Facebook strikes down on social networking “suicide”

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Anyone can delete their Facebook account if they have had their fill of the web’s most popular social networking site, but what if someone wants to go out with a bang, rather than a whimper? A handful of websites have been offering Facebook users the option of what some refer to as social networking “suicide”–a way to ritualistically delete all Facebook friends or Twitter followers, post a farewell message online and even upload a special commemorate “plaque” or memorial, to serve as a virtual tombstone. The Web 2.0 Suicide Machine is a website and application based in the Netherlands, which allows Facebook users to disengage from all major social networking sites in one swift, decisive click of the mouse. Those who use this website can sit back in front of their computer and watch as all their Facebook friends and Twitter followers are systematically deleted from their account one-by-one.

But Web 2.0 Suicide Machine may face legal challenges from Facebook, which is reportedly worried about the site storing the profile, account and password information of its users. When Seppukoo.com tried to popularize a similar form of disengagement from Facebook last year, the social networking site sent it a cease and desist order. Seppukoo.com arguably went even further than the Web 2.0 Suicide Machine. The company—named after an ancient Japanese death ritual–went as far as to organize a “virtual group suicide” in November 2009, when people related to this project created a series of fake Facebook profiles—using the names of late celebrities such as Kurt Cobain–only to then delete them all as a group. The site even offers people the opportunity to replace their Facebook profile pictures with a memorial plaque, serving as a virtual tombstone. Facebook has reportedly opened an investigation into this growing phenomenon and is considering further legal action.