Facebook Proposes Changes To User Voting Policy
Facebook has announced that it is considering changing its user voting policy on future changes to site governance.
Currently, Facebook informs users of proposed policy changes by email. If the change is commented on 7,000 times then Facebook opens the topic up to a user vote.
However, on two prior occasions users have abused the system, which was started in 2009, by copy and pasting the same comment over and over again. On both occasions, a fraction of the amount of users required to stop the policy change voted.
For the policy change to be vetoed, 30% of users have to vote. In 2009, when 200 million people had Facebook accounts, 30% would have equated to 60 million voters, but now that Facebook has 1 billion registered users, getting 300 million people to vote on a policy change is a tall order.
For instance, even though 342,632 people voted on the most recent site governance policy change, that still only equates to an insignificant 0.38% of users.
Facebook is also proposing changes to its Data Use Policy and its Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. The changes would allow Facebook to share user details and statistics with its affiliates, such as recently-acquired Instagram.Data sharing among the companies beneath Facebook’s umbrella would help online marketers get the best out of their advertising, providing them with a larger platform on which to advertise and more information regarding their target audience.
Many users, however, are already concerned with the amount of information that is shared with Facebook marketers, so any policy to increase this could be met with disapproval.
Some have already reacted to Facebook’s data sharing policies: Max Schrems, an Austrian law student, set up the Europe Vs Facebook privacy activist group in 2011. Schrems was appalled by how much information from his profile page was being shared by Facebook.
Since setting up the activist group, Schrems has campaigned for more transparency and less data sharing on Facebook. Facebook’s Chief Privacy Officer Erin Egar confirmed to TechCrunch in a recent interview that Schrems’ campaigning had partly instigated the changes they proposed yesterday.To appease users who are uneasy with the proposed changes, Egar is introducing a new feature, intended to educate users about site policy and governance. The feature allows users to offer feedback and ask questions about existing policies and proposed changes.
If enough comments are accumulated on the proposed changes, then they will all require user-approval. This will lead to a bizarre situation where people will be asked to vote on whether they should have the right to vote.
Given the inadequacy of the voting system, however, even if the changes are put to the vote, it is highly unlikely that the vote will have any effect on the policy change whatsoever.
What do you think about Facebook’s proposed policy changes? Are you going to vote?
Contact us on Twitter or leave your comments below.
Will Sigsworth
Follow us @SocialMediaF & @WillAtSMF
www.socialmediafrontiers.com
Facebook Proposes Changes To User Voting Policy
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