Facebook Putting New Policies Up to User Votes

Facebook (News - Alert) has done quite a few things over the last few months to show that they are the site of the people and by the people. The social media networking site has taken some pretty broad based steps to show that they are also a good destination for small and large businesses alike. Now the company is getting set to launch their latest big time endeavor, putting their site wide privacy settings determined by users’ votes.

Facebook has been gaining more respect in all corners of the Internet thanks to just how popular the company has become. What once was considered a time waster for teenagers, has since grown to a site that many adults access at work and now seems to be ‘OK’ with more employers. Because of this universal popularity, it appears that Facebook understands that it needs to throw a bone to their users with this very complicated policy vote. The voting period began on Friday and will run to the end of this week, and the changes that will be voted on will be new sections that better explain how it uses people’s information. These changes will also work to make it easier for Facebook to advertise their site outside their main hub.

This will actually be the second time that Facebook has put any part of its policies up to a vote by the community. The first time was less than successful and most feel as though this vote will also determine very little. The social networking giant has already put in a bit of a caveat to the people’s vote, saying that 30 percent of the site’s total users must log a vote in order for it to be determinative. 

That means that 270 million people must log a vote one way or the other. If they do not, then Facebook will merely rule the vote “advisory.” That is what happened the last time Facebook decided to put its policies up to a vote. Because getting 270 million people to log a vote is somewhat difficult, the site will most likely be getting feedback, rather than actually having their policy driven.