Delete Your Facebook Account: 'Quit Facebook Day' Wants Users To Leave. Mass exodus planned.

[onehandle]

As controversy swells around Facebook's latest changes to its privacy policy--which is now longer than the Constitution and offers some 50 settings and over 170 options--users' interest in deleting their Facebook accounts has soared.

A group of dissatisfied Facebook users have teamed up in an effort to organize a mass, coordinated exodus from Facebook--and they're using social networks to do it.

Their site, QuitFacebookDay.com, asks users to "commit to quit" Facebook on May 31 by signing their name or Twitter handle to the list of pledges.

The cause has attracted several hundred pledges--about 780 at the time of writing.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/15/delete-facebook-account-q_n_576956.html

[ProdigalJunkMail]

1. nearly 1700 now...

but...with a population of over 300M...gonna have to do a lot better to be more intimidating than that...

sP

[customerserviceguy]

Y'know, this whole thing made some sense

until I got to the words "Twitter handle".

That's like protesting your Bank of America Visa bill by refinancing the balance on your Citibank MasterCard account.

[onehandle]

6. I used to laugh at Twitter and equate it with Facebook, but it's not really the same.

Twitter is nearly as pervasive across the 'net, but it is a hundredth as invasive and controlling as Facebook.

You have to look for a person on Twitter. Facebook puts your identity out there against your will everywhere.

Twitter has a short, handful of settings. Facebook has bunches of pages of settings, each with dozens of combinations of options, most of which are defaulted to unsecure.

[customerserviceguy]

9. You may be right for now

but believe me, the free social networking train is going to start having the conductor coming down the aisles for your tickets very soon. Nobody's going to give away that much free bandwidth forever.

Facebook's problem is that it was just a bit greedier than the rest. Eventually, they'll all either start charging, or data mining on a large scale.

[fleabert]

2. honestly, the desire to stay in touch with so many so easily from so far away is too strong.

i hate facebook, but i love being in contact with everyone in one post. email sucks. twitter sucks. blogging sucks. I just keep checking my privacy settings and changing them to be as restrictive as possible. I also don't post anything i wouldn't want spray painted on the side of my house. If they make me name my baby Facebook, i'll quit. Living overseas is hard enough without being isolated online.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. I have a friend overseas

and it's so nice to be able to keep in touch on FB.

[fleabert]

8. :-) if not for the time difference skype would be good enough for those not on fb-

but for some reason it's monumentally difficult to get my american friends to download and use skype regularly. the rest of the world has no issues! lol. there are close friends that refuse both and i just haven't talked with them much in the two years we've been out. :-(

[tonysam]

22. Yep. That's the reason I have it.

It's great to contact people I haven't seen in years, such as high school classmates.

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. I'm thinking of quitting before may 31st. stupid facebook

[trixie]

16. Me too!

I hate Facebook. What started as a way for municipal workers to alert each other of programs, grants and etc has turned into a crapfest, for me. Everyone from elementary school on is "friending" me and will call me to ask why I won't be their friend. Idiots! I really can't believe some people are so stupid with what they post. My own realtor, who I have always used, is posting anti-Obama/pro-Palin crap. Is he an idiot or what? A realtor is unhappy with the incentives for new homeowners! It has killed this country! I can't believe I knew someone so blatantly stupid. Well, live and learn.

I don't want to water your farm, I won't feed your stupid virtual pets, I won't find gemz or locate weapons for Mafia Wars. And this is just my family! :rofl:

Here's my question: Should I do a rant like this 24 hours prior to pulling my account? It did feel good.

[damntexdem]

5. Good.

I won't use Facebook, although I apparently signed up sometime.

[Lex]

7. can't wait to see how much this "mass exodus" is

nt

[tonysam]

23. I'll bet it flops. n/t

[guruoo]

10. Wired.com: Open Facebook Alternatives Gain Momentum, $115K

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8348470

[Dr.Phool]

11. Question.

I tried it for about a week, and thought it sucked.

They let you deactivate the account, but I can't find any to delete it completely. Is there a way?

[Dr.Phool]

18. Nevermind. I followed a link in the article.

Printed up the procedure, and deleted the account permanently.

[FLPanhandle]

12. The group will mostly be boomers

Studies have shown over and over that younger generations have much less concern about privacy and what they share. I think the younger than 30 crowd would be happy if the parents & old timers left anyway.

[KG]

13. since i have no personal info other than my name on FB, not sure how anyone could invade my privacy.

[lynne]

14. Thanks but no thanks. I'll keep my Facebook -

- Everything on mine is information that can be easily found in the public domain. My friends are truly that - they are people known by me, not strangers I've chatted with on a faceless forum somewhere. I like keeping up with my children, my family, my friends, organizations I belong to via FB. It's become a valuable communication tool that I check a few times a day as I get my news and weather updates on FB, too.

[cbdo2007]

15. Don't they get about 250,000 new users a day??

I think that was the statistic last year and I'm sure it's less now, let's assume half of that - 125,000.

So a "mass exodus" of 780 people is supposed to make a dent in the 125,000 new users who are joining each day?

*falls out of chair laughing*

[Forkboy]

17. For the last two years people have been bugging me to join the damn thing.

So a week ago I finally do and now everyone wants me to quit the damn thing.

[Lex]

20. LOL.

So true.

[Canuckistanian]

19. Is there a Facebook page for this movement?

I can't find one.

[Hannah Bell]

21. how many facebook users are there?