social networking sites and has placed Facebook in the media spotlight (Fletcher, 2010).
The continued protests and negative media attention eventually prompted Facebook to
re-evaluate its privacy controls. In May 2010 the company introduced simple user-friendly
controls to enable users to effectively protect themselves online. Despite the continued
criticism of Facebook and its approach to privacy, millions of new accounts are set up
each month (Brustein, 2010). Facebook is increasingly been seen as a social utility: ‘services
everyone uses, no matter how much people dislike them’ (Brustein, 2010: 1). The term
‘satisfice’, introduced by Herbert Simon in 1956, is relevant to the Facebook phenomenon.
‘Satisfice’ unites the words ‘satisfy’ and ‘suffice’ and recognises that people often make
choices based on their friends’ activities, although they are not completely satisfied with
the service or customer experience (Hesseldahl, 2010). In other words, people become
tolerant of dissatisfactory elements in order to share in experiences with others. Hesseldahl
(2010) recognises this tolerance within a social media context, which also holds true in the
case of Facebook. The lack of alternatives also helps to cement Facebook’s dominance in
the social networking marketplace (Brustein, 2010).