I think the real metrics regarding the effects of these privacy issues are going to be much harder to measure. I don't think there will be a lot of people outright shutting down their Facebook account, but instead people will begin to self-censor more and more what they say on the site. I notice myself using the site much less frequently the last several months, and many of my friends report the same. It's actually hard to say for sure whether this is due to privacy concerns, or if people are just starting to get bored of it and realizing that having real contact with their real friends really does matter.
Where will they go? I don't see a potential successor standing by, despite 4 years of half the people I know working on either "the next Facebook" or "Facebook for X niche."
They don't need to "go" anywhere. They can just quit.
I deleted today. I'm not looking for a replacement, I already have email. My email privacy settings haven't changed in twenty years. Oh, wait -- I don't have privacy settings. It's just "private."
IF the sample of the population was not randomly selected by the interviewer (which almost never happens in online polls), then the people most likely to answer were the angriest at FB. The whole thing is rigged.
From my side of the fence, it looks all rosy to FB. From (real-world) friends and acquaintances, many of whom are techies and those who aren't at least are computer literate, only other guy and myself have any concerns. It is not that they don't get it, but that they couldn't care less.
Need to fly. Time to call and yell at my wife for disclosing one more piece of personal info.
Obvious the poll is silly. However, bad publicity can still sour people on the company and reduce overall Facebook usage.
Quantcast isn't perfect by any means, but it's directional, and according to it, United States users and visits to Facebook have been flat since the start of February:
This poll is so stock-full of mistakes and biases that it's practically worthless. If you bother to click through to the source it even says at the bottom of the blogpost they got it from: "Please bear in mind that this poll is not scientific and is provided for information purposes only."
And I'm not even mentioning that computerworld finds an online poll written up on a blog credible source material.
17 comments
[ 2.5 ms ] story [ 49.3 ms ] thread16% claim to have quit FB.
30% say it's 'Highly Likely'.
30% chose the ever vague 'Possibly' option...
And that conclusively adds up to 60% of ALL 400,000,000 FB users quitting?
Hooray for polls.
I deleted today. I'm not looking for a replacement, I already have email. My email privacy settings haven't changed in twenty years. Oh, wait -- I don't have privacy settings. It's just "private."
IF the sample of the population was not randomly selected by the interviewer (which almost never happens in online polls), then the people most likely to answer were the angriest at FB. The whole thing is rigged.
From my side of the fence, it looks all rosy to FB. From (real-world) friends and acquaintances, many of whom are techies and those who aren't at least are computer literate, only other guy and myself have any concerns. It is not that they don't get it, but that they couldn't care less.
Need to fly. Time to call and yell at my wife for disclosing one more piece of personal info.
Quantcast isn't perfect by any means, but it's directional, and according to it, United States users and visits to Facebook have been flat since the start of February:
http://www.quantcast.com/facebook.com
When did the current wave of Facebook privacy hoopla start?
http://www.quantcast.com/google.com
Even YouTube shows a similar curve:
http://www.quantcast.com/youtube.com
I suspect this is a reflection of Quantcast's measurements, rather than something specific to Facebook.
More "top sites" data from Quant: http://www.quantcast.com/top-sites-1
And I'm not even mentioning that computerworld finds an online poll written up on a blog credible source material.
Shame on them.