Likelihood of Success

Disappeared

Jan 25, 2009 Nuvo-Techno, Social networking

Scobleizer:

I refuse to use Facebook to conduct business and don’t upload many videos or photos there because I don’t support companies that “erase” MY data without my permission. I know of no other social network that does this in this way.

Of course, Facebook believes it can get away with it because, at this point, it is pretty much the gold standard in social networking.  But I had something a little bit like what Robert Scoble describes here — a kind of deactivation due to basically too much legitimate social networking — happen to me too when I was an active account holder.  I was locked down without explanation; I got mainly boilerplate responses to my inquiries; a bit of panic set in — I had uploaded a lot of stuff.

In my case it came and went in an hour or two.  But it was odd.  Even more odd, though, is that I was not deactivated the way he describes.  In fact, what happened to me sounds almost exactly like what he describes here as what he believes, and quite logically, would be a much better policy:

If I were in charge at Facebook I would have a “jail.” If you broke the rules I’d move your account into “jail.” Everyone would be able to get to it, although you might have an icon that indicates the account has been thrown into jail. I would also turn off certain features on the account. I would just turn off messaging, for instance, if that person was abusing messaging. Or, turn off his/her ability to write on wall posts if he’s abusing privileges there.

I’m pretty sure I was, in fact, in jail.  But in all seriousness, I can’t fathom how this could have been the case if a plugged in guy like Scoble doesn’t think it can.

Then there was the odd message I got that one time about being an “alpha account” or something and was therefore being allowed to have a video response to video message I had sent show on my wall?  I wish I’d screen-shotted that one.  No one has ever been able to tell me what that was.

Facebook and other social media are, like Google, becoming de facto jurisdictions unto themselves, which libertarians should like — and on issues such as this, I am one.  But it can be a weird new world out there.