Facebook shutting down rumors

It's incredible, how easy people belive in everything. 
We've had a discussion with my friends recentrly about facebook and other social networks, their influence on people's lives, if it is good or bad, what perspectives and weaknesses it gives to you.
And today I saw the article in Weekly World News which asserts that Facebook is going to shut down in 15th of March, because it has become "too stressful" and Mark Zuckerberg wants "his old life back".

PALO ALTO, CA –Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook will be shut down in March. Managing the site has become too stressful.

“Facebook has gotten out of control,” said Zuckerberg in a press conference outside his Palo Alto office, “and the stress of managing this company has ruined my life. I need to put an end to all the madness.”

Zuckerberg went on to explain that starting March 15th, users will no longer be able to access their Facebook accounts.

“After March 15th the whole website shuts down,” said Avrat Humarthi, Vice President of Technical Affairs at Facebook. “So if you ever want to see your pictures again, I recommend you take them off the internet. You won’t be able to get them back once Facebook goes out of business.”

Zuckerberg said that the decision to shut down Facebook was difficult, but that he does not think people will be upset.

“I personally don’t think it’s a big deal,” he said in a private phone interview. “And to be honest, I think it’s for the better. Without Facebook, people will have to go outside and make real friends. That’s always a good thing.”

A lot of people believed this, thousands of comments like "Oh, no, facebook is my life, don't do this!" or "Thank's God, it happen, I'll comunicate with my daughter again" appeared. 
Of course, disproof was published almost immediately, in facebook twitter and a lot of sites (mashable.com, about.com, etc.), but rumors are spread like "wildfire". 


It's odd and terrifing for two reasons:
- People can believe absolutely anything. Despite all weakness of argumets, money involved, announced programs, etc. It happens all the time, peoples are manipulated every day.
- I never treated Facebook so serious, and I didn't think that there are people who are REALLY addicted to it, who can't imagine their lives without it, feel miserable if they haven't got a possiblity to access their accounts for few days. But they exist, and there are many of them. 
It is dangerous to rely on something so strongly, and maybe goal of this hoax was to make people to imagine, a least for few moments, their life without facebook, and maybe change something with it.