Facebook Quitters Want More Privacy

[Jeffrey Walton <noloader () gmail com>]

http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=679&doc_id=267927

Privacy concerns are the main reason people are dropping Facebook
these days, a small but telling study suggests. If this sentiment
becomes a trend, it could have far-reaching repercussions for
businesses that have embraced the social network as the bedrock of
their customer outreach, authentication, or marketing initiatives.

This month, psychologist Stefan Stieger and fellow researchers at the
University of Vienna published a study based on a survey of 300
Facebook users and about 300 people who had left the social media
site. Obviously, that's a teensy percentage of Facebook's more than 1
billion worldwide subscribers, so it's dangerous to ascribe a trend to
what can be compared to a flea bite on an elephant. But lots of flea
bites eventually hurt even the biggest pachyderm.

Among those who left Facebook, 48 percent did so due to concerns over
the site's privacy. Fourteen percent left because of a general
dissatisfaction with Facebook, and 13 percent were fed up with
meaningless conversations and negative interactions with Facebook
Friends, the study found. Six percent quit over fears they were
becoming addicted to the site.

Privacy fears are understandable in light of Facebook's recent ad
changes and its planned changes to its governance policies, which
include incorporating users' faces into ads and expanding photo
tagging. Privacy groups have asked the Federal Trade Commission to
block these changes.

Last year, businesses spent $4.3 billion on Facebook for sponsored
stories, side ads, promoted posts, sponsored apps, and event
sponsorships, according to Uberflip. If prospective customers are
losing faith in the vehicle, could they blame the brand?

Personally, I hide every single ad that pops up on my Facebook page
when I check in via cellphone. There's something invasive about an ad
that takes up half the page. It's particularly intrusive for Facebook
ads to tell me so-and-so Liked this page. I've pretty much stopped
Liking pages -- in case my efforts to prevent my name from being used
in this manner have been unsuccessful. I don't want to inflict this
pet peeve on others, even though I miss the satisfaction the click of
a Like button can bring.

In the past few months, several of my friends have quit Facebook. All
of them left, at least in part, because they were worried about
privacy. Only one cited annoyance at other people's posts as another
major reason for leaving the site.

Of course, losing a few people isn't going to change Facebook's
policies or profitability potential. If enough people left, that could
force Facebook to open its eyes. Users who remain with Facebook, like
me, could be altering their use patterns. This would reduce its value
for brands and advertisers (and the users themselves) in a no-win
battle to maintain some semblance of privacy and control.
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