In wake of scandal, is it time to unfriend Facebook?
Robert Ramirez didn’t want to get on Facebook. He’d heard the stories about privacy violations and knew his friends and family spent too much time bickering there. Until three years ago, he’d managed to steer clear of the largest social network in the world.
But when his daughter went back to school after being accepted at the University of Texas at Austin, he found he had no choice.
“UT has a parents’ organization, and we went to their dog and pony show,” said Ramirez, 64. “The good news was that they had a way for parents to ask questions, get answers and talk to other parents. The bad news was, they did this through Facebook.”
Facebook has become the social backbone for families, friends, businesses and groups with common interests in the United States. But those who rely on Facebook face a dilemma. The Cambridge Analytica scandal made abundantly clear what many have known for a long time: Facebook makes its money by learning as much as it can about each user, then selling that information to advertisers who target specific groups.
The scandal prompted the CEO of Cambridge Analytica to be fired by his board of directors. Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg, after several days of silence, posted a mea culpa online last week and went on a media blitz to apologize. Meanwhile, the hashtag #DeleteFacebook continues to trend on Twit-
Ramirez is one of those who are angered at what has happened. Once his daughter graduates, he said, his plan is to sign off for good. Or is it? “Every now and then I get a new message from a friend, or a suggestion to follow someone I haven’t seen for years, or I see a really nice post from my daughter,” Ramirez said. “And so, no, I am not certain what I am going to do.”
Even those who are outraged at Facebook’s behavior and feel their personal information has been abused are having a hard time walking away.
The phrase “I’d love to get off Facebook but …” is everywhere. What follows the “but” are myriad reasons, both emotional and practical.
So what happens if you walk away from Facebook?
You lose track of those cute photos of your sister’s kids. You no longer get updates on the health of your seventh-grade teacher who’s still an inspiration for you. Invitations to parties are harder to send, and wedding photo blasts are more cumbersome. When you wake up in the morning and reach for the iPhone next to your bed, your news sources are a lot harder to find.
You will have to set up all new logins for many of your apps and favorite websites, because you used Facebook’s Platform feature to avoid thinking up yet another password. You won’t be able to correct your favorite uncle’s Neanderthal-era political views. Your friends from college won’t know you’ve gotten a promotion, broken up with your boyfriend or got laid off from your job.
If you cut yourself off from Facebook, you are cut off from the web of your life.
But leaving Facebook also means you’ll no longer see those creepy ads for underwear for two weeks after buying a pack on Amazon. When you get off the plane for an hourlong layover, you won’t get notifications about what your Facebook acquaintances are doing in that town right now.
You’ll no longer be prompted to friend your ex or see the face of your brother who died two years ago in Facebook’s friend suggestions. You won’t have to worry about what is happening with your private information or that the details of your life are being misused for profit or political gain. Direct communication
As is often the case with the convenience of technology, there’s a trade-off. In Facebook’s case, you’re able to enjoy its benefits for free because your hearts and minds are being sold.
Chris Ferguson, a professor of psychology at Stetson University in DeLand, Fla., said Facebook makes it much easier to have social interactions with people who are close to you, as well as those with whom you’ve lost contact. On the other hand, it also can drive people apart as they clash over views and behavior.
“Most people have a love-itbut-hate-it relationship with Facebook,” Ferguson said. “That’s been coming to a head in the last week or two. But it’s so easy to keep in touch with a broad range of people that you otherwise just wouldn’t. The genius of Facebook is that it’s so easy. You don’t have to write letters anymore.”
And that ease-of-use applies to multiple tasks, he said. It’s a simple click or tap to do what used to be a complex social task, like sending out invitations, announcing an engagement or sharing vacation photos. Ferguson says Facebook has been developed to be the “Swiss army knife” of social network.
Then there is all the feedback and affirmation in likes and comments. Ferguson said Facebook makes people feel good about themselves.
“You can present real-life events to real people, tell them about the things you are proud of,” he said. “There is evidence to suggest that this type of behavior is associated with positive mental health outcomes.”
But there’s a dark side. Other studies have indicated that looking at the better lives of others might be a drag for those whose own paths are rocky. Social media use has been linked to depression and, in some controversial studies, even suicide.
A lot of Facebook’s stickiness also has to do with something called the network effect — the more participants in a network, the more valuable it is. The idea, first expressed regarding the telephone system, is that every time you add a person to a group or network, it increases the value the network brings to all the other participants.
With 2.2 billion users around the world, Facebook is a powerful example of how the network effect works. When you join Facebook, there’s an excellent chance that many people you know are already there, and when you connect with them, you add value to their lives and vice versa. ‘This time is different’
In the U.S., Facebook’s ubiquity is astonishing for a service that’s been around for less than 15 years and open to the general public for only 12 years. According to the Pew Research Center, 89 percent of Americans have internet access, and 68 percent of adults have Facebook accounts. Facebook’s own numbers put the percentage at about 74 percent, or about 240 million people.
Of course, no one communicates with all 2.2 billion Facebook members — well, except maybe Zuckerberg — but there’s a pretty good chance most people you want to talk to are on it. Yes, you could leave, but where would you go? No other social network has the critical mass that Facebook does.
Ferguson said that would be a sticking point even if something dramatically better than Facebook appeared.
“To re-create my network, that 500 or 600 followers I have on Facebook, would be hard. It took six or seven years to get to that point,” he said. “Moving to a new network would take a tremendous amount of work.”
When Ramirez joined, he was surprised to find Facebook recommending so many of his colleagues from his days at Shell.
“I follow some nieces and nephews and my sister and one former co-worker,” Ramirez said. “I am really grateful for being able to follow that one coter. worker. Facebook enabled us to get back in contact.”
Reading the various comments from members about not being able to delete their Facebook accounts surfaces myriad reasons.
There’s the woman who appreciates the fact that she doesn’t have to worry about whether email addresses are valid when she sends an invitation to a party or event. Or the man who said he landed a job after a layoff because of his network on Facebook. Or the woman who thought she was alone in dealing with her special-needs child until she discovered a Facebook group of parents struggling with the same issues.
And there is Liana Silva, a 36year-old high school teacher in Houston who was born and raised in Puerto Rico. She still has friends and family there, including her parents, and Facebook is how she keeps track of everyone.
“I can post a picture of my daughter, and my parents don’t have 500 or 600 friends they follow, so that picture shows up for them right away,” Silva said. “And other people see it, and then here are these people commenting on my daughter’s picture.”
Silva has been thinking about walking away from Facebook, saying the Cambridge Analytica data leak is “scary.” But then she thinks about Hurricane Maria and its devastation of the island where she grew up.
“After the hurricane, it was weeks before I found out my parents were OK, and I first heard from them over the phone,” she said. “But with everyone else, I learned they were OK from Facebook.”
Despite that, she is still tempted to pull the plug.
“This isn’t new for Facebook. They’ve had privacy issues before,” she said. “But this time is different. This feels wrong.”