Facebook serves its masters

Facebook serves its masters

Up against a wall, Zuckerberg is now sweet-talking defecting fans.

May 24, 2010 4:35 by kippreport

Turns out we’re not so stupid after all, as Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg says the site may have “missed the mark.”

Looking squarely at the possibility of a mass defection of growing numbers of users who say they’ll quit the site on 31 May, Zuckerberg is realizing that the Facebook users that made him rich and famous may not be a bunch of “dumb f*%ks” after all.

“Sometimes we move too fast – and after listening to recent concerns, we’re responding,” he wrote in a Washington Post column. “The biggest message we have heard recently is that people want easier control over their information,” he added.

Funny how a bunch of criticism from US civil liberties advocates, EU privacy protection officials, consumer groups, and lawmakers helps your listening skills. Not to mention that all those people who made you a ton of money.
“We’ve made a bunch of mistakes,” the Facebook CEO admitted in a published email exchange with a technology blogger.

Is that so, Mark? Could be too little, too late. Legions of Facebook fans were not pleased when advertisers were provided with their user names or ID’s after clicking on an advert. And Kipp guesses that many of them visited the quitfacebookday website on that very day. All told, more than 14,100 users have now signed up.

“Sick of Facebook’s lack of respect for your data?” the site asks. For those committed to quitting, the issues that loom largest are “fair choices and best intentions,” the website explains. Facebook just doesn’t give fair choices that are easy to understand or manage, they contend.

Kipp wonders whether Zuckerberg wil prove smart enough to bring any of the committed quitters back into the Facebook family.