Via the Guardian …
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Facebook U-turn on privacy changes
Bobbie Johnson
guardian.co.uk, 18 February 2009 09 18Facebook has backed down on controversial changes to its terms of service that angered users and caused protests across the social networking site.
Two weeks ago the site altered its terms of service so that it continued to retain a copy of all a user’s messages, actions and updates – even if they left the network. Until the change, Facebook’s policy was to delete all traces of a user if they chose to quit the site.
After the potential scope of the new legal wording became clear, thousands of outraged Facebook users and privacy campaigners lobbied for the world’s largest social network to revert to its old terms of service.
On Monday it seemed these calls were falling on deaf ears after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg defended the changes in a blogpost, and suggested that users should trust the site with their data.
However, just 24 hours later the company decided to back down. In a message to users last night, Facebook said it would be reverting to its previous terms and conditions for the time being.
"Over the past few days, we have received a lot of feedback about the new terms we posted two weeks ago," the site told users. "Because of this response, we have decided to return to our previous terms of use while we resolve the issues that people have raised."
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Any more inspiring than, say, consumer response to New Coke?
Not really, obviously, in terms of the practical result.
What I was thinking of was that it’s one more, highly visible (as was new Coke) example of what’s been labeled “ridiculously-easy group forming” where some explicit degree of power and authority is put into play.
Arguably the speed and ease with which such examples happen is different … whether this one example is more inspiring is left to those niche-dwellers more or less interested in any given issue.
But your larger point is well-made and well-taken.
“We” have all been yapping about the power of the (connected) consumer / customer for a long time now, since well before today’s online social networks existed. Now that the tools and services are available on a widespread and inexpensive basis, why isn’t that two-way dynamic encountered on a widespread basis. Shouldn’t it ? Should it ?
Does ongoing rapid feedback from self-organizing groups belong as a permanent feature of the business / services landscape ?