25 April 2008

Social Networks: You Can Check Out But You Can Never Leave

Attn: Social Network Operators
Always, always provide an easy way for your members to delete their account. And always, provide an easy way to opt-out of receiving your newsletters. 99 percent of all social networks already do this. If you belong to the 1 percent that doesn't, get with the program. Social networks shouldn't feel like the Hotel California.

Why My Friend Wanted to Leave
I spent some time chatting with a good friend of mine yesterday. I hadn't seen him in months. I asked him if he had seen that I left the web to print social media network site (not named). That's when he laid a bombshell on me. He had left, too.

Why? He felt as though he no longer fit in there.

Why not? His words exactly: "With all the Charter ads, it just felt like the site was getting too commercial too quick. " He also cited that the site and the publication lacked the edge he thought it was going to have. (Note: It didn't have the edge, because the site owner/publisher didn't allow it an edge, censoring and chastising anyone who said anything inflammatory. A major faux pas in the world of social networking.)

He, too, had a problem with not being able to delete his account and with still receiving the newsletters. This makes me wonder how many others have tried to flock away, but couldn't.

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