Anyway, this definitely shows the double-edged nature of community-based businesses. The audience now has the tools and ability to bite back if they don’t like where a business is headed. And, more critically, their impact/reaction can be felt almost immediately (as opposed to say a boycott of consumer goods). Interesting stuff.

One interesting note — this is the second time that Facebook has had to change course and issue a public apology. The first time, as you might recall, was when they launched the facebook news feed. Obviously it has turned into a huge, sticky feature for them but the initial lack of opt out and privacy controls (iirc) resulted in a similar backpedaling and public apology. You’d *think* that someone in management might have been wary of repeating the same mistake twice, but oh well.

When you’ve got the momentum of a Facebook, you can afford a few missteps of this sort.