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4 commentsWednesday, February 18, 2009

Facebook Changes Its Terms Back

Sets Minds at Ease

Mark ZuckerbergFacebook recently changed its terms of service and sparked a bit of controversy. This largely stemmed from the langauge used in the new ToS, which indicated that Facebook had complete control of anything you post there and could do anything they wanted with your info.

After a fair amount of stink was raised, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted on the Facebook blog saying that on Facebook, "People still own and control their information." To set minds further at ease, the company has decided to just go ahead and change the ToS back to the way it was.

To make sure everyone is aware of the most recent changes, Facebook has included an update about them for all users to see when they login to their accounts:

Facebook Terms of Service Update

Zuckerberg has also made another post to the Facebook blog about these changes. "Many of us at Facebook spent most of today discussing how best to move forward," he says. "One approach would have been to quickly amend the new terms with new language to clarify our positions further. Another approach was simply to revert to our old terms while we begin working on our next version. As we thought through this, we reached out to respected organizations to get their input."

So you can still expect to see more changes coming, but next time, I believe Facebook will be choosing its words a bit more carefully. The social network's growth has been tremendous over the past year, and they wouldn't want to damage that by driving people away.

About the author:
Chris Crum has been a part of the WebProNews team and the iEntry Network of B2B Publications since 2003. Twitter: @CCrum237

agreed

Totally agree with this move to return the ToS to the way it was. Facebook better be careful and not step too much in the toes of its users, or it will be facing a backlash that could drive the site to its knees. I wonder why the heck they are doing this, anyway?

While perception is reality,

While perception is reality, and the emotional response suggests that Facebook needs to do a better job of being consultative with its community versus delivering material edicts from on high, the truth is that the hullabaloo about Facebook’s change in Terms of Service is much ado about nothing.

We create a "snail trail" when we plug into communities online, that snail trail becomes substrate that interconnects with other users and discussion threads.

It's just not reasonable to expect that you can rip that out, creating virtual potholes in the communal space.

Also, why do we begrudge Facebook as nefarious for wanting to monetize these snail trails when we happily accept Google monetizing our traversals, web pages, images and the like? It’s just silly, in my opinion.

Check out:

Why Facebook’s Terms of Service Change is Much Ado About Nothing
(http://bit.ly/xxE4d)

For more fodder on this one.

Mark

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