Welcome to My Blog

Facebook released a statement today outlining its rewritten terms of service with the goal of more clearly explaining how user data is collected and used.

The written statement, penned by Chief Privacy Officer Erin Egan and Deputy General Counsel Ashlie Beringer, makes two things clear early on: 

“We’re not asking for new rights to collect, use or share your data on Facebook. We’re also not changing any of the privacy choices you’ve made in the past.”

Instead, they write, these changes are designed to provide greater clarity around Facebook’s terms of service by rewriting them in more comprehensive, simplified language that’s easier to comprehend.

The same goes for the data policy, which dictates what kind of data Facebook collects and how it’s used in all its products, including Messenger and Instagram.

The statement emphasizes a “one company” stipulation to these rewritten terms and policies, noting that Facebook also owns WhatsApp and Oculus, across which services, infrastructure, and information are all shared. “Your experience isn’t changing with any of these products,” it reads.

Here’s a look at some of the crucial items users can expect in the rewritten terms and policies.

New Features and Tools

Some of Facebook’s more recently-introduced features, like Marketplace and the ability to start fundraisers, might be cause for a particularly high level of confusion. Those features have launched in the time since Facebook updated these terms and data policies — as well as Live and 360-degree video capabilities — so these documents are said to more clearly inform users on terms surrounding these newer elements.

Personalized Experience

Here’s where the data privacy piece plays a particularly large part. As Facebook has been wont to remind us, part of the reason why it collects the high degree of data it does is to help customize each user’s experience with the app based on what that dictate says he or she wants to see.

These revised terms and policies, the statement says, have been rewritten to better explain how that works — as well as why Facebook thinks its necessary to collect it for a personalized experience, like customizing which ads, posts, and suggested friends or Pages appear for each user.

What We Share

This item is another big-ticket one, especially in light of the ongoing fallout Facebook has experienced since it was first revealed that analytics and profiling firm Cambridge Analytica allegedly wrongly obtained and abused personal user data. 

The statement emphasizes: “We will never sell your information to anyone.” That, along with the restrictions that Facebook imposes to help keep user data secure is more clearly outlined in the rewritten terms and policies, as well as how partners can use or share data.

Device Information

The data that Facebook collects from the devices people use to access its site and products recently came front-of-mind for many when Ars Technica published a report alleging that the company was tracking and recording both phone calls made and SMS messages exchanged on Android devices that had Facebook apps installed.

According to the statement, Facebook “respects” each mobile device settings to adjust what the app can or cannot access. But in addition to that, the terms and policies will now have greater clarity around what details, specifically, are collected from a user’s device when he or she grants the app permission to sync contacts, for example, in Messenger.

TechCrunch, which appears to be the first outlet to report on some of these changes, published an article earlier today that elaborates on what the device data collection entails. According to that report, it includes information like the type of device being used, its operating system, and the name of your internet service provider, among others.

What This Might Mean

These revised terms and policies arrive on the same day that the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee confirmed that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will be testifying before Congress on April 11. “It almost looks like Facebook is getting all of its ducks in a row in preparation for any future scrutiny, whether it’s Zuckerberg’s congressional testimony or potential legislation on how data is handled, managed, or shared,” says Henry Franco, HubSpot’s social campaign strategy associate.

But he emphasizes users to remember that the policies aren’t changing (yet) — and that, for now, the only modification is the way they’re written and explained, perhaps so that they don’t leave as much room for interpretation if questioned (by Congress, for instance).

“Which is fair, considering it doesn’t seem Facebook has done a ton wrong,” says Franco, “and it’s more that it’s failed to monitor the content on its platform as much as people might have wanted.”

But that opens the situation to even further debate, Franco argues, as to just how much responsibility should ultimately fall on Facebook alone.

“Should people inherently be able to take everything they read with a grain of salt and think critically?” Franco asks. “Is it the job of the government or tech companies to monitor what we see? Is one or the other a slippery slope?”

As a reminder, the public has seven days to provide feedback on these changes. We’ll continue to monitor the situation as it unfolds.

Today, the House Energy and Commerce Committee confirmed that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will indeed testify in front of the congressional committee on April 11.

His testimony is rooted in the ongoing controversy over Facebook’s handling of its users’ data, which became the subject of global news after it was revealed that personal information was mistreated by data consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica.

Facebook’s Removal of Fake Accounts by the IRA

Recent action by Facebook, however, is sure to influence the content of Zuckerberg’s hearing — most notably its removal of more than 270 fake Facebook pages and accounts managed by the Internet Research Agency (IRA).

This Russian firm is suspected to have influenced a number of foreign political elections, including the 2016 U.S. Presidential election.

“Since [2016], we have improved our techniques to prevent nation states from interfering in foreign elections,” Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook yesterday. “There have been a number of important elections since then where [our new artificial intelligence tools] have been successfully deployed.”

The Silicon Valley giant cited countries like France and Germany as governments with which his team worked to remove the IRA’s Facebook presence in these communities.

Awaiting a Position on Europe’s New Privacy Law

But these examples could prove to work against him in Congress. According to Reuters, Zuckerberg agreed “in spirit” to a new law in the European Union that will renovate online privacy standards across Europe. He did not reveal Facebook’s goals on this front for the rest of the world.

That law is the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the most significant update to the continent’s privacy policies in the last three decades — making the CEO’s lack of comment on its benefit to Facebook’s global user base a likely topic of conversation on April 11.

But Facebook is admittedly not the only Big Tech in the Bay Area to stay silent on the topic of the EU’s data privacy laws. Google and its parent company, Alphabet Inc., are two others that have not taken a stance on how this law might be able to support global users.

The Consequences on Facebook

Why the hesitation? One possibility is that the GDPR could limit Facebook’s revenue from ads if advertisers feel they can’t use certain user data to target customers’ News Feeds as accurately.

But the damage done by people leaving the platform entirely could be a greater hit to the company if it doesn’t take a position on its global markets soon. Zuckerberg did clarify that many of the tools belonging to the GDPR are already available to all Facebook users — so these risks are likely top of mind for the young executive.

Nonetheless, Washington is both grateful and eagerly anticipating Zuckerberg’s appearance before the House of Representatives next week.

“This hearing will be an important opportunity to shed light on critical consumer data privacy issues and help all Americans better understand what happens to their personal information online,” said Committee Chairman Greg Walden and Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. “We appreciate Mr. Zuckerberg’s willingness to testify before the committee, and we look forward to him answering our questions on April 11th.”

We’ll be reporting on this ongoing story up to and after the hearing on Wednesday.

No matter what industry you work in (or your experience level in that industry), a plain, black-and-white resume written in Times New Roman font can actually weaken a job application.

But just because resumes have gotten more creative doesn’t mean you need special design software to make your application stand out. On the contrary, writing your resume in good old Microsoft Word is still the perfect way to develop your personal brand, while also communicating your experience and career goals.

Of course, if you’re already employed full-time, it’s hard to find the time to apply to a new job opportunity, let alone update your resume to reflect your qualifications. Luckily, there are numerous publishers out there who’ve created incredible resume templates for quick editing and formatting in Word.

To keep you from hunting the internet for the resume templates that are both free and compatible with MS Word, we’ve listed 11 options below for you to customize with your own information right now. Some of them come with variations so you can pick your favorite design.

They’re so nice, you won’t believe they open up in Microsoft Word once you download them.

11 Resume Templates You Can Customize in Word

1. Modern Chronological Resume Template

We’ll start with a simple one. This resume template is available from Microsoft itself, and it’s one of many free templates the company has prepared for those who depend on Microsoft Office tools to create content. Yes, it is written in Times New Roman — don’t freak out. Designs like this can borrow an old-school typeface and still impress recruiters with a clean layout and subtle use of color. You can also change the font if you wish (and the same goes for every template in our list).

Download this template here.

2. Simple and Clean Resume Template

This template is the perfect balance of creative and modest — best for the professional who wants to seem casual, thoughtful, but not over the top. Not only does it feature a space for a headshot on the top-left, but you can customize the color of that entire panel. Created by Zoki Design, the resume template also comes with a matching cover letter template.

Download the entire set here.

3. Urban Development Resume Template

The illustration on the top-left of this template shows who the designers at Hloom had in mind for this resume: civil engineers. But because it’s a Word document, that graphic is easy to edit and replace with an image that represents your line of work. Are you an analytics buff? Design a clever bar or line graph icon and place it next to your name in blue (or whatever color you’d like!).

This template is available for download here.

4. Info Pop Resume Template

This one, also from Hloom, gives you exactly what the name suggests: ample space for the info you need, with headers that pop just enough to get your employer’s attention. Although the template fits a ton of text, its soft color palate prevents the document from seeming overwhelming.

Download it here.

5. Neat and Confident Resume Template

Similar to the Simple and Clean template in #2, this resume design by Nowpixelse communicates a truly professional tone. The template’s muted colors work very well with the side panel layered over the top header.

Download and customize to your liking here.

6. Smart and Professional Resume Template

This is another sharp template that offers a basic but confident design for any professional. The warm-colored panel on the right-hand side is pre-formatted for a written profile, where you can write a summary of your background or a form letter to each employer. Just be sure to personalize this messaging to each new recipient so it works for the job you’re applying to. This template is available on Freesumes, and is free to users once they share the page to Facebook or Twitter.

Download it here.

7. Timeline-Style Resume Template

Hloom’s Timeline template is a super simple but creative way to tell your story. You can convey your progression through various jobs you’ve held on one side of the vertical line, and more static elements of your background — such as skills and education — on the other.

Download it here.

8. Fresh Resume Template

This is perhaps the most imaginative of all the Word-based resume templates on this list — with both a skills meter and a comic headshot. The template was designed by Venkata Naresh and comes with 12 different versions of the design you see below. Have you created a Bitmoji of yourself? Do you think your employer would find it creative? Match the template and add it as your photo.

Download the entire resume set here.

9. Goldenrod Resume Template

This template, also offered on Freesumes, dares to use yellow as the dominant color — but doesn’t sacrifice professionalism in the process. The document anchors the education section to a thick, bright banner across the bottom, but you can likely change this to a skills section with some simple editing in Microsoft Word.

Download the template here.

10. Resume Template With Personal Endorsements

This resume template has quite a flashy header — no photography pun intended — but it’s not just for photographers. What makes this resume unique is the space for references on the lower right-hand side. Does your field need others to vouch for your experience? This resume gives you room for three solid recommendations.

Download the template here.

11. Creative Resume Template

The last one on our list was designed by the stationery experts at MOO and is offered for download by Microsoft. Simple but vibrant, this template hugs the text with an artistic header and footer — great for recent graduates who need to fill empty space on the page.

Download it here.

Remember, once you’ve finished personalizing your resume, you’re not ready to submit an application yet. To ensure your resume’s format stays the same for everyone who receives it, save the document as a PDF. Best case scenario? Even the hiring manager won’t believe your resume came from Word.