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February 17, 2009 7:10 PM PST

Facebook polls users on service terms update

by Harrison Hoffman
  • 13 comments

The recent uproar over Facebook's changed terms of service has been significant.

Even after CEO Mark Zuckerberg issued a statement on behalf of Facebook regarding the issue, it appears that Facebook wants more feedback from its users. Facebook has begun to run a poll in its users' News Feeds, asking them their opinion on the TOS change. The poll gives three options: no, I don't know, and yes.

The introduction of this poll by Facebook is interesting for a couple of reasons. First, and most obviously, the mere existence of the poll seems to suggest that Facebook is considering changing its terms of use. At the very least, it looks like it is willing to look at user feedback on the decision, potentially affecting what they do in the future.

Second, this is a great usage case for its newly introduced polling system that Facebook talked about at Davos. The poll features live results, as seen in the screenshot below, but unfortunately, the user cannot access these results again after they have voted.

Facebook's users give a resounding "Yes."

As you can see, the Facebook community is speaking loudly on this issue. The votes are leaning toward "Yes," with a significant portion being uninformed about the issue and answering "I don't know."

The users who think that the TOS should remain the same only account for 6 percent of the total user base. It's great to see that Facebook, at the very least, wants to hear what their users are saying. Hopefully, we will see more creative uses of the polling system in the future.

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About The Web Services Report

Harrison Hoffman is a tech enthusiast and co-founder of LiveSide.net, a blog about Windows Live. The Web Services Report covers news, opinions, and analysis on Web-based software from Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, and countless other companies in this rapidly expanding space. Hoffman currently attends the University of Miami, where he studies business and computer science.

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He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure

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