Just as smokers are advised to select and work towards a quit date, the Web site QuitFacebookDay is encouraging frustrated Facebook users to cut the chord with the powerful social networking site on May 31.
Founded by technologist Joseph Dee and systems designer Matthew Milan, QuitFacebookDay is asking prospective ex-account-holders to sign their email or Twitter ID to a pledge list. Monday morning, there were 2,635 "committed Facebook quitters," according to the website, up about 70% from the May 15 count of 780.
"For a lot of people, quitting Facebook revolves around privacy. This is a legitimate concern, but we also think the privacy issue is just the symptom of a larger set of issues," wrote Milan and Dee. "The cumulative effects of what Facebook does now will not play out well in the future, and we care deeply about the future of the web as an open, safe and human place. We just can't see Facebook's current direction being aligned with any positive future for the web, so we're leaving."
Dee and Milan are not alone in their efforts to organize a mass Facebook exodus. The "Quit Facebook Day" page on Facebook is liked by more than 1,500 people -- or less than 0.00375% of the site's more than 400 million users.
FacebookProtest.com -- which as 1,212 followers on Twitter -- plans a June 6 boycott of the Web site. "Be sure to log out of Facebook in all of your browsers no later than the evening of June 5th. On the 6th, be sure to not use Facebook connect or click any “Like” buttons: basically refrain from all Facebook related activity," the site said.
Facebook recently added two privacy tools, but account deactivations are gaining attention.
Some well-known industry names have made much-publicized cuts to their Facebook ties. Google's webspam chief Matt Cutts deactivated his Facebook ties on April 22, according to comments he made on Twitter. Peter Rojas, Gizmodo and Engadget founder also tweeted about his decision to cut his Facebook ties.
Changes to Facebook's privacy policies are spurring concerns about the site. In the last five years, Facebook's privacy policy has grown from about 1,000 words to today's 5,830 words, according to the New York Times.
The site's complementary FAQ is 45,000 words. It is now longer than the U.S. Constitution, the Huffington Post found. In fact, there are 4543 words in the original, unamended Constitution, including the signatures. The Declaration has 1458 words.
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