Facebook is facing a major backlash right now due to multiple privacy concerns. Privacy lapses, including a bug that revealed private user data to the public, and multiple updates to the Facebook Privacy Policy without proper user notification has left users, well…pretty freaked out.
One major change the social networking giant has made is the amount of profile information made public to everyone on the internet. Check out this image from MoveOn.org that shows exactly what profile information people can see, whether you want them to or not:
Some users have called for a “Quit Facebook Day” on May 31 due to these changes. The site has 11,000+ users pledged to completely delete their account.
Tech bigwigs are also exiting the site at an accelerated rate. Our own Jeremy Anticouni, Chief Technology Officer of Make It Work and host of Make It Work Radio, deleted his Facebook page on May 12. Fellow tech radio host and Make It Work friend, Leo Laporte deleted both his personal and business pages. In an interview with ABC News, Laporte said:
“I realize that there’s a really insidious problem here,” he said. “If I use Facebook at all, as a public persona or a private person, I’m coercing either my public or my friends to use Facebook, because the only way they can interact with me is by joining Facebook and participating. So in way… I’m coercing people I’m in relationship with to do something bad, to do something I know is fundamentally bad. I decided I do not want to be complicit in this, frankly.”
The article also reveals that “delete facebook accounts” has recently been in the top 10 Google Search trends. Read the rest of the article HERE.
If you would like to *permanently* delete your Facebook account, it’s not an easy task, but it can be done. Jeremy breaks down how he did it, step-by-step HERE.
If you have questions about social networking privacy or need assistance customizing your Facebook profile security settings, give us a call at (877)MAKEITWork.