A new campaign, led by an advertising company, is challenging Facebook users to kick the social network habit for three months, or actually 99 days, given the "99 Days of Freedom" slogan.
The effort by Just, a creative agency based in Leiden, The Netherlands, comes about after revelations that Facebook instituted a social study of user behavior without being completely transparent about the research. The 2012 project is still getting backlash weeks after it came to light.
The "99" program is designed to see if users become happier people once off the social network and asks the question "are you happier without Facebook?"
The social network's 1.2 billion users spend an average of 17 minutes per day on the site, reading updates, following links or browsing photos, according to the social network.
"In response to Facebook's controversial mood experiment involving some 700,000 unwitting users, we present you 99 Days of Freedom; an online study on how life without Facebook impacts user happiness. Joining is very simple: follow our three-step instruction to join the experiment for as long as you like. We can't wait to hear how you spend your time off," states the welcoming note on the group's website.
The group behind the effort claims people will save an average of 28 hours of time.
All Facebook users need to do is visit this link, change their profile photo to show involvement in the program, click the 'countdown' link and then complete anonymous happiness surveys during the time period.
"Our prediction is that the experiment will yield a lot of positive personal experiences and, 99 days from now, we'll know whether that theory has legs," the group wrote in a press release.
Facebook has continually come under fire in recent months regarding privacy issues, ad programs and changes to news feeds. Just said the issue isn't anti-Facebook but more a social experiment.
