Quitting Facebook Is Pointless; Challenging Them to Do Better Is Not

In recent weeks, tech pundits have been deleting their Facebook accounts and encouraging others to join them. Most are signing off in response to Facebook's ongoing bait-and-switch tactics that leave them not trusting Facebook. All of this is completely fair, but those who are signing off are not representative of the bulk of Facebook's users. And this act of resistance by a few -- or a thousand, or even a million -- is not going to reshape the company's practices. That said, growing public resentment and distrust creates a fantastic opportunity to begin a deeper dialogue about how these issues should play out.

I've been critiquing moves made by Facebook for a long time and I'm pretty used to them being misinterpreted. When I lamented the development of the News Feed, many people believed that I thought that the technology was a failure and that it wouldn't be popular. This was patently untrue. I was bothered by it precisely because I knew that it would be popular, precisely because people love to gossip and learn about others, often to their own detriment. It was hugely disruptive and, when it launched, users lacked the controls necessary to really manage the situation effectively. Facebook responded with controls and people were able to find a way of engaging with Facebook with the News Feed as a given. But people were harmed in the transition.

Last week, I offered two different critiques of the moves made by Facebook, following up on my SXSW talk. Both have been misinterpreted in fascinating ways. Even news agencies are publishing statements like: "Microsoft wants Facebook to be regulated as a utility." WTF? Seriously? Le sigh. (For the record, I'm not speaking on behalf of my employer nor do I want regulation; I think that it's inevitable and I think that we need to contend with it. Oh, and I don't think that the regulation that we'll see will at all resemble the ways in which utilities are regulated. I was talking about utilities because that's how Facebook frames itself. But clearly, most folks missed that.) Misinterpretations are frustrating because they make me feel as though I'm doing a bad job of communicating what I think is important. For this, I apologize to all of you. I will try to do better.

Let me begin by highlighting that I do not think that those who quit Facebook are fools. There are plenty of good reasons to quit Facebook. But people should quit Facebook because they don't believe the service is working for them. They shouldn't quit Facebook because they believe that doing so will send a message to the company. With this in mind, I want to enumerate six beliefs that I have that I want to flesh out in this post in light of discussions about how "everyone" is leaving Facebook:

1. I do not believe that people will (or should) leave Facebook en masse because of privacy issues.
2. I do not believe that the tech elites who are publicly leaving Facebook will affect on the company's numbers; they are unrepresentative and were not central users in the first place.
3. I do not believe that an alternative will emerge in the next 2-5 years that will "replace" Facebook in any meaningful sense.
4. I believe that Facebook will get regulated (regardless of whether or not this is a good idea) and I would like to see an open discussion of what this means and what form this takes.
5. I believe that a significant minority of users are at risk because of decisions Facebook has made and I think that those of us who aren't owe it to those who are to work through these issues.
6. I believe that Facebook needs to start a public dialogue with users and those who are concerned ASAP (What we've seen to date doesn't count).

As I stated in my last post, I think that Facebook plays a central role in the lives of many and I think that it is unreasonable for anyone to argue that they should "just leave" if they're not happy. This is like saying that people should just leave their apartments if they're not happy with their landlord or just leave their spouse because they're not happy with a decision or just leave their job if they're not happy with their boss. Life is more complicated than a series of simplified choices and we are always making calculated decisions, balancing costs and benefits. We stay with our jobs, apartments, and partners even when things get messy because we hope to rectify problems. Many are staying with Facebook because they hope that the company will wise up. And those with the most to gain from Facebook are the least likely to leave, even if they also have the most to lose.