Facebook has announced, yet again, that it will be updating its privacy terms effective January 1, 2015.
The good news? Facebook's new policy is 70 percent shorter than the old one. The bad news? Not a whole lot will change to protect your privacy online.
Here are 3 key takeaways from Facebook’s updated privacy terms:
"Privacy Basics offers interactive guides to answer the most commonly asked questions about how you can control your information on Facebook.”
While it is a step in the right direction, the fact that the default privacy setting was ever this ambiguous raises some serious questions about Facebook’s transparency in the area of privacy online.
What Facebook does outline in its new terms is how it is using your location-based check-ins to better provide you with localized content. You can always choose not to have Facebook know your location by editing your privacy settings in your mobile device.
Facebook announced that starting January 1, it will be testing a Buy button that will "help people discover and purchase products without leaving Facebook.” Along with beta testing a Buy button, Facebook is “working on new ways to make transactions even more convenient."
Remember Facebook’s recent and overly aggressive push to get all users on a stand-alone Messenger App? Well, it could just be part of a larger strategy to introduce user-to-user mobile payments, Fast Company’s Chris Gayomali suggests. Leaked screenshots show Facebook has been testing a payment functionality in Messenger, Gayomali explains. Coupled with Facebook’s recent hiring of PayPal President David Marcus, this could prove to be part of Facebook’s mobile payment plan. {Think Venmo}
"When you tell us you don't want to see these types of ads, your decision automatically applies to every device you use to access Facebook."
This is a good thing for both you and advertisers. Now, you will no longer see ads you are not interested in, and advertisers will no longer pay to show you ads you've already expressed you have no interest in. It's a win-win.