KATE SCHWARTZ
Staff Writer
The once exclusive atmosphere of Facebook is being compromised once more, as its doors will open to the general public in the coming weeks.
As the News Feed becomes more familiar to users, Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook, announced in an open letter that now ineligible users will soon be invited to join the Facebook family with only a valid e-mail required.
Freshman and new Facebook user Julie Phillips was disappointed at the thought of an “open” Facebook.
“It was nice to have something different than Myspace,” she said. “Now it feels just like high school. What’s the point?”
Users must provide an e-mail address associated with a college, high school or a corporation. This requirement has made Facebook a site mainly populated and accessible to college students.
While virtually all Internet networks are anything but private, college students have grown to trust the security of Facebook over other networks such as MySpace and Xanga.
These students fear that the privacy and loyalty of Facebook is being traded in for a large price tag. According to a March 28th article in Business Week Online, Facebook’s value is growing to a net worth of more than $500,000. The article also stated that Zuckerberg has already turned down one offer for $750,000.
Just as students responded to the News Feed last week, protest groups are attracting thousands of agitated users. The group “ Official Petition Against Opening Facebook” has more than 48,000 members. Many Pepperdine students said they were against the change.
“If I wanted MySpace, I would just use it,” said freshman Crystal Taylor. “I don’t need two of the same thing.”
While groups concerning the News Feed reached numbers of more than 717,000, students and other members of Facebook are hoping to make the same impact. When compared to the 9 million members of Facebook, though, the revolt does not seem as intense.
Students posted comments on the site expressing their concern with the recent changes to Facebook. One post stated “If we only wanted to network and have friends lists on Myspace we would. But we are here, so obviously we want something distinguishably different.”
In an open letter, Mark Zuckerberg assured all Facebook users that “college networks will remain exclusive to people from those colleges. High school and work networks will remain exclusive as well. This is what makes Facebook different, and we’re not changing it.”
While pro-open door groups boast no more than 100 members globally, some Pepperdine students feel that all of the uproar is an overreaction to a small problem.
“A network is a network,” said Junior Micaela Gil-Casas. “It shouldn’t depend on if you’re in high school or college.”
Another tactic used by irritated members is the boycott of products advertised through Facebook. In the official online petition, it was established that users may refrain from purchasing any products or services advertised on Facebook or terminate their accounts with Facebook.
The petition includes 5,293 total signatures to date.
According to an article from USA Today on Sept. 11, Danah Boyd, a social media researcher for Yahoo, suspects that the recent Facebook developments could cause trouble for the new company in the near future.
“Already, the high school students, college students and corporate accounts are having a hard time dealing with each other’s presence,” Boyd said in USA Today. “I don’t even want to think what will happen when Mom and Dad can join in.”
09-21-2006