Charities: Looking the Gift Horse in the Mouth
We all know that the general public is not to happy the announcement that Facebook is refusing to install a panic button for users. Of course, many people also do not understand the concept of deterrence on the internet and fail to realize that things that apply to the real world do not necessarily apply as well on the internet.
The bottom line here is that despite the good intentions of charities, the police and everyone else, it is Facebook that truly understands the nature of the internet. Take it from them -they are the ones with a social networking site with millions of users.
Now, it has been said that Facebook’s current actions are simply going around the real requirement (which is to add a panic button) and that the social networking site is simply doing things in order to look like they are doing something productive. This perspective however, could not be more wrong.
Facebook’s decision to provide proper help guides and detailed content regarding what people can do when confronted with offensive content or accounts that clearly violate rules is far more productive than making a panic button graphic.
The link is more than sufficient, and in the internet, it is knowing what a link does and what it is for that gets people to use, not bright shiny images (face it, when did you last click a bright shiny pop up ad?).
Now, the biggest insult to Facebook is calling their offer of free advertising as a “cynical approach”. Charities should know better than to snap the hand that is being extended out to them. Advertising space on a social networking site is a prime spot, and no spot is more “prime” than Facebook.
Tags: Facebook, online-safety, social-networking
