Quit Facebook Day Didn’t Fail It Acheived Its Goals: Discussion and Awareness

Yesterday was Quit Facebook Day (QFD) and according to reports about 30,000 people closed their accounts yesterday which is leading people to call it a failure—‘Quit Facebook’ protest day flops – Telegraph, but that is an entirely over simplistic view of what was trying to be accomplished.

I knew this would probably happen (no legion of Facebook defections) when I wrote about QFD on the Future Shop Tech Blog:

So in the end, I doubt that many people will quit Facebook today. I also bet that a lot of the folks who quit Facebook today will be back in short order (peer pressure ain’t just for High School anymore). However, I know that the discussion and issues raised by Quit Facebook Day are having an impact on what Facebook (at least publicly) is doing and saying. So, Facebook changing some things and people learning more about how to protect and preserve their own privacy online. I’d say that’s a win. link: Future Shop Community Forums

I don’t think the organizers were that naive to think masses of the 500 million people would leave Facebook yesterday, what they want to do was draw attention to some serious questions about personal privacy and how Facebook is managing them.

QFD make headlines and news shows around the world. It was talked about across social media, mainstream media, and in the coffee shops of the world. Why? Because people wanted to know why a group would call on people to quit Facebook.

• Is Facebook really that bad?
• Do they violate our privacy?
• What can we do to control our privacy and stay on Facebook?

These are extremely important questions to ask, especially of a service that holds so much of our private information. By raising awareness, sparking discussions, QFD achieved its primary goal. Fine, people didn’t leave Facebook, but maybe (probably) those who stayed checked their privacy settings on Facebook and make some changes.

In my book, that’s a success.

Update: I’m not the only person who thinks that QFD was a success even as it “flopped” Tom Spring of PCWorld came to the same conclusion.