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Why Google And Facebook Need To Go Dark To Protest SOPA

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Re: Why Google And Facebook Need To Go Dark To Protest SOPA

#41

Post by kevinh »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #33
krschultz wrote: post #5

I don't think Google & Facebook need to go dark to achieve this. Going dark is not something either company would do - the cost is enormous and it would draw real ire from politicians. But Google simply changing it's logo for a day would be enough to magnify the publicity around this issue. That doesn't impact their users or their bottom line, but it gets the job done.

> Going dark is not something either company would do Until someone decides that they're hosting infringing content, of course.

I find it exceedingly hard to believe that Google would be brought down as a repercussion of Google. It's very unlikely that any widespread, powerful websites (like Google or Facebook) would be taken down, because removing them from the ecosystem would prompt an enormous user reaction. Say what you will about the intelligence of those involved with SOPA, they know about how much they can rock the boat.

Re: Why Google And Facebook Need To Go Dark To Protest SOPA

#42

Post by burgerbrain »

ericb wrote: post #36
burgerbrain wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that is a particularly good point. If a snake bites you, and you are not sure if it is poisonous or not, assume that it is and go to the hospital . Life or death health issues should not be googled, they should be taken care of by professionals.

OK, lets use our imagination. How about heart attack symptoms? Directions to the hospital? The phone number for your doctor (on his website, which you find by googling). How to safely use a chainsaw. What do when your toddler stops breathing. How to perform CPR. Drug contraindications. Where to call in a gas leak.

The answer to most of those is "911" (or your regional equivalent). The others are not time critical, read the manual, ask whoever you rented it from, or figure out how to use Bing.

I'm starting to feel old here...

Re: Why Google And Facebook Need To Go Dark To Protest SOPA

#43

Post by DrHankPym »

chc wrote: post #37
jonnathanson wrote: post #22

Google might be well served by some sort of partial blackout on its home page, but Facebook would need to get more creative -- and, dare I say it, more social. A blackout of any kind on Facebook would create a minor to major annoyance for an audience that we can presume is largely ignorant to apathetic about SOPA. If, instead, Facebook released profile widget of some sort -- say, a standardized black box as one's def…

I'm a lot confused. Are you saying that people wouldn't notice if you replaced the whole Facebook site with a protest message, but if you offer a protest widget to "an audience that we can presume is largely ignorant to apathetic about SOPA", it will spread like wildfire? That doesn't make any sense to me.

Taking down Facebook would be pointless. How else will people talk about SOPA? I think disabling features with a heavy theme of "SOPA will change the internet" will get a lot of discussion / attention on Facebook.

Re: Why Google And Facebook Need To Go Dark To Protest SOPA

#44

Post by Wilduck »

chc wrote: post #37
jonnathanson wrote: post #22

Google might be well served by some sort of partial blackout on its home page, but Facebook would need to get more creative -- and, dare I say it, more social. A blackout of any kind on Facebook would create a minor to major annoyance for an audience that we can presume is largely ignorant to apathetic about SOPA. If, instead, Facebook released profile widget of some sort -- say, a standardized black box as one's def…

I'm a lot confused. Are you saying that people wouldn't notice if you replaced the whole Facebook site with a protest message, but if you offer a protest widget to "an audience that we can presume is largely ignorant to apathetic about SOPA", it will spread like wildfire? That doesn't make any sense to me.

They would notice, but they wouldn't be interested. Their response would probably be something along the lines of "I hope this gets taken care of quickly so facebook can go back to normal."

The cool thing about the profile picture idea is that it makes it clear that your friends are opting in to this protest. It'll make you curious as to what's going on.

Re: Why Google And Facebook Need To Go Dark To Protest SOPA

#45

Post by ajankovic »

krschultz wrote: post #5

I don't think Google & Facebook need to go dark to achieve this. Going dark is not something either company would do - the cost is enormous and it would draw real ire from politicians. But Google simply changing it's logo for a day would be enough to magnify the publicity around this issue. That doesn't impact their users or their bottom line, but it gets the job done.

I also think they are not going to go dark. Think about how much money those companies are going to loose in a single day by doing that. And we all know corporations of that size are all about money.

Re: Why Google And Facebook Need To Go Dark To Protest SOPA

#47

Post by dmooney1 »

krschultz wrote: post #5

I don't think Google & Facebook need to go dark to achieve this. Going dark is not something either company would do - the cost is enormous and it would draw real ire from politicians. But Google simply changing it's logo for a day would be enough to magnify the publicity around this issue. That doesn't impact their users or their bottom line, but it gets the job done.

If not google.com, then maybe youtube.com, which would have very likely been shut down in its early days had SOPA existed then.

Re: Why Google And Facebook Need To Go Dark To Protest SOPA

#49

Post by jonnathanson »

chc wrote: post #37
jonnathanson wrote: post #22

Google might be well served by some sort of partial blackout on its home page, but Facebook would need to get more creative -- and, dare I say it, more social. A blackout of any kind on Facebook would create a minor to major annoyance for an audience that we can presume is largely ignorant to apathetic about SOPA. If, instead, Facebook released profile widget of some sort -- say, a standardized black box as one's def…

I'm a lot confused. Are you saying that people wouldn't notice if you replaced the whole Facebook site with a protest message, but if you offer a protest widget to "an audience that we can presume is largely ignorant to apathetic about SOPA", it will spread like wildfire? That doesn't make any sense to me.

Pretty much what Wilduck said. People would absolutely notice a service blackout, or a blanket reskinning of the entire site. But they wouldn't necessarily care. Additionally, they'd first be annoyed about it before stopping to read about why it was happening -- if they even decided to read about it at all. I suspect Facebook would generate as much resentment and/or confusion over the blackout as it would interest in the cause.

Conversely, a more "organic" message uptake strategy would be to seed the profile badges or pictures to highly influential users with big, engaged followings. These people would influence others within their networks, who would in turn influence their own friends. The opt-in nature of the protest would not engender any resentment toward Facebook, and it might be received more readily by the users -- each of whom could also act as an evangelist for the cause if they learned about it and engaged with it.

Even having influential Facebook employees (Zuckerberg, et al.) replace their profile pics with protest badges would work wonders and get lots of pickup.

However you want to slice it, my point is that it's better to use Facebook to spread the word than to spite Facebook to spread the word.

Re: Why Google And Facebook Need To Go Dark To Protest SOPA

#50

Post by mike-cardwell »

burgerbrain wrote: post #42
ericb wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK, lets use our imagination. How about heart attack symptoms? Directions to the hospital? The phone number for your doctor (on his website, which you find by googling). How to safely use a chainsaw. What do when your toddler stops breathing. How to perform CPR. Drug contraindications. Where to call in a gas leak.

The answer to most of those is "911" (or your regional equivalent). The others are not time critical, read the manual, ask whoever you rented it from, or figure out how to use Bing. I'm starting to feel old here...

Whilst you may not like his examples, you do understand the point he's making right?
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