Industry Directions: Where Social Network Providers are Heading- Richard Allan - Facebook, EU

Abstract: Richard will describe recent developments on the Facebook service and outline future trends for where it is heading. He will use these insights to highlight the areas where research might be of particular interest.

Bio: Richard Allan joined Facebook in June 2009 to lead the company’s public policy work in Europe. Richard works on a broad portfolio of issues including privacy, online child safety, freedom of Expression, e-commerce regulation and public sector uses of social media. He appears regularly in the media as a spokesman for Facebook. Prior to joining Facebook, Richard was European Government Affairs Director for Cisco from September 2005 and has been an academic visitor at the Oxford Internet Institute. From 2008 to 2009 Richard was Chair of the UK Cabinet Office’s Power of Information Task Force working on improving the use of government data. Richard was Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hallam from 1997 to 2005 where he specialized in technology policy issues. In July 2010, Richard was appointed to the House of Lords in the UK Parliament. In the early part of his career Richard was an archaeologist, an NHS IT professional and a locally elected Councillor.