Facebook Becomes a Democracy

By Mike Schuster Feb 27, 2009 12:35 pm

Users hold these truths to be self-evident.

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¡Viva la revolución!

In response to the overwhelming public outrage engendered by its updated terms of service, Facebook has announced it will now allow users to help set the social network's policies through voting, commentary and the establishment of a "user council."

In a conference call yesterday morning, CEO Mark Zuckerberg continued to do damage control, saying that the move "is really about us trusting our users."

This week, Facebook released 2 documents setting rough ground rules for the new measure. The first -- entitled "Facebook Principles" -- details the company's core values. In language reminiscent of the Bill of Rights, the document sets out 10 user "freedoms" - including the Freedom to Share and Connect, Fundamental Equality, Common Welfare, and -- most grandiose -- One World.

The second document, called the "Statement of Rights and Responsibilities," focuses on the user's obligations and relationship to Facebook itself, At the top of the list are the 2 points which caused the initial uproar: privacy and ownership of user content.

Once again, Zuckerberg insisted that the company does not own, and has never claimed ownership of, its members' content. The CEO, in language surprisingly devoid of his usual pomposity, stated simply: "We do not own user data. They own their own data. We never really intended to give a different impression, and we feel bad that we did."

But it appears some good came of that misunderstanding. Other Internet services -- such as Yahoo (YHOO) and Wikipedia -- are introducing community advocacy groups to address users' concerns and take suggestions - as well as to protect them from content misappropriation.Twitter: @mcs212