Facebook – What Goes Up, Must Come Down?

The headlines are saturated with the news of Facebook doing a “180” when it comes to their privacy settings. In many ways, it is a testament to an organization actually listening to its customers/users and adjusting their approach in an efficient manner. Despite this move, there still is a high level of vitriol from the Facebook user base, and many will be taking this anger to the streets by deleting their accounts on May 31.

Ever since Facebook opened up beyond the .edu community, it has experienced a meteoric rise to success with more than 400 million active users. When millennials complain about their parent’s being on Facebook, you know this thing is mainstream.

So, are people actually going to delete their Facebook accounts? Will the old adage “what goes up, must come down” ring true for Facebook? According to BusinessWeek, users are staying loyal. On a separate note, the ITAC editorial team has held a number of informal discussions with Facebook users as of late, and many are feeling sour. Their sentiment is that privacy is gone – and this is a scary thing.

Beyond sharing our personal data with third party web sites, friendships, job opportunities and even marriages have been wrecked due to highly private information being made public via Facebook.

While we are social beings, there is something to be said about having the freedom to be discrete. Too much information is exactly that too much information. Information can hurt when it falls into wrong hands.

Perhaps we should start a movement called “Privacy 2.0,” where we bring privacy back? Or at least, we can delete our Facebook accounts on May 31.

We hope you have a restful Memorial Day holiday weekend!