Is Facebook a human right?

It's big news these days when one of the major social networks is hacked or experiences technical difficulties.  When Facebook had to shut down for a short time on 23rd September there were thousands of complaints on blogs, Twitter and other social media sites - but do we have a right to complain?  Facebook is, after all, a free service for us the consumer.

So, does that mean we are 'customers' or not?  If we consider this in business terms it brings us back to the fundamental idea that business is about exchange.  For the majority of organisations, the exchange process is based on the customer paying money in exchange for goods and services - but in Facebook's case the model is more complex.  Are we, the users, still customers even though we are not paying for the service?  Are Facebook's advertisers their real customers?

For advertisers the exchange process and customer relationship is clear; advertisers pay Facebook to show their advertisements on its network. However, we the users also pay a price in exchange for the service we get from Facebook.

We pay in two ways:


1. The first price is time.  Any time that we spend on Facebook is time when we are potentially viewing and responding to advertisements.  This 'face time' has a value to the advertiser and so it can be sold.  As customers, the time we spend on Facebook has an opportunity cost - what else could we be doing instead of browsing Facebook?  Working? By spending time on Facebook we are missing the opportunity to do other things that might have a value to us.

2. The second, and increasingly more important price we pay is data.  We provide Facebook with huge amounts of information about ourselves.  Our willingness to share detailed information about who we are, where we are, and what we like is one of the cornerstones of the Facebook model.  This data is hugely valuable to marketers who are always striving to know their customers better.  The data we provide enables Facebook to make its advertising network more effective and more attractive to their customers.

So, looking at it in this light, do we have the right to complain when Facebook fails?  Perhaps we do.  However, it concerns me that our society is being conditioned to expect services to be free in money terms.  Although this encourages new and innovative business models, some of these models (as we've seen recently within the banking system) are not built on sound financial principles.  There is an inherent risk that they will collapse and fail - and what then for those who have come to rely on free at the point of use information sources?  Will social media services be propped up by government funds?  Will there be a Facebook tax?

Is Facebook a human right?  Of course it's not; but we need to think carefully about how heavily we rely on such sites, and manage our own expectations of the services they  provide us.