The Facebook Blog

Sharing and connecting are at the core of how Facebook works, and people share more when they understand what they're sharing and know how to control their experience on Facebook. That's one of the reasons we recently began rolling out simplified privacy controls, which are now available to the majority of people on Facebook.

To help you make the best decision about which settings are right for you, we're continuing to launch more resources to help you understand your privacy options on Facebook. Remember, your privacy settings themselves have... not changed with this update; we've simply added ways to control what you share with fewer steps.

Today, we've launched a new Facebook and Privacy Page to complement the privacy guide we previously revamped on the site and a series of video tutorials we started publishing last week.

The Facebook and Privacy Page serves as a living resource and a venue to facilitate an interactive discussion about privacy with all of you. We'll regularly post updates on relevant new content, products and news stories related to online privacy. Already you'll find a repository of online privacy resources both from Facebook and outside experts, including our video tutorials on how to choose your settings as well as links to our privacy guide and FAQs.

Going forward, we'll be posting updates about new materials we create, tips on how to control your sharing and links to relevant news stories and viewpoints.

We encourage you to like the Page to receive those ongoing updates in your News Feed. We also want to hear from you on the Page, so please provide feedback by commenting on our posts to let us know your thoughts on privacy or to provide suggestions on developing the Page.

Along with the new Page, we've introduced our second video in the "Learn More" series. This newest video offers a step-by-step guide to the new controls for sharing on your privacy settings page:



We'll be launching even more videos, so be sure to like our official Facebook Page or the new Facebook and Privacy Page to be updated when they are available.

As always, we want to hear your feedback. Let us know about your questions, suggestions, and experiences at http://www.facebook.com/privacyfeedback. We'll be answering some of your most common questions in future posts on this blog.


Simon, a manager on Facebook's public policy team, is sharing privacy tips on the new Facebook and Privacy Page.

We recently announced a new way to develop Facebook's governing structure. Since then, we've heard from many of you as we work to further develop the documents that will explain the relationship between Facebook and our users. We're now more than halfway through the comment period—the time when you can submit feedback on two proposed documents. The first is the Facebook Principles, which reflect the philosophy and values we aspire to, and the second is the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, which will govern Facebook's relationships with... users and others who interact with us and replace the existing Terms of Use.

If you haven't had a chance to read the documents and comment yourself, we encourage you to do so now. The comment period will close at 12:01 a.m. PST on March 29. We want to govern our system in an open and transparent way, and your involvement in this process is crucial. You can find the Facebook Principles here and the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities here in English and a number of other languages.

To date, each of the Town Hall groups has over 10,000 members, and we've received nearly 3,000 comments. The Facebook Legal team is busy reading through your feedback to identify common threads that we hope to address with a revised version of the documents that will then be put up for a vote.

We're excited about this new process and encouraged to see a participatory model of governance in other contexts. Just this week, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine opened up his state budget proposal for comment by supporters of his Facebook Page, saying he's "interested in what people have to say and taking some time to answer their questions."

We look forward to seeing what you have to say and answering your questions and concerns in the next version of our documents, as well. Thanks for your constructive participation so far, and keep checking back for more updates on this process. We'll be sharing information about how voting will work in the coming weeks.


Simon Axten, an associate on the Public Policy team, is looking forward to your comments.

The 30-day comment period for submitting feedback on Facebook's proposed governance documents has ended, but the opportunities to help shape the policies that will govern Facebook have only begun. Since announcing the new governance structure in February, we received more than 3,000 comments from the over 10,000 members who joined each of the groups dedicated to discussion about the proposed Facebook Principles and the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities (SRR).

Thanks to the help of volunteer law students from the University of California... Hastings, the University of San Francisco and Santa Clara University, our legal team has been reading every last one of your submissions. The group administrators from the original protest against the changes to the Terms of Use, Julius Harper and Anne Kathrine Yojana Petterøe, have been distilling the feedback down to a list of key concerns. We've also asked for comments from various privacy, copyright and internet law experts as well as several photography trade groups from around the world.

On April 16, we'll be posting revised versions of the documents based on the feedback we've received. We'll also be sharing a written response to the main concerns people have expressed. This will explain in clear language why we did — or did not — make certain changes. This is similar to how U.S. federal agencies create regulations.

At the same time, we'll be asking people to vote on the new revised documents. Voting will begin on April 16 and end on April 23. It will be done through an application developed on Facebook Platform by Wildfire, and the vote tabulation will be audited by an independent auditor to ensure that the results are accurate.

We encourage you to participate in this vote on our new revised documents. If it is approved, all future changes to the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities will go through the same process of notice and comment. As specified in the SRR, we will hold a vote on any proposed change if at least 7,000 people submit comments and the vote will be advisory unless at least 30 percent of our "active users" (people who have logged into Facebook at least once in the previous 30 days) participate in the vote. If turnout is 30% or more, the results will be binding.

Your continued involvement in this process is crucial, and we want to thank everyone who has participated so far. We look forward to taking the next step towards a more democratic system of online governance.


Simon, an associate on the Public Policy team, hopes to see you and all of your friends at the Facebook voting booth.

Over 600,000 Facebook users have RSVP'd to vote on Election Day and invited more than 300,000 of their friends to do the same. In the past month, more than 50,000 users have registered to vote on the Facebook Vote 08 page. And if you live in Vermont, you actually have until tomorrow, Wednesday, October 29th, to mail in your registration.

You can visit official Facebook pages for hundreds of state-wide candidates as well as Presidential contenders John McCain, Barack Obama, Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney, and Bob Barr. Take a look at what other... users have written on their walls, watch some of their videos and become a supporter of the candidate of your choice.

Be sure to also check out the numerous political applications on Facebook Platform to watch live campaign events, donate to candidates, tell your friends you're voting, find your polling location and get to the polls on Election Day.

And no Facebook wall is complete without a free Election gift.


Simon, an Associate on the Public Policy team, hopes to see you at the polls.