Accommodation Is Not a Shield From Criticism
By
The following article was published in the Huffington Post on April 29, 2012, and was entitled “How To Survive Facebook,” with the accompanying illustration created by Andrew S. Tan. The Huffington Post story, by the way, is reproduced here in full.
Facebook, in an effort to win over users who may be struggling with their finances, recently came up with an offer of discounts to those who are already paying full cash for their accommodation.
The new offer has had some criticism. “The government should be putting a stop to such cheap accommodation, which is going to make things worse,” a user posted on the Facebook page. “We can’t afford to waste money on what is really a luxury.”
One supporter of the discount, who preferred to remain anonymous, wrote “This is not the first time the government has tried to force me to move to a state that is too expensive… I won’t be forced, either to move or to live with my children.”
Another anonymous Facebook user wrote, “A private citizen is welcome to move to a less expensive area. This doesn’t hurt anyone, and I am happy to share my thoughts with you.”
“But this is not the way to go about it,” another commenter wrote. “We already pay the price for our luxury, we should also pay for the cost of our extravagence.”
But, as this Huffington Post story points out, there’s a problem with using Facebook’s service to save on accommodation. As with any advertising program, the chances for its success are slim. And, as with any free service, it can easily create resentment and controversy when its costs are not fully covered.
“The cost of Facebook’s service will be in the long-term loss of customers,” the Huffington Post story said. “People are likely to see the value in an Internet service only if the user is forced to buy the service.”
And the same could be said of most social network sites in general, given the sheer number of users we have today. How many people would want to have to pay if, on the flip side, their friends are also offered a discount in the form of a new
