'Quit Facebook' movement gains strength

BANGALORE, INDIA: Social networking site Facebook, which has been facing severe criticism over privacy issues, got yet another shock on Monday, when many users 'killed' their Facebook account in protest against the site's privacy policies.

According to the group which launched the 'Quit Facebook Day', more than 30,000 people had heeded its call to quit the social networking giant.

“For us it comes down to two things: fair choices and best intentions. In our view, Facebook doesn't do a good job in either department,” the organizers, who did not identify themselves, said on their website 'Quit Facebook Day', which launched the very idea.

According to them Facebook gives you choices about how to manage your data, but they aren't fair choices. It said that 34,046 people had dropped out of the Facebook universe by Tuesday noon.

“For a lot of people, quitting Facebook revolves around privacy. This is a legitimate concern, but we also think the privacy issue is just the symptom of a larger set of issues. The cumulative effects of what Facebook does now will not play out well in the future, and we care deeply about the future of the web as an open, safe and human place. We just can't see Facebook's current direction being aligned with any positive future for the web, so we're leaving,” they said.

In order to address the issue, Facebook CEO Zuckerberg had announced new privacy controls.

"We do not share your personal information with people or services you don't want. We do not give advertisers access to your personal information. We do not, and never will, sell any of your information to anyone. We will always keep Facebook a free service for everyone," he assured the users.

Still people are not very confident about the assurance it seems. Though 30000 is negligible compared to the user base of the site, the 'quit Facebook' movement may make the site have a second thought on privacy settings.

However, according to Jennifer Leggio, who writes about the "social business" side of social media, the crying wolf over privacy is meaningless.

According to her, the number of people who quit Facebbok "seems merely a blip compared to the amount of rage that has swept the web since the last explosion over Facebook’s privacy tactics".

Arguing that the people who quit Facebook is only about 0.07 percent of the social network’s over 400 million users, Leggio, raises an interesting point. "And some threatening to leave Facebook for fear of lack of privacy are the same ones happily chatting on public Twitter feeds."

(So what do you think: are Facebook 'quitters' just crying wolf? Please feel free to comment in the box below.)