Facebook: Who controls the network?

This weeks question was "Who controls the network?" I decided to answer this question using an example from a social media site. There are so many people in today's society that use the Internet for just that reason. They have a profile on Facebook or twitter and in most cases both. In this example, a woman posted a photo on Facebook that showed herself breastfeeding her daughter. Facebook decided that it was a violation of their nudity protocol and took it down. After this happened she was angry with what Facebook did and re-posted the photo onto a pro-breastfeeding Facebook page. After getting some attention the photo had over 160,000 likes and was shared over 22,000 times. A few days after it was re-posted Facebook then took it down again. Hundreds and hundreds of angry Facebook users complained to Facebook about how they shouldn't have taken the photo down in the first place. After the complaints were made Facebook then decided to change their policy to exclude breastfeeding photos. In this case the users of Facebook were able to control the network.

Facebook makes it rules and regulations based on what the users want because they are the ones who keep Facebook relevant. If they don't pay attention to those who have Facebook then they may lose customers. With most social media companies this is usually the case. The users are the ones who post and create activity on the time lines of these social media platforms.

Discussion: One of the questions I asked after my presentation was if the audience felt that this incident would be a gateway to the changing of more rules. As the Internet and society changes so do the things that will go on the networks. Someone said that since the changes happen almost everyday that there won't be a need to get them changed.

Sources:

Facebook: The Missing Manuel (3rd ed.). O' Reilly Media.

Staubhaar, J., & LaRose, R. (2014) Media Now: Understanding media, culture, and technology (8^th ed., pp. 251-283). Belmont, Calif.: Waldsworth;.