Luckily, Facebook doesn't have to choose. It's both. This is on the heels of a report that their customer satisfaction ranking is below that of the IRS. They can take some small solace in the fact that they beat out MySpace by a point.
But, one has to wonder, what the future of social networks are if folks are that are so unsatisfied by their membership in a free club? Perhaps most Facebook users have arrived at the crossroad of Hype and Reality and find Reality to be the better road to take. I was not much convinced about the value of Facebook in my life and only grudgingly joined.
My profile is as locked down as I can make it, and only a handful of friends have made it into my network. The UI, which was already chaotic to begin with, has only grown increasingly cluttered and overly busy - perhaps designed for a target demographic other than me... but nonetheless it lacks friendly customization features that can attract and hold members across all demographics. But most importantly, I find the causal dismissal of the importance of someone else's privacy to be somewhere between appalling and unnerving. Or maybe both.
It's time for Facebook to wake up, look in the mirror and decide if it wants to grow up. If so, it needs to take itself more seriously if it wants to continue to expand. It is only possible to do that if you hang onto the folks you have. Facebook is going to need to focus on servicing all of it's members all the way from 13 to 83.
Facebook, you don't know best - your customers do. So start asking them what they need and want and get them involved in your development process - before you don't have them anymore.
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