Close
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Video
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Subscribe
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Video
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Subscribe
    Home Applications
    • Applications
    • IT Management
    • Networking
    • PC Hardware

    Facebook’s Communications Crisis

    Written by

    Clint Boulton
    Published February 13, 2008
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.

      Facebook must reassess the way it provides customer service or risk losing its massive audience to a rival, said a crisis management expert in the wake of a new profile data issue that is vexing some of the company’s 64 million users.

      Gene Grabowski, senior vice president of the Levick Communications’ crisis management team, said that just because Facebook is among the vanguard of the so-called new online media companies, it can’t forget the basic rules of customer service and must accept a level of accountability commensurate with its popularity.

      For example, he said when Google started out, it was fun and experimental and it wasn’t held to a high standard. Now it’s an institution and the search vendor has to behave a certain way so that Wall Street and customers respect it. If it loses that respect it could lose business and its standing to competitors.

      Facebook, while nowhere as large as Google, is influential enough so that users are flocking to the site as a news source the way users go to The New York Times or The Washington Post, he said.

      “That’s what these new enterprises on the Internet need to learn as they mature and that is you can’t abandon the old ways of handling customers. To think that you are immune to that is suicide,” said Grabowski, whose team helped manage the fall out from the national spinach e.coli outbreak in 2006.

      Grabowski’s comments comes after the latest brouhaha embroiling Facebook, in which users are complaining about the difficulty of removing profile data when they want to leave the site for good. Facebook allows users to delete their profile data from the site, but only after users manually delete their profile information line by line.

      Facebook has since said it is working on ways to make the deletion process easier, but has not promised to offer a button that would “nuke” user data with a single click, which is what some members of this Facebook group are calling for.

      The issue is the latest in a customer-service quagmire the company is facing as it seeks to add more services and make more money from online ads.

      Last November, in an effort to revolutionize the way social networks deliver online ads, Facebook created Beacon, only to have users stage a widely publicized revolt because it felt like a privacy violation. More than 80,000 people signed a petition created by MoveOn.org to get Beacon turned off; the company made the service opt-in.

      In September 2006, more than 700,000 people signed a petition to get a new Facebook News Feed feature turned off for those who didn’t want it.

      To get on better footing with customers, Grabowski said the company should do three things. First, they must find a way to make it easier to end the relationship, which could be the so-called “nuke” button.

      Second, Facebook must publicize this, not just discreetly slip it into its user terms. For example, when Facebook made its Beacon service opt-in, CEO Mark Zuckerberg detailed it in a blog post on the site. Facebook should follow suit with its deletion process update or risk more poor publicity that will “erode its brand.”

      “This could keep people from signing up if they think their information if going to be misused,” Grabowski said.

      Third, Facebook should have a sort of a users bill of rights, or a list of tenets promising that they will honor the rights of their customers. These things, he said, could nip these in the bud.

      Even if Facebook does these things, it must be careful about preserving people’s privacy, according to Electronic Frontier Foundation Staff Technologist Peter Eckersley, who told eWEEK the latest Facebook fiasco illustrates why the United States needs better privacy laws.

      “Corporations simply have no business hoarding information on private individuals against their explicit wishes,” Eckersley told eWEEK. “Perhaps Facebook will learn eventually to understand this, but the law needs to ensure that the story can’t happen over and over again with other corporations.”

      Clint Boulton
      Clint Boulton

      Get the Free Newsletter!

      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis

      Get the Free Newsletter!

      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Artificial Intelligence

      9 Best AI 3D Generators You Need...

      Sam Rinko - June 25, 2024 0
      AI 3D Generators are powerful tools for many different industries. Discover the best AI 3D Generators, and learn which is best for your specific use case.
      Read more
      Cloud

      RingCentral Expands Its Collaboration Platform

      Zeus Kerravala - November 22, 2023 0
      RingCentral adds AI-enabled contact center and hybrid event products to its suite of collaboration services.
      Read more
      Artificial Intelligence

      8 Best AI Data Analytics Software &...

      Aminu Abdullahi - January 18, 2024 0
      Learn the top AI data analytics software to use. Compare AI data analytics solutions & features to make the best choice for your business.
      Read more
      Latest News

      Zeus Kerravala on Networking: Multicloud, 5G, and...

      James Maguire - December 16, 2022 0
      I spoke with Zeus Kerravala, industry analyst at ZK Research, about the rapid changes in enterprise networking, as tech advances and digital transformation prompt...
      Read more
      Video

      Datadog President Amit Agarwal on Trends in...

      James Maguire - November 11, 2022 0
      I spoke with Amit Agarwal, President of Datadog, about infrastructure observability, from current trends to key challenges to the future of this rapidly growing...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2024 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.