Facebook said yesterday that its users would play a "meaningful role" in deciding the site's policies, by voting on changes
Facebook is trying its hand at democracy. The fast-growing online hangout, whose more than 175 million worldwide users could form the world's sixth-largest country behind Brazil, said yesterday that those users will play a "meaningful role" in deciding the site's policies and voting on changes.
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On Thursday, founder Mark Zuckerberg sought to reassure users that they own their information, not Facebook. And in a broader step, the company also said its users will get a hand in determining the various policies u2014 such as privacy, ownership and sharing u2014 by reviewing, commenting and voting on them before they are put in place.
If more than 7,000 users comment on any proposed change, it would go to a vote. It would be binding to Facebook if more than 30 per cent of active users vote. Based on Facebook's current size, that would be nearly 53 million people. By comparison, a group created to protest Facebook's new terms has roughly 139,600 members as of Thursday.
"As people share more information on services like Facebook, a new relationship is created between Internet companies and the people they serve," Zuckerberg said in a statement. "The past week reminded us that users feel a real sense of ownership over Facebook itself, not just the information they share."
Zuckerberg said the purpose of Facebook is to make the world more transparent by giving people the power to share information, and as such Facebook itself should be transparent as well.
It is unusual, but not entirely unprecedented, for companies to let users help shape their governing policies. LiveJournal, a social diary site that's part blog, part social network, let users share their thoughts on a proposed set of user policies last year u2014 though it didn't go as far as calling for a vote.
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