Facebook Shares More About How It Uses Your Data

How does Facebook use all the words, pictures and clicks of its 901 million users?

“We’re adding more examples and detailed explanations to help you understand our policies,” Facebook’s new chief privacy officer, Erin Egan, a veteran privacy lawyer in Washington, wrote, in a blog post. The new explanations, available by clicking on the Help tab on the bottom of the Facebook home page, include one on how cookies work on the site and what information application developers receive when you download an app on the Facebook platform. The explanations also inform users about who can see what kinds of posts on their timelines. “We also provide more information about how we use data to operate Facebook, to advertise, and to promote safety and security for Facebook users,” Egan wrote. The changes come at a time when Facebook, as it goes to the public markets, will have to extract more value from its trove of personal data. In so doing, it may face more scrutiny from users and government regulators.