As you probably know, Facebook is holding a vote on its new privacy policy. Heralded as a great democratic move, it might become another fiasco (after the IPO debacle).
In short, this vote is about proposed privacy changes (https://apps.facebook.com/fbsitegovernancevote/contests/230120). Facebook is expecting large numbers of voters, it is mentioned in newspapers and receiving a lot of attention. Vote is June 1st to 8th, so we are almost mid way. Facebook says the results will be felt as compulsory if a third of potential voters participate, a number around 220 million users. I read an article this morning mentioning more votes and elections in the largest countries and similar rhetoric.
You can read about this is many places. Some reasonalbe view are here, here, and here.
I did vote this morning (against the change, for what it matters) and saw the current result. Below is an update from the afternoon:
Two things are worth noticing. First, most voters are clearly against the privacy settings change. I don't think most Facebook users want more privacy, but they don't want the company to sell their information...
The second and more relevant issue is the absolute numbers. If this is true there were 100,000 voters, this is really a minority fraction, about 0,1% of the potential voters. The 220 millions mark is a bit far.... If things don't change dramatically, this won't be the first case of global e-democracy, but the first failure of such an idea. I guess Facebook and journalists should have saved the rhetoric until AFTER the vote!