Friday, 23 November 2012

Media Guardian Story



Comments to replace user voting attracted 'quantity over quality' of feedback. Facebook has become so large that a system allowing users to vote on policy changes has become ineffective, the company's head of communications announced on Wednesday. The site's three-year old experiment allowing users to vote on corporate policy changes was introduced in 2009 in response to user outrage over Facebook's terms of use which gave the site licence over users' photos, videos and posts. Elliot Schrage, vice president of communications, public policy and marketing, wrote that the system had to change since the site grew to more than one billion users, and since it became a public company in May.

"The voting mechanism, which is triggered by a specific number of comments, actually resulted in a system that incentivized the quantity of comments over their quality," wrote Schrage. "Therefore, we're proposing to end the voting component of the process in favour of a system that leads to more meaningful feedback and engagement."

I think that the voting system was a useful tool however did not allow users to voice their opinions on something that the site’s owners can actually take from it. This new development will allow Facebook to receive more qualitative feedback about things which can allow them to increase their appeal to wider audiences and become a thing of the future.

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