BOSTON, MA -- Colin Kingsbury has a great post-up on last week's Facebook situation and some thoughts on the future of social networking.
Imagine any old-school industrial oligopoly and the power they had over their consumers: Network TV, the diamond business, the auto industry, and telecoms. Remember what a hassle it was to argue with Ma Bell over an errant phone bill? Did they care about you at all?
Now let's say you are a passive candidate.
Imagine that you pour your life into a Facebook profile. Then something happens and you accidentally run afoul of Facebook's rules. They delete you. Permanently. No warning. No chance to atone for one's sins, whatever they may be. Just instant deletion in a misspelled email that decrees "This decision is final."
Per Colin, "Facebook can and will ban anyone it chooses for any reason that suits its purposes, and without any practical recourse for the convict." And if you have just one online profile and it happens to be on Facebook, you're erased. Gone. Cut off from Facebook's society.
For me, that's the issue here.
I'm not saying this to be arrogant, I'm saying this to make a point: My blog is currently ranked # 58 among the top English-language media and marketing blogs in the world. I have not heard one peep from Facebook on this issue. And I expect I won't.
What hope does a "normal" Facebook member have surviving an incident like this? Apparently none.
I have just one tip for the passive candidate: Diversify.
