#WTF: Facebook?!

 #TalkNerdyToMeLover's @RustyNath

Last week I received a really dodgy piece of mail in my facebook inbox.  Not only was it threatening, insulting and abusive, it was also most likely highly illegal.  Now I’m sure that this doesn’t happen to all of us everyday.

It is quite rare for me to open my inbox and have spam let alone threats of violence.  I myself do not have many enemies, I prefer to make friends and be at peace with the world.  I’m a big believer that karma is a real bitch! Unfortunately at sometime in our life, we will most likely have to deal with nasty unlikeable human beings and I’m sure we all can recall a time when this has managed to ruin our day.  So in my never ending quest to be a “good person” and do the right thing, I immediately reported this activity to Facebook.   Karma, are you reading this?

For those of you who haven’t had the not so fun job of having to actually report abuse to facebook, there is a link, albeit small; next to the user/poster’s name that you can click on to report a violation of Facebook “terms of use”.  Click on this and you are provided with a friendly little pop up that gives you reassurance that your report will be confidential.  You may then select the following options as to why you want to report the item to Facebook. “Insulting Message”, “Threatening Message”, “Inappropriate sexual language”, “Advertisment/Spam” and “phishing message”.  You also have the option to block the offender without reporting them.  Any user that you do report is automatically blocked.   So far so good I’m thinking, then I click “submit”.  Woohoo, I’ve reported this obscenity, the offender is blocked and facebook will go medieval on their ass!  Or will they?  When I saw the next pop up I was actually in more shock than when I received the offending material!

WTF facebook?  I send you a report, give you my feedback and ask you to help out a loyal user and nice bloke!  You also happen to collect copious amounts of information about me and are paid big bucks from advertisements I have to read everyday.  So I begin to wonder: Do you actually care and will you even take any action on my report?  After a little digging around, I’m pretty sure the answer is a big fat NO!

In early March this year, a facebook user posted a terribly horrendous video of an innocent dog being viciously beaten.  Not only did this cause outrage worldwide, it also spawned a facebook group dedicated to having his profile removed and preventing him from using facebook again EVER!  Do some research and almost a month down the track this user still has an active facebook account.

Not content with facebooks inaction in these matters, I considered contacting them, email, phone, letter...  Well all but buying a plane ticket to the US and camping on their doorstep!  Well I did contemplate that actually!  Has anyone ever tried to contact facebook?  Is this even possible?  I finally did find a way I could contact them, after trawling through their pages.  At the bottom of a facebook  page I discovered they were more than happy to hear from me...  If I wanted to advertise! 

Don’t get me wrong, I love facebook.  It has changed the scope of the way we contact and interact with friends and new acquaintances.  I’m an avid fan of it and I’m sure so are you the reader. I just find it very strange that with over 218 million users that they seem to be choosing to ignore what is a very important problem.  They have pulled off the equivalent of going “Hey look over there!” then running away.   As big as your company is, no matter how much money you make, consumers want to feel looked after and to deal with someone they trust.  Basic marketing principles.  At the end of the day it is we, the people who created facebook.  Mr Zuckerberg would not be worth over 4 billion dollars without the users.  In essence facebook, you are a company and we are your consumers!  Without us you would not be successful.  At all, period!  I plead with you to listen to your consumers more pro-actively.  Not only will it help us, it will help you and we all know it!  With the money you’re making from all those advertisements and marketing information you’re collecting about us, surely you should be socially responsible.  I mean would it be that difficult for you to actually have a customer feedback department?  You might even be able to use this to learn more about us than you already know!  Now what a smart idea that would be.

So I'm dedicating this to all the users out there on facebook, who; like all my facebook friends are bloody good peeps! Just remember “we’re the ones who made them” and keep fighting the good fight!

By the way if you do happen to come upon something offensive in your facebook or internet travels, DON’T let it ruin your day.  I shall hereby pass on some wonderful advice that a dear friend gave me “Don’t even waste a MINUTE of your energy on it.  Life is too awesome!”

On that note, I’d like to dedicate this song to Mr. Mark Zuckerberg, founder of facebook...

Hit it Marshall!

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