As morbid as it sounds, did you know that the term ‘viritual suicide’ actually exisits? Yes, really. There are multiple websites that specialize in this. But, the always classy Facebook is not having any of this ‘virtual suicide’ nonsense.
In late January, Facebook served SuicideMachine.org with a cease and desist order.  Suicide Machine is a website which allows you to basically break off all your social networking ties – by deleting your profile/information/pictures from the websites. (Apparently, this website works with Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Linkedin by entering your login information for each respsective website.) After using the service, all your information is erased from the websites, as if your profile was just a long forgotten electronic memory.
Similarly, back in December, another ‘virtual suicide’ website, Seppukoo.com, was also served with a cease and desist order. As the LA Times reported, Facebook’s legal team claimed that Sepukoo (which is similar to a Japanese word meaning ‘ritual suicide’) violated these rights and responsiblities (as listed on Facebook’s website):
So, unlike the NFL handing out cease and desist orders to Saints vendors who aren’t violating any of the NFL’s intellectual propery, it seems as though Facebook has the right to issue cease and desist orders to these websites. After all, Facebook’s ultimate goal is to increase the amount of users on the site, not have another website aid in decreasing the number of users. But, on the flip side, if someone wants to destroy its social networking profiles (say, for career/work purposes), shouldn’t they be allowed to use a website that does it for them? It is much more efficient and quicker that way, no doubt about it.
Nonetheless, Facebook issuing cease and desist orders can be seen as a legitimate business decision. Why would Facebook ever want another website interfering with its users, accessing its users’ information and potentially decreasing the number of members? Ultimately, this leads to decreasing the overall time spent on the website. And let’s face it – the less time a user spends updating/surfing/stalking on Facebook means that the user will have less exposure to its ads.  What does this mean for Facebook?  *gasp* Less ad revenue.
Facebook charges its advertisers based on the either the cost per click (“CPC”) or per thousand impressions (“CPM”). CPC means that every time an ad is actually clicked, then the advertiser is charged.  However, with CPM, the advertiser is allowed to specify how much they are willing to pay for every thousand times their ad is shown.
As such, in order to generate revenue, Facebook needs to maintain its effort of attracting/retaining users and keep them on the site for as much as possible.  Suicide Machine and Seppukoo are websites that do not contribute to this goal.  Cease and desist? Yes, please. I’m with Facebook on this one.
Posted by Melanie on February 11, 2010 at 3:00 pm.
