Facebook suffered a serious blow this past week. It was hacked by a group of people looking to do only one thing – wreak havoc! These people were not trying to steal Facebook user’s identity or credit card information; they only wanted to make the Facebook community a little less trusting of their beloved social networking site.
Across the world Facebook user’s home pages were plastered with disturbing images of dead animals, people and babies as well as extremely detailed pornographic images. These images spread like wildfire from home page to home page with just a simple click – viral in less than a minute.
Facebook was ambushed by this attack and their public relations department was forced to immediately send out a news release not only warning their users but reassuring them that the problem was being dealt with as swiftly as possible. They also urged their customers to tag each photo as spam in order for them to track the process of the virus more effectively.
Facebook users were appalled at the fact that this could happen to their beloved social media site. Some consumers even messaged that they were going to, “Boycott Facebook until they figured this mess out!”
This shows the power that social media carries in our world today. This reassures us advertising students and people in the field that social media is here to stay! Facebook as well as other social media platforms are an essential tool to help us with advertising but examples like this show how easily these sites can be corrupted and distorted to cause mass confusion.
With power comes responsibility. Facebook is giving us the power so it is our responsibility to use it to its fullest potential without letting it get out of control.
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