If you're addicted to Facebook but you can't seem to let go, have no fear. FAddict is here. HLN reported today there is a website to help people overcome their Facebook addictions.
FAddict (which reads as 'faddict', a Facebook-appropriate term defined by Urban Dictionary as "An individual who gets caught up in every trendy thing that comes along.") proposes you pledge $5 to the company as a down payment on your quitting Facebook. After you send the cash and deactivate your account, FAddict monitors your profile URL for 30 days.
If after 30 days your account remains untouched, you get your 5 dollars (and your life) back. However, if your account gets any activity during that 30 days, you forfeit your money to the company and the proceeds get donated to a mental health charity
The site was created last weekend, by by Faisal Abid and Charlie Mclean of Toronto’s Dynamatik, a start-up that helps other start-ups. After the Dynamatik duo challenged themselves to see how quickly they could develop a working application.
“We literally made the whole thing in three hours,” said Abid.
In 2010, Facebook’s lawyers hit a similar service, known as the Web 2.0 Suicide Machine, with a cease and desist letter. Abid and Mclean are hoping to avoid the same fate by not using Facebook’s API. Instead, FAddict simply queries a user’s unique Facebook URL; if the site returns an error message, they know the account is still dormant.
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