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Students to Facebook: More turnkey online 'protest petitions'?

What will the "principled," but non-paying users of Facebook do now that it is abundantly clear that they are not "in control?"
Written by Donna Bogatin, Contributor
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In "Web 2.0 'users in control': Of who, and to what means?" I "predicted" that Facebook's founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg would continue undeterred in his mission to make Facebook more useful to users and more attractive to business partners.

I also cited Facebook's recent business development deals (see links below) as further indication that Zuckerberg is firmly in control of Facebook's destiny.

Facebook outsources ad sales to Microsoft: Why can't it make money on its own?”

Is Web 2.0 starting to see green?”

Facebook cedes equity stake to ad agency and gains advertising dollars

For Zuckerberg, the Facebook destiny has become highly commercial. To grow usage, Facebook is abandoning its "elitist" academic and professional domain holders only stance and leting any anonymous hotmail citizen in on social networking nirvana (see Facebook to students: Zuckerberg and VCs are 'in control' ).

What will the "principled," but non-paying, student users of Facebook do now that it is abundantly clear that they are not "in control"?

Will Facebook users spark another round of turnkey online "protest petitions"? In "Facebook 'activism': how about a greater good?" I put forth that Facebook students' effortless "activism" is not meaningful:

In the 1960’s, students marched in the face of police armed force to stop the bombing of people; in 2006, students click a computer mouse to stop text “bombardments” of personal vanity homepages.

What is the mighty Facebook “uprising”? It is an online gossip fest about the right to gossip online, for free.

Will Facebook users show some initiative and creativity of their own and buld a better online social networking mousetrap? In "Homework for Facebook students: hack your own social network!" I challenge Facebook students to follow in Zuckerberg's footsteps and create an even cooler app:

There seems to be a simple solution: the thousands of unhappy, non-paying users of Facebook can take Paul Graham, YCombinator, up on his Web 2.0 start-up advice and use their allowance pools to hack an online social networking cool app more to their liking!

Paul Graham says "not to sweat the business model" and angel finances teams of twenty something hackers with scant more than a three month “allowance."

I even offered a handy slogan to rally the Facebookers: FACEBOOK STUDENTS UNITE: STOP YACKING AND START HACKING!

Or, will Facebook users simply realize that maybe actual face time is not so bad and do their social networking the old fashioned, but real, way: over lunch at the frat house, over books at the library, over beer at a bar... 

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