Been meaning to do this for a long time, and finally pulled the trigger. I suppose technically the account won’t go belly-up for a couple weeks, but as long as I don’t log in again my Facebook account should be deleted. Of course, given past history (just Google “Facebook privacy issues” for a Russian novel’s worth of stories) it wouldn’t surprise me if Zuckerberg & company hang on to my data, but at least they won’t be getting any more of it.
Of course, I’m well aware that Facebook is not the only entity out there tracking my internet habits for its own gain. However, there are two things about Facebook that has led me to sever my relationship with it. First, the company is notorious for violating user privacy. I know of no other company that treats its users with as little respect as what it seems to show for personal data. Second, what I get out of Facebook is frankly not worth the potential downside. There’s not much that happens on Facebook that I can’t get either from my own (sadly neglected) blog or from Twitter. Unlike Google, which provides a number of highly valuable services, Facebook has always just been nothing more than a diversion. So…buh-bye.