Thursday, December 13, 2007
Why Facebook Survives Scandal
Every three months or so, the Facebook social network website does something really intrusive or ill-advised, and then spends social capital apologizing and back-pedaling. Their latest brouhaha is over an opt-out feature (Beacon) that lets friends see what their friends are buying.
Moveon.org (one of the more ironic names of all time, as it derived from "moving on" about Clinton's problems, yet won't itself move on about Bush's problems) stirred up a protest as if some huge privacy issues were at stake. Facebook's bad idea was not to let strangers see what you're up to, or the government see what you're up to, but to let your FRIENDS learn what you're up to, as if that's not the raison d'etre for social networking. Apparently not all friends are really close enough to know that you just rented Superbad. It's fine if your pseudo-friends see you drinking from a plastic cup and acting foolish, but God forbid they know that you shop at the Gap.
That's not the issue here. Just how does creator Mark Zuckerberger continually achieve foregiveness for Facebook.com? He's had plenty of gaffs that drew the ire of users.
My theory is that it's solely because he's 23 years old and so are the bulk of his Facebook's members. If he was 35 or 40, then Facebook members would leave the site in droves. But he gets a pass because he's young and foregivably impetuous.
How long will that last? Probably a while. Facebook.com can make more mistakes and as long as the decisions come from someone more likely to be holding a plastic cup and grinning on the beach than, say, Rupert Murdoch, the website will hold onto its core audience. If there's one thing that the 20-something crowd can forgive, it's poor choices.
Moveon.org (one of the more ironic names of all time, as it derived from "moving on" about Clinton's problems, yet won't itself move on about Bush's problems) stirred up a protest as if some huge privacy issues were at stake. Facebook's bad idea was not to let strangers see what you're up to, or the government see what you're up to, but to let your FRIENDS learn what you're up to, as if that's not the raison d'etre for social networking. Apparently not all friends are really close enough to know that you just rented Superbad. It's fine if your pseudo-friends see you drinking from a plastic cup and acting foolish, but God forbid they know that you shop at the Gap.
That's not the issue here. Just how does creator Mark Zuckerberger continually achieve foregiveness for Facebook.com? He's had plenty of gaffs that drew the ire of users.
My theory is that it's solely because he's 23 years old and so are the bulk of his Facebook's members. If he was 35 or 40, then Facebook members would leave the site in droves. But he gets a pass because he's young and foregivably impetuous.
How long will that last? Probably a while. Facebook.com can make more mistakes and as long as the decisions come from someone more likely to be holding a plastic cup and grinning on the beach than, say, Rupert Murdoch, the website will hold onto its core audience. If there's one thing that the 20-something crowd can forgive, it's poor choices.
Labels: facebook
