Hey Zuckerberg, Take Facebook Down for a Day
January 18, 2012 by Kevin Michael Gray
If you go to Wikipedia right now (1/18/2012) you will not be able to access the website as they have gone dark for the entire day as a way of protesting the SOPA and PIPA. If you're not familar with SOPA or PIPA it is 'short for the "Stop Online Piracy Act," and PIPA is an acronym for the "Protect IP Act." ("IP" stands for "intellectual property.") In short, these bills are efforts to stop copyright infringement committed by foreign web sites, but, in our [Wikipedia's] opinion, they do so in a way that actually infringes free expression while harming the Internet.' Mashable released an article challenging Mark Zuckerburg (Facebook CEO) to follow suit and close down Facebook for the day. What are your thoughts on the issue? Tweet about it @seedingideas:
Mashable's article below:
So now we know how Mark Zuckerberg feels about SOPA. The Facebook founder made his opposition to the “poorly thought out law” clear — a little belatedly, perhaps, but plainly — in a post on the social network Wednesday. The post is blowing up: it has 250,000 Likes at time of writing, and 100,000 of those were gained in the past hour.
But as many of the commenters on that post have pointed out, talk is cheap. If Facebook really wanted to oppose SOPA, they say, it would do what Wikipedia and dozens of other popular sites across the Internet have done Wednesday. It would go dark for a day in protest, and direct users to contact their representatives.
So why hasn’t it?
Doubtless the main argument against such a move is financial. Facebook made about $4.25 billion last year; by that reckoning, a single day of outage would cost the site nearly $12 million in revenue. Advertisers would be furious; space they bought in good faith would either be blacked out or appear next to blacked-out text.
The day of protest also comes at an inconvenient moment in Facebook’s calendar. At a press event Wednesday night in San Francisco, the social network is set to introduce a set of apps based on its new Open Graph and Gestures platforms. Zuckerberg could hardly showcase those apps on a blacked-out social network, could he?
Well, yes, actually, he could. I can’t speak for all journalists, but I can say that most of us would be delighted if a by-the-book product launch (starring features we’ve known about for months) was replaced by an impromptu political rant against one of the most controversial pieces of legislation in recent years. Zuckerberg versus Congress? Sign me up for front row seats.
Alternatively, just delay the launch by a day or two. You’re Facebook; it’s not like we’re not going to show up.
That argument goes double for advertisers. Facebook is in an enviable position right now. It’s one of the hottest properties on the planet. A Nielsen study has shown that users notice and interact with Facebook ads more than the alternative online forms (such as Google advertising). Who wouldn’t want a piece of that, even at the cost of losing one day’s worth of advertising?
