14 DAY TRIAL // Quit Facebook Day came and passed and it’s hard to say if it has been a success or not. A group of people set up a page for those concerned about their Facebook privacy to pledge to quit the social network on the 31st of May. So far, close to 34,000 people have committed, and more are still adding their names, but it’s unclear how many of those actually quit. Even so, the number is a very small portion of Facebook’s growing user base.
The web page was set up in the wake of the latest Facebook privacy debacle. People were upset that their data was becoming increasingly public and available to more and more third parties. Many were vocal in their criticism, but the overall tone was vague, since, frankly, Facebook was doing things no one had done before and no one could predict how it would all play out.
“For us it comes down to two things: fair choices and best intentions. In our view, Facebook doesn't do a good job in either department. Facebook gives you choices about how to manage your data, but they aren't fair choices, and while the onus is on the individual to manage these choices, Facebook makes it damn difficult for the average user to understand or manage this,” the Quit Facebook Day web page does a good job at explaining the main concerns.
Facebook normally plows ahead with changes even with all the criticism, and users eventually get comfortable with whatever new feature was introduced. This time around, the social network listened, and has recently unveiled plans to introduce simplified privacy controls. These are being rolled out over the coming weeks and they address most of the concerns.
This may be part of the reason why so few people joined the Quit Facebook Day movement. Of course, it may very well be that most people don’t actually care that much about the issue. Out of the 34,000 people who committed to deleting their accounts, it’s unclear how many actually did. Even if all of them have done so, Facebook usually adds about 150,000 new users every day. And the social network is gaining on 500 million worldwide, so the impact of those quitting is minimal at best.