A small group of former Facebook lovers fed up with Facebook privacy concerns are corralling users to quit starting May 31. Will it work?
Difficult though it may be to figure out how to delete your Facebook account for good, an online group is prompting users to quit the social networking monopoly en masse starting May 31. The movement, if it can be called such, has garnered 3,012 committed quitters so far, not bad for an online petition but still a soft dent in the 450 million Facebook currently has using the site.
Concerns over Facebook privacy have grown in recent weeks, prompted by recent changes to the company’s privacy policy, including making some user data – like profile pictures and interests – publicly available information.
But, in a nod to how addicting Facebook is, the group admits that ”quitting something like Facebook is like quitting smoking.” Researchers already agree, at least to the extent that young adults are addicted to virtual human connection. How bad’s our digital dependence? A study by the University of Maryland released in April found that 29% of college students said they felt addicted to their media devices when asked to go without them them for 24 hours.
The group’s protest may simply be the latest form of slacktivism, a meager online attempt to change a big, powerful business – yes, remember Facebook is a business. But word about the group is spreading — in the time it took me to write this post, another 200 users added their names to the list of those ready to quit.
