Democracy in Social Networks

1
Democracy in Social Networks?

• Ralf Bendrath
• bendrath.blogspot.com

2
Social Networking Platforms

• provide a space where
• people meet
• people create content
• people collaborate
• public as well as personal spaces
• individual identities roles
• public discussions and collaborations
• live off the users contributions

3
Users and Providers

• Users provide the real value of any social
  networking site
• Users are the network
• Providers provide the infrastructure.
• We dont really care who they are, we care about
  our friends.
• We are brand agnostic.

4
The provider as government

• The only time one interacts with Facebook as
  entity is when they are being controlled or
  punished. Facebook as brand represents
  surveillance and domination. (Fred
  Stutzman)

5
A Pretty Mighty Government

• Can kill us if we dont use our real names
• Surveillance bots that track us
• Secret master key to our locked houses
• Laws of the land can not be negotiated
• We dont get any share from the revenue
• But we can be sold instead!

6
Growing Unease

• Feeling of unjust exploitation
• StudiVZ deal Where are my 100 ?
• More private profiles
• Decreases the value of the platform as a whole
• Protests against changes in TOS
• Less or false data provided

7
Pressure from below?

• Exit
• just move somewhere else
• basis of competition
• market behaviour
• Voice
• start internal and external debates
• public pressure
• But no real power, mainly exit threat

8
Exit?

• Network Externalities
• If a platform gets big enough, it becomes a
  network good
• eBay, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter,
• more or less forced to use it
• I cant take away my data and my friends
• data portability and its problems

9
Regulation?

• Standard for network goods
• Regulatory Agencies
• Product Standards
• Pretty normal for other products and services
• Would ensure real exit option and strengthen
  competition

10
Regulation?

• Already there
• unfair and deceptive trade practices
• privacy and data protection laws
• Missing
• user rights, e.g. freedom of expression
• accessibility
• universal service / unbundling
• ? data portability

11
Regulation?

• Transnational Spaces
• Who should regulate?
• State of California, ITU, ICANN?
• Who wants the Government of China involved here?
• Who would organize the policy development
  process?
• And where?

12
Oh, we already have a Space!

• It is only logical to debate the laws of the land
  for Facebook on Facebook.
• And turn slaves into citizens.
• This may just be happening

13
Democracy on Facebook?

• New terms of use
• Rights and Responsibilities
• Charter of user rights
• Facebook Principles
• User input on drafts
• Subject to Popular Vote
• Binding (more or less)
• Chris Kelly Constitutional Documents

14
Or Democracy Theater?

• You have to join Facebook first
• No comments on the overall process
• Bad tools
• No votes on other documents
• FB retains the right to unilateral changes
• Voting process defined and implemented by
  Facebook

15

• Source Bonneau, Preibusch, Anderson, Clayton,
  Anderson (2009)
• Democracy Theatre Comments on Facebook's
  Proposed Governance Scheme

16
Or a good start?

• Facebook unilateral changes
• What happens when users want to overturn them and
  vote?
• Voting on other documents
• Users will demand this
• Competitive factor
• Will MySpace offer more voting options?
• Language of Democracy is contageous

17
Elections?

• History tells us that systems are most fairly
  governed when there is an open and transparent
  dialogue between the people who make decisions
  and those who are affected by them.
• (Mark Zuckerberg)

18

• Ralf Bendrath 2009