'Quit Facebook' protest draws away a mere .008% of users.

If privacy advocates were hoping to send a message with yesterday's "Quit Facebook Day," the message seems to be, "You win, Facebook."

About 34,000 people reportedly pledged to delete their user accounts on the social network Monday. With more than 400 million unique visitors to the site worldwide, that means Facebook suffered a microscopic loss of .008% of its user base. (That's assuming they all actually quit.)

By the time you woke up this morning, Facebook had probably made up the difference already. In America alone, Facebook is growing by more than 148,000 users a day (4.6 million a month).

So what does this failed exodus mean for Facebook and its privacy critics?

One possibility is that Facebook's quick overhaul of its privacy interface actually worked in terms of reversing public opinion. While I applaud the new "sliding scale" of privacy options, I have a hard time believing that this shift was enough to bring people back from the brink.

No, I think the answer is that people simply can't live without Facebook. With no clear alternative for an online social hub — plus a growing, zen-like fatalism about online privacy — it's going to take a lot more than a one-day protest to sever our planetary addiction to status updates and personality quizzes.

David Griner is a social media strategist for Luckie and Company and contributing editor for Adweek’s blog, AdFreak.com. You can reach him by e-mail or on Twitter.

Photo credit: Sister L'Via L'Viaquez on Flickr