Today’s news, that Facebook hired Burson-Marsteller to “plant negative stories” about their competition got me thinking – if you needed to hire an outside firm for help and you knew they had done something similar, would you hire them? If you already had a contract with them would you terminate their services? Or would you look the other way or perhaps reprimand them in some way?
For many businesses Facebook is that vendor, a third party of sorts. I’m not saying Facebook’s actions are reflective of your work or brand but at what point do we take some kind of action?
I’m sure the same question could be asked of many industry leaders. When do we stop buying petroleum products, phone services or banking products from certain companies because of their actions.
I’ve never been a huge fan of Facebook. In a presentation I give regarding social media I mention six factors to consider before using Facebook, reasons not to use them. At the end I mention there are more than 500 million reasons why a company should. A yeah/but proposition.
I suppose our path to using Facebook is paved with good intentions. I suppose.
Tell me your thoughts. I really want to know.
What other personal social networking option is there that people still use, other than Facebook? I don’t know anyone who uses Google Plus, and only a few people I know still use MySpace.
Hmm.. isn’t it unethical to hire bad stories featured about a competitor? Wouldn’t the competitor sue? I hadn’t heard about Facebook hiring them. Interesting info.
My short answer — I will still use Facebook, but I chose to reprimand them by publishing a link to a story about their actions on Twitter and, ironically, on my Facebook page. (I know, pretty minimal punishment, right?)
In some ways, perhaps Facebook is too big to fail. It’s the social network site du jour. Because I can learn things from and about friends and family that are educational and entertaining, I choose to stay. That is, until a better alternative comes along. The definition of better alternative, unfortunately, means critical mass. I might like one of their competitors much better, but in the social media space, there’s not many others to choose from that have captured the interests of my friends and family.
So I’m stuck, I guess. Leaving to prove a point won’t mean anything to anyone, except me and a few close friends to whom I explain my actions and rationale. It’s perhaps a social commentary to presume those friends of mine would probably have a neutral reaction and then login to their Facebook profiles within the next 90 minutes to see what’s new.
My point — Facebook unfortunately still has something of great value — numbers. In the egocentric society we live in, choosing an alternative provider because of Facebook’s actions would unfortunately require actions that directly affected its users, not just an inappropriate PR smear campaign. Or would it?
Let’s consider their numerous privacy issues. Or switching gears momentarily, how about fans’ reactions to the Playstation Network’s recent compromise of personal data? They’re just upset the network has been offline so long! “Hey, I don’t know if my credit card got hacked, but I haven’t been able to play Final Fantasy for two weeks, dude!”
My guess? Facebook and Sony won’t see a dramatic decline in customer numbers. Not until one of their competitors finds a way to offer something more valuable. And even then, customers won’t be switching becuase of their supposed unethical actions or alleged neglect. They’ll switch for the numbers.
Jesse, thanks for visiting and great response. I agree, not much one person can do and it is unlikely we will see any kind of groundswell/revolt against facebook (would we coordinate that via Facebook?) unless something truly catastrophic occurs which impacts all users. Of course, as you point out, this will have to be greater than giving access to credit card numbers… something along the lines of the next new thing.
No doubt about it, we continue to see the evolution of the media impact our culture not only in how we use the media but our actions as well.
Again, thanks for stopping by. It was also nice finally meeting you face to face.