1. Facebook gets more of people's personal info.
2. Only Facebook gets this info.
/cynicism
It's the perfect way for employers to find the best cultural fit quickly, and can even be a great conversation starter for interviews."
This article [1] is imho quite right, this is mostly a non-issue turned into PR.
1:http://rexriepe.com/2012/clever-pr-facebook-bends-a-non-stor...
In the short term, the network effect holds their site together, unless they mess up really bad. In the long term, however, these things do matter and Facebook knows that.
It just so happens that "the right thing" happens to line up with Facebook's self-interest this time but I would not couch it as FB doing the right thing because it was the primary reason to do so.
Exposure to litigation, PR is a positive side effect.
Sort of a corollary of Sagan's law: extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
Critical company statements need to be signed by the CEO.
Thing is there`s 2 users here
1) facebook user. demanding inappropriate access to their personal life is invasive - todays memo... check.
2) employer/potential employer. Understanding the character of the candidate. Facebook offers a premium service e.g. say $10k/seat that offers more in-depth access. similar to LinkedIn`s premium account.. yet users dont feel violated.
Todays note address 1) maybe 2) will be addressed in the future. Im sure that would be quite the cash cow.
Or, to crib from jwz: now you have two problems.
People like to paint Facebook as an antagonist who is working to degrade personal privacy, but really they are acting in their own interest of making money by providing a service that people want to use. Facebook is not working against you, it also isn't working for you.