Should You Change Your Facebook Display Picture?

Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the US coupled with his meeting with CEOs of tech giants like Facebook, Google, SAP and Microsoft have initiated a wave of great hope and aspiration in the burgeoning tech savvy Indian populace. As a follower of current affairs and a conscientious citizen of the country, my initial reaction was similar, this notwithstanding my ideological leanings.

As I logged into Facebook on Monday morning, I found a barrage of updates of people changing their Display Picture (DP) to the Support Digital India theme (similar to what people did when gay rights were legalized in the US).

This mass behavior pattern on social media piqued my interest and I decided to unravel it further. Honest to my intellectual integrity, I wanted to first know what changing of my DP meant and whether it had any repercussions, hidden or otherwise.

This isn’t a sociological discourse on unraveling ulterior motives, but reading about this social media initiative did unsettle me and I’ll tell you why. By innocuously changing our DP as a mark of patriotism, you are giving consent to Facebook’s Internet.org campaign. That’s right, the same initiative against which Nikhil Pahwa and team launched a nationwide signature campaign, AIB made a video which went viral and people from all walks of life objected to on the basis of defeating the purpose of a free undistorted internet.

What amazes me is this paradox of public opinion – while on one hand there is vehement opposition against the internet.org initiative as it challenges the fundamental tenets of net neutrality, on the other hand creating your DP using fb.com/supportdigitalindia is in effect supporting this very demon.

This probably is a master marketing stroke by Facebook. Alternatively, there may be a correction statement that is released publicly when this issue does gain critical mass. For now though, one thing’s certain – tech based marketing campaigns are easily mobilized, especially when flavored with large doses of patriotism, and the debate on internet neutrality is here to stay for a while.

Should You Change Your Facebook Display Picture?