PALO ALTO, California: Facebook, the social networking pioneer, is looking to develop "advertising that is relevant and personal," but which will also work without "invading users' privacy," according to Chris Kelly, the website's chief privacy officer.
Kelly was speaking at a Congressional hearing – held by the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet, and the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection – entitled "Behavioral Advertising: Industry Practices and Consumers' Expectations."
He reported that the social media service currently has 200 million users around the world, including a total of 65 million members in the US.
Over 10,000 websites are also using Facebook Connect, which enables consumers to "share content and actions … with their friends throughout the web using the Facebook infrastructure."
In defining the portal's purpose, Kelly said it "gives people the power to share their lives and experiences in an authentic and trusted environment, making the world more open and connected."
However, while Facebook works on the understanding that "few of us want to be hermits," he added that it also attempts to "give users control over how they share their information."
This includes allowing people to choose their "friends" and "affiliations", and empowering them to limit the amount of data that can be viewed by other Facebook members, and web users generally.
Similarly, these "privacy-centric principles are at the core of our advertising model," Kelly argued.
As such, the site aims to be "transparent with our users about the fact that we are an advertising-based business, and we explain to them fully the uses of their personal data they are authorizing."
Facebook's advertising is also "materially different" from other behavioral targeting schemes, its chief privacy officer said, as it is "based on transparently-collected data that users control."
However, as the portal has "developed so quickly", Kelly admitted it has "sometimes been inartful in communicating with our users and the general public about our advertising products."
This was evidenced in the "imperfect introduction" of Facebook Beacon, its targeted advertising system, in 2007, and when the company revised its Terms of Use earlier this year.
Kelly said that, in the latter case, once a single, influential blog had "misinterpreted our simplification of our copyright license," the overall "user reaction was predictably swift and severe."
In response, Facebook pursued an "unprecedented innovation", in the form of consulting its users about a new Statement of Rights, allowing them to "vote" on the rules and principles governing the site.
With regard to future changes to its strategy, Kelly said company has "committed to our users that any further changes to our critical site documents will be put out for discussion and, where certain activity thresholds are met, votes by our users."
Facebook is also coming under pressure in Europe, where the Article 29 Working Party, which advises the European Commission, has argued privacy and data protection on social networks should be subjected to more stringent regulation.
Kelly was speaking at a Congressional hearing – held by the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet, and the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection – entitled "Behavioral Advertising: Industry Practices and Consumers' Expectations."
He reported that the social media service currently has 200 million users around the world, including a total of 65 million members in the US.
Over 10,000 websites are also using Facebook Connect, which enables consumers to "share content and actions … with their friends throughout the web using the Facebook infrastructure."
In defining the portal's purpose, Kelly said it "gives people the power to share their lives and experiences in an authentic and trusted environment, making the world more open and connected."
However, while Facebook works on the understanding that "few of us want to be hermits," he added that it also attempts to "give users control over how they share their information."
This includes allowing people to choose their "friends" and "affiliations", and empowering them to limit the amount of data that can be viewed by other Facebook members, and web users generally.
Similarly, these "privacy-centric principles are at the core of our advertising model," Kelly argued.
As such, the site aims to be "transparent with our users about the fact that we are an advertising-based business, and we explain to them fully the uses of their personal data they are authorizing."
Facebook's advertising is also "materially different" from other behavioral targeting schemes, its chief privacy officer said, as it is "based on transparently-collected data that users control."
However, as the portal has "developed so quickly", Kelly admitted it has "sometimes been inartful in communicating with our users and the general public about our advertising products."
This was evidenced in the "imperfect introduction" of Facebook Beacon, its targeted advertising system, in 2007, and when the company revised its Terms of Use earlier this year.
Kelly said that, in the latter case, once a single, influential blog had "misinterpreted our simplification of our copyright license," the overall "user reaction was predictably swift and severe."
In response, Facebook pursued an "unprecedented innovation", in the form of consulting its users about a new Statement of Rights, allowing them to "vote" on the rules and principles governing the site.
With regard to future changes to its strategy, Kelly said company has "committed to our users that any further changes to our critical site documents will be put out for discussion and, where certain activity thresholds are met, votes by our users."
Facebook is also coming under pressure in Europe, where the Article 29 Working Party, which advises the European Commission, has argued privacy and data protection on social networks should be subjected to more stringent regulation.
Data sourced from CNET; additional content by WARC staff
