Key to Facebook’s initial success was the simple fact that the vast majority of its profiles represented actual people: The social network requires users to register under their real names.
Arguably that restriction has made Facebook feel safer and less entropic than MySpace, which teems with pseudonymous users and joke profiles. But Facebook’s real-name requirement is drawing some fire, reports The Globe and Mail, in Toronto. A blogger who goes by Jon Swift recently had his Facebook profile yanked, and although the site later relented and reinstated the page, the issue sparked broader debate about the merits of Facebook’s ban on pseudonyms.
“Impersonating anyone or anything is prohibited,” states Facebook policy, and understandably so. But unless one argues that Jon Swift really was trying to pass as the 18th-century Irish satirist, it’s hard to argue that impersonation was really the issue here. There are surely plenty of academic bloggers who value their anonymity just as Mr. Swift does. Should they, too, be allowed to create Facebook profiles with fake names? —Brock Read
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