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The Illusion of Privacy
The launch of Google Buzz this week has once again brought questions of privacy and social networking applications to the forefront. Just as many of us have questioned over the past few years the repeated failure of Facebook to respect our privacy.
To my mind, this is a very simple thing: never post anything to any networking service that you wouldn’t want to see again. Ever…
People have lost jobs over what they have posted on Facebook and elsewhere. I have seen it several times personally. Further, at some point you may need to search for a new job. A prospective employer may see that photo of you doing belly shots off that Asian hooker in Vegas last year, and bang, you don’t get a call back. In other words, it’s hurt you, badly, and you never even know it.
So right now, I bet a lot of you are saying “no problem, I’ll just clean up my profile if I need to do a job search.” The problem is that content often gets scraped off sites and turns up in other places. My content from this blog is regularly grabbed by sploggers and reposted elsewhere. It’s almost impossible to get the content removed. I’ve tried. Further, to take our Vegas analogy further, what happens if Google grabs that picture in their image search? Many bloggers use that service to find pictures to reusue, regardless of copyright. What would you think if your little Vegas picture appeared here?
Remember this: any semblance of privacy online is an illusion. From the beginning, your ISP could be logging what you do, Archive.org could be archiving the sites you post on, and Google could be indexing the images you post. Once it’s out there, you have no hope of pulling the information back. So think twice…and don’t put your faith in Facebook, Google or anyone else to respect your privacy.
12 Feb 10 | The Day Social Media Went Mainstream – Google Buzz
Google decided that I was ready for Google Buzz this morning, and it magically appeared in my email console. If you haven’t heard of it, watch this video:
On first take, when viewed inside of gmail, Google buzz seems to be a real yawn. Just another place where you need to update statuses to keep in touch with folks. Exactly what I’ve been warning would become the death of social media, the great diaspora wherein we all end up on separate and unconnected platforms.
That was my initial opinion, and now I can see I was dead wrong. This isn’t just another service, this very well could be THE service (I struggle to avoid LoTR analogies here). You see think about all the Google services, mail, image hosting, url shortening, search, profile, translate, Youtube, all woven into a single semi-open platform.
Instead of bits and pieces, we have the whole ball of wax. Then wrap in a nice little API which I assume they will offer and you have everything that Twitter, Facebook and all the other social media services aren’t – an all encompassing open social platform.
So what happens? Buzz becomes the lynch pin for the service that allows them to take on Facebook. Forget about Twitter, they are immediately an also ran service. By the end of the week, my Mother will be following me on Buzz, something that will never happen on Twitter. No, this is a Facebook killer of epic proportions.
Here’s how it goes. They firm up the platform, get people used to using it, then they make a simple pitch: who do you trust – Facebook or Google? At that point we all nod, and it’s “last one left on Facebook turn out the lights.”
This is the day when Social Media went mainstream.
Geo Location Services and the Coming War for Our Whereabouts
Over the past few months I’ve been messing with Foursquare…the geo location service-based social network-game. Frequent readers will possibly remember that I’m not a really big fan of sharing geo location information, even though I’m perhaps one of the few who has directly had his life saved by cell phone geolocation.
Foursquare is an interesting study. By turning the geo location service into a game and allowing the most frequent visitors to locations to earn the title of ”Mayor” of that spot, as well as providing badges which users can earn for certain actions, they’re amassing a fairly comprehensive database of mostly bars and restaurants around the globe. They’ve beautifully applied some of the best features of online communities in a way that has allowed them to expand at an exponential rate. (more…)
DeLurker Day!
Today is DeLurker Day, the day in which bloggers like myself celebrate our readers by offering you an invitation to leave a comment. I know there are a lot of you out there that read this blog almost daily, but as you know, there aren’t always a lot of comments. Take the time and let us know who you are and what you like, don’t like and what you’d like to see here or in the world in general, in the coming year.
From Wikipedia, the definition of a lurker:
In Internet culture, a lurker is a person who reads discussions on a message board, newsgroup, chatroom, file sharing or other interactive system, but rarely or never participates actively. Research indicates that “lurkers make up over 90% of online groups” (Nonnecke & Preece 2000).
So take a minute to drop a line and join our conversation! We’ll all be glad you came. (A tip of the hat to Jeff Bennett for pointing me to this campaign)
The Real Currency of Social Media
“It’s people. Soylent Green is made out of people. They’re making our food out of people. Next thing they’ll be breeding us like cattle for food. You’ve gotta tell them. You’ve gotta tell them!” Soylent Green – 1973
So what is the real commodity of social media? It’s people. You and me, and all our friends. Period.
Over the past few weeks, this as really started to steam roller. Let’s take a look at a few examples:
- Fake Steve Jobs (Real Dan Lyons) slams NY Times for their failure to report both sides of Zynga/Farmville
- Jason Calacanis lashes out at Facebook’s slimy new “privacy” settings which in most cases remove all privacy in his post “Is Facebook unethical, cluelessor unlucky?“
- The ACLU proves that Facebook Quizzes bypass all privacy settings for you AND YOUR FRIENDS *with tacit approval from Facebook*
- Google CEO Eric Schmidt opines “If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place, but if you really need that kind of privacy, the reality is that search engines including Google do retain this information for some time, and it’s important, for example that we are all subject in the United States to the Patriot Act.”
Read all the links then think about it. Basically the fine folks at Facebook, Google, etc. are selling us, and not even to the highest bidder. They’re selling us to any bidder that comes down the pike.
For the record, if you use ANY Facebook Apps, like Farmville or do Facebook quizzes, I consider it mandatory for you to take the ACLU quiz.
I’ve made the decision a few years ago to leave somewhat transparently on the web, but most of you actually believe you have some level of privacy. That level of privacy is, unfortunately, illusory.
Expect this to become a huge fight in the coming year. It won’t go away, and I suspect few of you will accept such cavalier attitudes towards your privacy.
Social Networking for Tween Girls
It was utterly inevitable…via CruchGear and Matt Brodeur:
So this seems like a good enough idea. It’s called MySecretCircle and it’s basically it’s a closed social network for girls. You and your buds buy a USB key that acts as your login. It autoruns under Windows and OS X and brings up a photo and journal sharing system that only allows certain people access to your daughter’s personal info.
In theory and in practice this is great. It ensures your tween doesn’t connect with creeps like me. Kids can only connect with friends that have their private key – no one else exists in the site except for Sabrina Circle, the Tom of this candy-pink MySpace.
Social networking and tweeners is a match made in heaven for them, and hell for us parents. Can’t you just hear it “Daddy, she flamed me…”
It sounds like a great idea, but I think they’ve missed something in the realm of parental control. I’ll have a good look soon, and if it works, I’m sure I’ll have two little beta testers pounding the keys before you know it.
Does Twitter Dilute Media Brands?
For the past couple weeks I’ve been tweeting for the Reel-Time.com site under the Twitter handle “Reel_Time” and I’ve found some very interesting trends. Most disturbing is that Twitter doesn’t really appear to be an extension of the conversations that start on my site, it appears to be something wholly different. Similar conversations in a place where I don’t get any ad revenue.
As of yet, I’m not seeing this as increasing the value of the Reel-time.com brand. Of course, while twitter may be hitting the mainstream, I suspect we’re still on the bleeding edge of Twitter in the saltwater fly fishing niche. It just seems that where my readers used to find me, I am now trying to find them. A horribly upside down delivery model it is when you’re starting out!
The Bad, or Not So Good:
- Spammers - they apparently target new accounts – a good number of my initial followers apparently thought I wanted to pay for the “secrets of making millions via twitter”. For the record, I don’t think there is anyone out there making THOUSANDS yet.
- Mostly Shops, Guides and Website Owners - in a lot of ways its me and my competitors talking. Honestly, that makes me want to share…less.
- Haphazard Marketing – I’ve seen several shops or guides who don’t have a website or haven’t updated that website in over a year. Yet they have time to tweet on a regular basis. Tweeting is nice, but take care of your marketing 101 basics first.
The Good:
- Fishing Reports - while my forum users macerate on the implications of posting fishing reports via Twitter, its already happening and there are enough respected industry names doing it that I can say with certainty, fishing reports via twitter are here to stay.
- Immediacy – I’m a big fan of “right the heck now.” I hate to wait. Twitter means I won’t have to wait.
- New Enough That We Can Make This What We Want – I suspect the real gold here is in the hashtagging of reports. If we develop a way of tagging that makes regional sense (most New Englander’s don’t need reports from Maryland) then we’ll all win. I generally hate protocols, but this may just be what we need. Something like #SWF-BOS for Boston area reports…then fight to keep it from becoming another Usenet.
The trial continues…
Tags: twitter
Twitter, Hashtags, Baseball and a Dose of Spam
For about a year, I’ve been using twitter and hashtags to tweet with fellow Red Sox fans about our favorite topic, the Red Sox. Over that time, I’ve seen a big change how it works.
First, a definition from Twitter Wiki:
Hashtags are a community-driven convention for adding additional context and metadata to your tweets. They’re like tags on Flickr, only added inline to your post. You create a hashtag simply by prefixing a word with a hash symbol: #hashtag.
When I started about a year ago, there were a handful of folks that were tweeting with the #redsox hashtag during the games. DougH, AdamCohen, AaronStrout and Fairminder would pretty much be the list. Most of them aren’t really seen tweeting about the games anymore, and it doesn’t surprise me.
Early adopters really hate a crowd, deep down, and the numbers of folks that use the hashtag now have soared. Even Jerry Remy (and his assistant John) are using the hashtag to tweet during games. However, with the popularity, there are problems:
1. Spamming – I’m now seeing people using the hashtag to advertise stuff that has nothing to do with the Red Sox. Last night DaveAndelmann tweeted an ad for his Phantom Gourmet tv show which would air after the game. Boo hiss, Dave! If everyone does this, it becomes unuseable. The problem is that everyone seems to think that Twitter is their own private advertising medium. Really, c’mon, admit it…
2. ReTweetBots – I really hate seeing accounts (not really people) like Redsoxgame or Yankeesgame or RedSoxTweets mindlessly retweeting scores and articles with the #redsox tag. The problem is, if the original was already tagged, we’ve seen it before. With these retweetbots, we’re destined to see each article about 6 times. Stupid…
3. Red Sox Tweets Turn Off My Other Followers – Yup, not everyone wants to hear it. Since I’ve tagged my tweets, you can filter them in Tweetdeck, (go to the bottom of your friends column and find the filter icon – then select text – #redsox and they’ll be gone. But most people won’t take the time to do this.
Either we find fixes for these problems, or the noble effort that was live game tweeting will crash and burn. I predict unregulated this will go the way of Usenet possibly by the All Star break but certainly by September.
I suspect in the long term, the real solution is that live game microblogging needs to be done under the auspices of a website where someone can actually police things help maintain a quality experience. Perhaps if Jerry Remy were to put a Laconica install on his site, that’d be the place. Or perhaps the crew at SurvivingGrady.com could upgrade from their current comments system…
MediaPost Gets It Wrong – “What Social Media Can Learn From Email Marketing”
It’s hard to be taken seriously when you don’t even get the terms straight. The title of the article and its main premise should of course be “What Social Media MARKETING Can Learn from Email MARKETING.” Very clearly when Stephanie Miller says “Social media pulls the marketer off the brand pedestal and drags her into the throes of the messy, wild, unpredictable community” she is talking about marketing, not building Social Media.
It’s one thing when a clueless social media wannabe makes the mistake on Twitter, but MediaPost is supposed to be a bastion of journalism online.
(Do you need Social Media defined properly for you: see my post from earlier in the week.)
Social Media, Social (Media) Marketing and Where the Difference Lies…
I’ve finally put my finger on what it is that’s been chaffing my britches about the new found popularity of Social Media; that is most people are using the wrong term. They’re not talking about Social Media, they’re talking about Social Media Marketing.
I’m sure a lot of you are saying the same thing right now: “What the heck gives this bozo the right to define what is and what is not Social Media?” Let me answer that for you.
I’ve been building online communities, doing user generated content, and generally fostering what you all like to call “the conversation” since 1995. That’s before most of you had Internet connections, and certainly before most of you ever thought about blogging, commenting, or the like. If you don’t like my opinion on what is and what isn’t Social Media, talk to Dave Winer, or Doc Searls, or some of the other folks who have been around since the early days.
So here are the defininitions I believe would be more correct:
- Social Networking – anything having to do with the major sharing and online networking sites and applications. Think about LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Delicious, etc. here. Generally these are communication based sites. Wikipedia does a good job of defining:
“A social network service focuses on building online communities of people who share interests and/or activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Most social network services are web based and provide a variety of ways for users to interact, such as e-mail and instant messaging services. ”
- Social Media – development of and operation of content driven websites in which user generated content, comments, and discussion forums play a large part. Wikipedia offers a definition, but I believe it is overly broad, although it does hint at the consumer generated content aspects:
“Social media are primarily Internet- and mobile-based tools for sharing and discussing information among human beings. The term most often refers to activities that integrate technology, telecommunications and social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio. This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and “building” of shared meaning among communities, as people share their stories and experiences. Businesses also refer to social media as user-generated content (UGC) or consumer-generated media (CGM).”
- Social Media Marketing (I’ve edited the post here due to concernes that the lack of the word media here was confusing) - using either Social Media sites or Social Networking to sell, advertise, promote or develop “the buzz” for a product, brand, website or person. Wikipedia prefers the term Social Media Marketing, which I don’t utterly hate, however their definition is somewhat mealy mouthed, so I won’t republish here.
- Social Media Marketing Consulting (edited to add ‘media’) - telling other people, generally via Twitter, or at expensive conferences in out of the way place, that they should be doing Social Marketing. If you’re telling people to “join the conversation”, you are probably a Social Media Marketing Consultant.
My case in point is this: there is a fellow offering certification in Social Media, yet when you read the prospectus, it’s obvious he’s pushing Social Media Marketing. It’s more about how to game the system, than how to build the system, a rather fundemental difference in my mind.
To recap:
- Social Networking: a communications service
- Social Media : the consumer generated content aspects of content driven websites
- Social Media Marketing(edited to add the word “Media” to avoid confusion): selling or promoting products, brands, people or things via Social Networking services or Social Media sites.
So please, if you’re going to consult on Social Media, or Social Media Marketing, at least get your terms straight.
Tags: nmdb, Social Marketing, social media, social media 101, Social Media Marketing
About Us
I'm Mark Cahill - Online community developer and content management wonk since 1995. I'm interested in new media, communities and social networking, and love saltwater fly fishing. For a longer version, you can read my full about us page.
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Email me at allthingscahill at gmail
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