Scoble Gets His Account Back At Facebook
Published by Rodney Rumford January 3rd, 2008 in Facebook.
Everyone has been abuzz with the fact that uber Blogger and buddy Robert Scoble had his account disabled by the facebook bots. Robert had the maximum number of friends allowable on facebook; which is 5000.
Robert was a bit of a guinea pig I suspect, and was running a script by Plaxo Pulse to effectively export his connections data from facebook.
Long story short… Facebook disabled his account and he effectively disappeared from facebook. He broke their terms and conditions. I suspect that he anticipated that this was a real possibility. But this now brings to the surface the larger issue of who owns your social connections and should you be able to take them with you?
I suspect that in the near future (6-9 months?)facebook platform 2 will actually accommodate what Scoble was trying to accomplish.
You can read more of the facebook/plaxo/portability saga and the piles of comments here on Roberts Blog.
Technorati Tags: facebook, scoble, plaxo, plaxo pulse
I think the real question we need to be asking is, “if the person in question wasn’t a semi-celebrity, would they still have gotten their account back?”
Is Facebook beginning to smack of Google?
I think they might have gotten their account back.
But without a doubt the firestorm Robert created in the blogosphere and the fact is he does have influence in tech circles; I am sure it did not hurt.
He did take the regular channels to request his account back. he did not go to their pr department or call in any favors.
Facebook IS acting like Google, Apple, Microsoft: Tight lipped. Thats what happens when you have momentum on your side and a large user base.