News
Archive of all the latest news and blog posts
Facebook to grant 'Power to the People'?
The boy wonder is in the spotlight again today, this time attempting to alleviate any potential future criticism by opening up Facebook policy changes to a public vote. In the coming days and weeks, Facebook followers and fanatics will be given the opportunity to sign a simplified 'bill of rights'.
Facebook have once again come under severe scrutiny in the media for revoking a rather dubious looking terms of service agreement (TOSA). Facing a user revolt, the godfathers of social networking were forced into making a complete U-turn on a number of questionable clauses. Zuckerbergs only option has been to open the service agreement up to public scrutiny and facilitate an open and democratic approach to the issue. Power to the people you cry!
No, not really, unfortunately this is not the idealistic utopia akin to John Lennon's vision of social equality and harmony. This is a measure that has been largely influenced by user dissatisfaction. In the future, alterations in the Facebook terms of service will be distributed amongst the throngs of Facebook addicts in order to generate feedback and future policy direction.
This news has appeared amidst a series of embarrassing press articles documenting a potential fall from grace for the social networking monster. The crux of this movement towards a democratic approach to policy has been largely driven by user revolt, following a term in the user licence agreement that suggested 'Facebook possess perpetual ownership of all user data'. Facebook executives have been left with severe egg on their faces, stating that any alterations in policy were not designed to 'offend' or 'annoy' users. They conceded that data ownership was a massive can of worms and something that users view with caution and rightful sensitivity.
This is not the first public embarrassment Facebook has suffered at the hands of the press. Following its 'Beacon Advertising System' debacle and yesterdays reports of advertising scams, the company is facing a potentially serious public back lash. This latest move has come amidst an attempt to control and stem future PR bomb shells. However, ultimately, Facebook will dictate which policies and decisions are put to public vote.
M x
Log in to Facebook to post your comment
