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Britney Spears Has Accepted Your Facebook Request

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Mar 5, 2009 11:35 am US/Eastern

Britney Spears Has Accepted Your Facebook Request

Social Networking Site's Upgrade To Share More News To Fans

NEW YORK (CBS) ― With all of the paparazzi coverage of celebrities these days, it's not hard to start thinking of certain famous people as our friends, particularly online. With just the click of your mouse, you can find coverage of celebs doing everything from taking out the trash to walking the red carpet.

Starting this month, social networking Web site Facebook will upgrade its users' star-gazing culture to allow everyday folks to befriend their favorite celebrities.

Celebs, politicians, athletes, brands and media outlets increasingly are looking for ways to reach out and interact with their audiences. The current Facebook Pages feature, which allowed users to become fans of specific celebrities, will change by March 11 into public profiles that will allow direct sharing of content with the site's 175 million individual users.

President Barack Obama, pop diva Britney Spears, Olympic gold-winning swimmer Michael Phelps, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and the NBA are some of the first partners that will be using these new public profiles, according to information released by the company.

"Facebook is such a cool and easy way for me to connect with my fans while I'm on the road," said Britney Spears according to Facebook's press release. "I love that I can update my status, blog and post videos and photos all in one place."

Public profiles will be familiar to Facebook users by having the same look and function as the current profiles. Shared content such as brief messages, photos and videos will appear in the News Feed, Facebook's service that streams updates in real time.

In the next week, all administrators of Facebook Pages will have the opportunity to make changes and can publish into the updated design.

Last month, the site quietly updated its terms of use - its governing document - sparking an uproar after popular consumer rights advocacy blog Consumerist.com referred to them as "We Can Do Anything We Want With Your Content. Forever."

After tens of thousands protested, Facebook decided to revert to its previous user policies while it figured out how best to update them. Founder Mark Zuckerberg reassured its users that they are owners of their posted content, not Facebook. In a broader step, the company also said its users will get a hand in determining the various policies — such as privacy, ownership and sharing — by reviewing, commenting and voting on them before they are put in place.

The Palo Alto, Calif.-based social networking company is privately held. Microsoft Corp. bought a 1.6 percent stake in the company in 2007 for $240 million as part of a broader advertising partnership.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.