Facebook upsets its users. But are the users forgiving them again?

If you logged into Facebook today, it was hard to miss the “Terms of use update” on the homepage. What is even harder to avoid is the multiple requests I got from friends to join the “People Against the new Terms of Service (TOS).” I figured it was in my best interest and duty to learn what the ruckus was about. An article on TechCrunch had an interesting spin on the whole issue and has been following this “news.”

Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, and team revised Facebook’s term of use hoping to clarify various parts for its users. They had received countless questions and comments about the changes and what they meant for people and their information. Mark told his follwers that it’s a language thing and they did a poor job in explaining the changes. He indicated that those changes will still be coming in the next few weeks, which will inlcude the Facebook user community to make sure it jives with everyone. On Facebook, he says “ Our next version will be a substantial revision from where we are now. It will reflect the principles I described yesterday around how people share and control their information, and it will be written clearly in language everyone can understand. Since this will be the governing document that we’ll all live by, Facebook users will have a lot of input in crafting these terms.” Additionally, the company polled some of its users in news feeds asking them if they should go back to their previous TOS.

Today, Mark invites users to share their thoughts on what should be in the new term in the group called Facebook Bill of Rights and Responsibilties. By the end of Wednesday, this group had 56,517 members who were complaining about all sorts of issues, such as privacy rights, the nature of social apps, legal issues and so on.

This is not the first time Facebook has upset its users. Users definitely recall the Beacon incident which didn’t happen too long ago. Followers of the network seem to forgive the company and use it again and again. Perhaps it is because the company has noted their misakes and are communicating with their audience. Mark and team say they are dedicated to finding a solution to this problem and they intend on leveraging their users to help them get there. Not only does the company have a dialogue with the users, they plan to use that information to proceed. According to Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff in their book Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies, Facebook is on target with their thinking and actions. Their strategy is the wave of the future for other companies that are looking to succeed with social networks. Facebook is reaching out to their customers, asking for their input, listening to the concerns and then, promising to deliver. These are the successful steps in building a relationship with consumer that are connected on the web with social networks.