f: How Facebook is changing our lives鈥�). Some even go so far as to argue that Facebook makes us happier.
Advertisement
According to Danah Boyd, who studies social networking at the Microsoft New England Research and Development Center, Facebook has become an essential utility like water or electricity. If so, there is all the more reason to push Facebook to act fairly, transparently and accountably, just as we would any other utility company.
People are not going to turn off their social network supply any time soon.