Learn the Reasons Why Quit Facebook Day Failed

Efforts to instill fear into the heart of Facebook by a massive single-day exodus from the social network failed. The special event, Quit Facebook Day managed to garner the strength of some 30,000 who closed their accounts, but - when compared with the nearly half million users that stayed - was unable to show significant solidarity among Facebook users.

Quit Facebook Day failed because of human nature, not because of any personal failure on the part of its organizers (although they should have known better): There will always be more people willing to talk than there will be those willing to act. Modern life is littered with examples of this principle. Think about eBay as an example. EBay and PayPal are well known for their abusive and confiscatory practices, but after a host of boycotts, the brands are stronger than ever. In fact with each new effort to tame the monster, it only got stronger. As is the case with Facebook, users are often dissatisfied with the service, but not to the point of willingness to do without. Other internet companies such as Google, are also frequently cited for privacy violations, yet the company continues to grow stronger as efforts to resist fall flat. This principle is not limited to the online world either.

Consider world news. Iran has been steadily plodding along building a nuclear weapons program under the nose of the United Nations (U.N.), the United States, and the rest of the international community. Virtually every country in the world acknowledges that a nuclear-armed Iran is a threat to us all. Still, in the face of such defiance, calls for U.N. sanctions against Iran fall on deaf ears. Every day that the world does not act against it, Iran becomes stronger, empowered by the same human flaws that empower Facebook and eBay.

China is another good example of this type of phenomenon. China is well known for its harsh treatment of political dissidents and persecution of religious practitioners. Its abhorrent record of human rights violations traces back all the way to its communist revolution. Slave and child labor drive the core of its economic growth as human beings are forced to labor in some of the worst conditions on the planet making iPhones, iPads, Android phones, television sets, computers, clothing, and more. China is known to use prisoners as organ banks, selling their organs to highest bidders on illicit international markets. The ruling elite in China continue to enrich themselves through the exploitation of their power and everyone knows it. China has abusive economic practices that have devastated the American economy and has enslaved generations of Americans to perpetual indebtedness to them. Everyone knows what's going on with China, but virtually no one is willing to act. Buy American campaigns, for example, are perennial failures, and American leaders unwilling to jeopardize their borrowing practices do little to aid the cause of the defenseless. China grows stronger every day.

Back in America, many members of the famous Tea Party movement promoted a one day boycott as a means to flex their muscle and show their influence: the event came and went virtually unnoticed. National organizers have organized boycotts against television pundits (such as Glenn Beck) and against states like South Carolina (that state has been boycotted since 2001) and most recently Arizona.

With all this said, Quit Facebook Day failed because users are unwilling to pay the price of doing without it. People will always sacrifice principle for convenience more readily than they will make sacrifices based on principle.