Scoble Was Using Plaxo Pulse on Facebook

Scoble just revealed he was using an unreleased version of Plaxo Pulse at Facebook when he got shut down and blocked. He maintains he was just trying to get back what he had put in: his own Contact information.

Facebook has not yet joined the conversation but the day is early.  It will be interesting to see how long it takes them to join a conversation that is most relevant to them. It will also be interesting to see who responds from Facebook.

Facebook has only been officially open for an hour, but already there have been hundreds, if not thousands in the conversation, and still nothing from them.

Comments

[Josh Morgan]

Interesting comment about "Facebook has not yet joined the conversation." A question needs to be asked, should a company publicly talk about a dispute with one of its users or communicate directly with that person?

In this case, the user is someone who has chosen to be make their online life an open book, but that may not always be the case.

[David Wescott]

Facebook doesn't typically join conversations, whether it's user data or the arbitrary nature of banning and/or accepting content (breastfeeding pics banned, but pro-anorexia groups are OK),or the Beacon fiasco (they talked only as a last resort).

I'm guessing they'll talk soon, but honestly, what can they say? Their ToS agreement is their ToS agreement. Agree to it and you agree to give them control of your info.

Isn't this really the problem?

[shel israel]

David, An interesting point. But Scoble is a public figure and this has become a public issue, whether FaceBook wants it to be or not. This is the same issue that has existed for years. A disgruntled employee or customer or competitor raises a controversial issue. People start talking around the water cooler or on Twitter and the company chooses to stay out of the conversation. This is what gets people to dislike and distrust companies--they do not show they are listening. They do not show they are in the conversation. In this case, it appears a majority of people talking on this site, are more sympathetic to Facebook than Scoble. But, if facebook remains mute, it is staying away from an important conversation and a slighlty heated debate. In my opinion that will be big mistake over time. One of my complaints about Facebook is they do not appear to be a company that appears to be listening to growing concerns in its userbase.That is a huge mistake.

[David Wescott]

Shel, you're exactly right about what the big problem is about Facebook:

"they do not appear to be a company that appears to be listening to growing concerns in its userbase.That is a huge mistake."

This is the big problem. It does not consider its users to be its customers. Facebook's customers are advertisers (and a small handful of opinion elites like Scoble, because they can drive advertisers).

I, a mere mortal, can go to Facebook and ask "since when does my contact list become your proprietary information?" and I don't think I'll hear much until I identify myself as a columnist.

I acknowledge it's hard to reply to the concerns of millions of users, but that's really the price you should pay, isn't it?