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Facebook: True Fans Only

I wrote a few weeks ago about Nick, who has been on a satiric effort to subvert the Facebook Fan concept by friending any and all big brands he can find. He’d collected about 150 brands. But last night all but a few miraculously disappeared. He’s left with only 8 or 9 versions of Starbucks to adore and a smattering of other brands.

Is it a violation of FB terms of service to fan things you’re not really a fan of?

Is there a maximum limit on how many things you can fan?

Did they get wind of his subversion and decide to send him a warning?

Is there any legitimate justification for this on Facebook’s part? No parody allowed? No play allowed?

Color me not exactly shocked because FB has demonstrated an ethos of control many times before, but I am disappointed. Play and satire are good things.

Update: Fred Stutzman offers a theory:

My guess is they’ve purged brands created by people who are not associated with the brand’s network; the fact that anyone could create a page for Union Carbide was too simply too sublime to last.

Which seems good except for that they deleted his being a fan of this blog, though its fanpage (sad and lonely as it may be) has not been deleted…

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 6th, 2008 at 10:07 AM
and filed under Social Networking Sites.

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Comments (4) to “Facebook: True Fans Only”

  1. Nikolai the Director wrote:

    What is it with people like this nick fellow – why won’t they just give facebook the respect it deserves instead of constantly lampooning it?

    Posted on 06-Mar-08 at 11:01 am | Permalink

  2. Nancy Baym wrote:

    Not sure if that comment was satire or true adulation. Of course FB deserves respect. It also deserves critique, and Nick’s strategy was an awfully gentle form of critique.

    Posted on 06-Mar-08 at 11:06 am | Permalink

  3. Stefan Nilsson wrote:

    Yes, it feels a bit tired and cliched trying to subvert a Facebook account, or whatever he’s trying to do. Give it a rest.

    Posted on 07-Mar-08 at 2:16 pm | Permalink

  4. Nancy Baym wrote:

    Ok, I can get that what Nick is doing strikes some people as tired or pointless. I disagree, but that’s a legitimate perspective.

    But why does that make it ok for Facebook to delete what he’s done?

    And what else might they delete?

    Posted on 07-Mar-08 at 2:51 pm | Permalink