FacebookWatch was heartened by the vote over new privacy policies for Facebook. We agree with Professor Jonathan Zittrain of Harvard Law, who wrote on his blog that:

This encourages Facebook users not to simply view themselves as users but as … citizens. Citizens of Facebook. The consumer/vendor relationship – governed by contract and fair trade law – is different from that of citizen/government. Citizens identify with something larger than themselves – if one’s country is attacked, it can feel like a personal attack in a way that a fellow bank customer’s account theft does not feel like a personal invasion. (”Today we are all Bank of Americans” doesn’t leap to the lips.) And in non-authoritarian systems, citizens have a voice in the affairs of state distinct from the metaphorical vote a consumer makes with his or her feet – or that a shareholder makes in a quaint proxy proceeding.

We agree wholeheartedly. The entire point of FacebookWatch is to serve as the Voice of the Users, and to cultivate among the Facebook community a sense of civic obligation and entitlement.
At the same time, the actual outcome of the Facebook vote is decidedly troubling. Despite widespread advertisement on the site and a mainstream media barrage, only 600,000 users voted on the new policies. Despite the fact that this was 100 times smaller than the 60 million Facebook had set as a quorum (as 30% of the 200 million active users), Facebook announced that they would implement the policies. Apparently, the number or ratio of votes was sufficient for Facebook to recognize that a change should be made.
However, an unadvertised third party application has been polling users on the new site design. Over 1.2 million people have voted against the new design. This is twice as large as the number of people who voted for the new policies, but Facebook has shown no interest whatsoever in reevaluating any aspect of the new design.
We applaud any earnest attempt by Facebook to move from a commercial model to a community model. However, the discrepency in their responses to vortes over the new policies and the new design suggest that their apparantely adventurous foray into civics was nothing more than a publicity stunt.