Today author and blogger Cory Doctorow canceled his personal Facebook account over “privacy awfulness” from the social networking service. Nevertheless, his Facebook-created “Community Page” remains.
Should authors have any control over these new Community Pages? As we reported earlier today, these Community Pages are “owned collectively by the community connected to it,” according to Facebook. Currently the pages include aggregated Facebook posts about the author or brand, a Wikipedia entry, and an open invitation to help curate the page at some point in the future.
UPDATE: Doctorow responded via email: “I resigned my account because I felt like my presence there was a small but meaningful enticement to my readers to use the service, which made me part of the problem. I’ve always believed that my readers should have maximum freedom to use my works in ways that satisfy them. I’d rather they found each other off Facebook, but it’s not my place to tell them were they can or can’t talk about my books.”