From Dimes to Dollars

by Ben Lopez

This is it.  After months of hype, today is the day where Facebook users near and far, in every corner of the world, are being asked to delete their accounts in protest.  It’s not just Facebook’s policies that have come under scrutiny, but CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s personal actions as well.  I could have shared a news article every day on a new piece of incriminating evidence against the company.  And it is bad.  The press on Facebook since the F8 conference has been almost universally negative.

If you’re looking for somewhere else to go, there’s always Myspace, who has detailed in this interview with Mashable, some of the major changes they’ll be undergoing throughout the summer and into the fall.  Many of their features, such as the ability to filter your friend feed by category (status update, photos, videos, etc) has already been put into place, and are actually quite useful.  If it’s been a while since you’ve logged-in, take a look around and I think you’ll be surprised.

Another hopeful is Diaspora (die-ASS-pore-a), an open source solution that will have a large emphasis on privacy.  Unfortunately, development is still early, and no UI (user-interface) or concrete details have yet been revealed.  However, some tech insiders, such as Leo Laporte (host of This Week In Tech), sees great potential in it, and has personally donated money to their Kickstarter campaign (as have I).  I’ll be keeping my eye on them, and will report any details as they become available.

For those of you who aren’t ready or willing to quit, but are still fed-up with the way Facebook has handled your privacy, there’s another way to send a message to FB: Facebook Protest’s D-Day.

Am I quitting Facebook?  Halfway.  I’m deleting my secondary account.  I do use it as a business platform, but I would eventually like to quit, yes.  Did you end up quitting?  Share your comments and questions below!