By Dr. Bill Chitwood ——Bio and Archives--November 1, 2012
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“UPDATE: Facebook Manager Andrew Noyes emailed the following to Breitbart News this morning: We wanted to follow up on the Special Operations Speaks PAC (SOS) article published on Breitbart.com last night. I assure you that removing the image was not an act of censorship on our part. This was an error and we apologize for any inconvenience it may have caused.”Too late, FB, the damage has already been done! I, and others, have already shared this story on our own FB pages, and encouraged our friends to do the same. Between the story on BreitBart.com and the rapid spread of this story on FB itself, the fox is now well and truly into the Internet hen house. Whether by error or not, FBs actions have the appearance of censorship of an anti-Obama message put up by a group of SEALs. What makes this truly awful is not just the two SEALs (and others) who died in Benghazi, but how it affects the ‘free and open’ image FB has worked so hard to promulgate. Were this an isolated incident, it could be much more easily attributed to an error by a FB staffer. Sadly, it is not. This is not the first meme critical of the American government (or some unit thereof) to be warned, then deleted. There are complaints on pages about FB’s ‘pay to share’ policy, as well as their censorship practices when a page's Likes exceed a certain limit. There is a Change.org petition on the web, where you can sign to support the “Facebook Declaration of Independence”. This Declaration calls for (among other things) FB to eliminate the pay-to-share policy between connected people, a fair and public appeal process prior to removal of posts, and a removal of the friendship cap limit. These are not the only warning signs of discontent with FB: Facebook Detox is a site dedicated to helping people kick the FB habit. FB has started shedding users, and other competing sites are now available. Problems with FB have become a common theme on the Internet, especially the dismal customer service and less-than-optimal business utility of the site. Even before FB’s IPO, General Motors stopped buying FB ads, which are a primary source of FB revenue. Most telling of all, since October 29th—the first day they legally could do so—FB employees have been selling stock in such quantities that the stock price dropped 3.8% in three days. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has publicly stated that he won’t be selling any stock until at least next September, but another large block of stock shares and options unlocks on November 14th. Since this November 14th block of 777 million shares and options is quite a bit more than the 234 million shares and options just unlocked…the math is left as an exercise for the student. However, the stock price drop doesn’t address the real issue: namely, that censoring a post by Navy SEALs makes FB appear to be taking a political stance in favor of President Obama against his challengers. Since it’s commonly accepted in some quarters that the mainstream media has been covering up Benghazi-gate as part of their efforts to support Obama’s reelection efforts, this action makes FB appear just as corrupt and biased as the MSM. If FB becomes known as a ‘liberal mouthpiece’ like the three major networks, how long will it be before moderates, conservatives, libertarians and others abandon it for more welcoming social networks? Certainly the behavior of FB with regard to this particular anti-Obama post smacks of political bias and favoritism. In censoring the SEALs, FB has made many people, myself included; seriously reevaluate their presence on the site. Without a doubt, FB is THE social network site...for now. I, and others, have FB pages so we can directly tap that billion-plus pool of users FB has accumulated. This pool of users is FB’s main selling point, the very thing that made its stock so hyped (and initially overvalued). Without that huge pool of users, FB is just another social network site…but less customizable than MySpace, less business friendly than LinkedIn, and not tied to another megalithic company (besides itself) like Google Plus. Throw in Twitter, Pinterest, Tumbler, Diaspora, and all the rest…there’s no shortage of alternatives today, and MySpace’s experience (previously #1; now, not so much) shows us that what is biggest today isn’t necessarily biggest forever. All that being said, I’m not closing down my FB page just yet. FB is not ideal, but I’ve invested a fair bit of energy, time and effort into cultivating my page these last few weeks. In doing so, I’ve learned a great deal about the whole social networking ‘thing’, and picked up quite a bit of useful information about how NOT to start an Internet site/business (mainly by doing things the wrong way the first time). FB is still too big not to use, and functional enough for most purposes. I expect it to remain so, at least for the near future. However, I’m rapidly approaching the pay-to-share point and have had difficulty sharing items on some pages. Thus far, I’m not aware that I’ve had any posts pulled, and I haven’t seen any warnings, despite flogging anti-Obama gear and memes shamelessly. But, if my page is destroyed tomorrow…well, I’ve still got my other web site, and a blog, and have no plans to abandon the web at this time. Still, I’m more aware of FB’s proclivities now, and irritated on behalf of the SEALs. I don’t expect that awareness and irritation to change any time in the near future, and I suspect I’m not alone in feeling that way. Be warned, FB! Your users are watching you very carefully. Now would be a good time to not screw up again. NOTE: if you don’t have a Facebook account but want to see Pages, go to facebook.com and look down the page. There will be a line for you to select the appropriate language, and under that will be a line that includes links for ‘Badges’, ‘People’ and ‘Pages’. Click on ‘Pages’ and search for the page you want to see. The same procedure works for People, as well.
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Dr. Bill Chitwood is a retired Child Psychiatrist who now writes and consults for media productions.