An interesting post in Slate reads differently from what you may be thinking; it’s not the creators, the executives, or even the purse-holding accountants – it’s the users. Slate author Edmond Lee argues that it’s the same users who have signed up for a free account and use Facebook bandwidth to create personal profiles, upload pictures, and network on personal and professional levels that are really calling the shots. His biggest example: the recent uproar among Facebookers over the change in Terms of Service. Unless you’ve been unplugged from every media source you’ve heard about it: the calamity Facebook caused when they changed their terms to say that they basically assume ownership over every piece of personalized material you upload to their servers; you can upload but you can’t ever delete the content. Outraged, and likely perplexed (why do they want to keep the picture of me and my sister in our backyard???), Facebookers raged against the machines. Quick to defend Facebook’s stance, CEO Mark Zuckerberg attempted to put out the flames by explaining that the terms merely reflected an information-sharing security measure.

Let’s spin it old school: say I leave behind a few personal items at my parent’s home and later return to throw out some items and take a few others with me when I leave for college. My parents, worried that their trash may be picked through or that the objects will be stolen from my dorm room, forbid the items to leave the house saying they’re just looking after my [information-sharing] security. Granted, my parents aren’t in the business of raising children for money but the principal is the same. They provided me a free service (a space to call my own) and during this time I added my personal affects to this space. Now that I’m ready to take my personal items elsewhere they’re claiming control.

Three days later Facebook changed the wording back to the original terms.

Slate’s position is that this step backwards was a huge transgression on the part of Facebook and that the company is “doomed to fail”. LOL! “By heeding to the objections of its grumbling users, Facebook has essentially painted itself into a revenue corner.” ROFL!

I respectfully, and wholeheartedly, disagree. Social media – from a networking or marketing perspective – fundamentally is ALL ABOUT the user and it always has been. Sure, it’s a business and it’s got to turn a profit but Facebook isn’t having any trouble turning huge profit numbers and its business model is not in jeopardy now simply because they listened to their users. If ever there was a sign for the positive effects democracy can bring, Facebook has shown us in a new-age sort of way.

Facebook’s business principal is growth, then revenue. They invest time first in learning the behaviors of their users and then turning it into a profit. Perhaps that’s why it’s overtaking MySpace in terms of growth, flying right in the face of MySpace’s business principal: money first! Facebook hasn’t stepped backwards; they’ve leaped forward and businesses looking to make a profit and keep happy customers have some homework to do when it comes to customer service, client retention, and brand management.