With the massive backlash that took place following the Consumerist article about Facebook’s temporarily modified terms of service (which was eventually set back to the original terms), you would have thought more people cared about how the new terms would be written. It’s clear that the majority of users only care once Facebook crosses the line but until they do, most users could care less about the terms.



Facebook took the extra step of promoting the new “Facebook Town Hall: Proposed Facebook Principles” group on the homepage of the site yet less than 10,00 people have joined. The other Facebook Town Hall for the “Proposed Statement of Rights & Responsibilities” has just over 9,000 members. With over 180 million users, the current response to the new terms is not substantial by any means.

If the response continues to remain this low, there is a good chance that users will have very little of an effect on the new terms. It’s an unprecedented decision for Facebook to make the new terms open for public dialogue but at the end of the day maybe all users wanted to hear was clarification from Mark Zuckerberg about Facebook not owning our data.

The new policy may end up not receiving a lot of attention beyond the buzz that it received from the press over the last couple weeks but there is no doubt that this is part of a larger movement. Mark Zuckerberg emphasized that the company is working toward a more open Facebook and that this is just another step along the way.

Whether or not users care about this continuing opening trend has yet to be seen but it’s clear that Facebook will proceed to open while adapting as required through feedback from users.