Status update: Facebook remains strong despite protests

Quit Facebook Day has come and gone without leaving a dent in Facebook’s dominance over the social networking world. According to the Wall Street Journal, fewer than 35,000 people, less than .009% of the social networking site’s users, agreed to quit.

Perhaps Facebook’s most recent privacy changes – which were explained adeptly by the Pioneer Press this weekend – changed the minds of some users. Nevertheless, the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Facebook (and Google) raising concerns about privacy settings. The committee is considering holding hearings on these issues.

Wading through Facebook’s newest privacy changes

Interest in Facebook’s privacy settings is growing almost as fast as the number of users joining the site. Yesterday, the social networking giant announced even more changes in a series of revisions to the site’s privacy settings:

• People searching through Facebook’s user directory will only receive minimal information about others, including name, profile picture, and gender.
• Facebook will make it easier for users to restrict access to their information from third-party websites.

Although these changes make it easier for users to control their privacy settings, the site still requires users to change the default privacy settings if they don’t want to give third-party websites the ability to access their information.

With more than 170 options to adjust how much profile information is shared publicly, it’s no wonder that many of the site’s more than 400 million users are confused. The GH Spin is committed to helping you make sense of Facebook’s new privacy features and what these changes mean for you. Check back here for updates.