Open The Dialogue

Facebook Privacy Debate Rages On As Sensitive User Information Is Made Public

Marshall Kirkpatrick does an excellent job of laying out the arguments on both sides.  While the response from the Facebook camp has been both inconsistent and unconvincing, Marshall also presents some legitimate privacy concerns about the current public-only features of the profile pages.  Also check out Shel Israel’s open letter to Marck Zuckerberg.  From a network that attracted users by promising to let them connect to friends only within their college network but then transforming to one that now exposes potentially damaging and sensitive information to the entire internet community (family, professional networks and political affiliations included), is this a case of “bait-and-switch” on Facebook’s part?

Things that Make Companies Unprepared for Adopting Social Media

Joshua-Michéle Ross has some interesting points on why some companies may not be a good fit for social media.  Inability or unwillingness to address user concerns as the communication department may have little to no control over product quality, pricing and terms of use are some of the major concerns.

Content Delivery and Lagging Broadband Speeds

Streaming content may be getting a big push as Microsoft is in talks with Disney about getting ESPN content available through Xbox 360.  At the same time, a study by Akamai shows that US broadband speed has been lagging in comparison to other countries.  This is sure to create conflict as majority of broadband users connect to the internet via cable companies who will be directly affected by this growing trend in streaming content.

Don’t let the numbers fool you: Facebook’s steady rise to the top of the social media heap wasn’t by magic or luck. Instead Facebook has grown from Harvard’s Ethernet to 350 million users by aggressively trying new things, for good and the bad.

For a while it seemed that the one thing that Facebook would never get correct would be the privacy issue.  As Facebook has grown from a college-only hangout to a widely used networking tool for everyone, Facebook has had to reconsider their privacy policy along the way.

After a few miscues (cough Beacon cough)  it seems Facebook has understood that controlling privacy is one of the best ways to keep their expansive user base. Now with several changes, they’ve made privacy so easy that even an orangutan can do it.

1. Shutting Down Beacon: Facebook’s Beacon was meant to be the start of social media advertising but ended up being too pervasive.  Facebook has since shut down the service and settled a lawsuit surrounding Beacon’s privacy practices.
2. Marketer’s Beware!: Facebook change the rules on marketers may protect Facebook more than the user, but with all the different contests I’ve been seeing lately maybe this is a good thing.
3. Scam Crackdowns: One of the best and worse things about the Facebook platform is the apps. That’s why its great that Facebook is cleaning house and getting rid of apps that are scammy. Now if someone could just get rid of Farmville (someone had to say it!).
4. Eliminating Confusing Policy Rules: Getting rid of all the network mumbo-jumbo and simplifying the system makes sense.  At one point I was on three different networks and controlled each privacy setting individually.  Now with simple controls for each piece of content I put up and easier privacy language, most people are going to feel a lot safer on Facebook. More importantly this plan has been discussed since July, meaning that Facebook may avoid the backlash they’ve felt every other time a change has been made.

It is this concern over people’s privacy that have allowed Facebook to grow to 350 million people worldwide.  By tweaking their privacy, Facebook has taken the lead on an issue where other major social networks like MySpace ended up failing.  Now the question is: can it last?

What do you think about Facebook’s privacy changes?  Do you feel safe online?

Social Media Policy 101

Still trying to formulate your company’s social media policy? This list of over 80 policies from About.com to Yahoo gives a wide selection of possible guidelines. Of course, Serena Ehrlich shows how some guidelines (like ESPN’s) can be both good and bad.

Facebook Privacy Concerns Continue

Facebook Beacon has been shut down after two years of lawsuit problems and anti-privacy allegations. Of course, this announcement may be lost in the most recent instance of Facebook data mining, an experiment by MIT.

Can Ad Agency + Social Media= Success?

Can social media marketing and advertising co-exist in your marketing department? Here’s a look at a few problems that ad agencies need to overcome in order to make social media marketing work.

Is Big Brother watching your back?  That’s what a new bill that is being assembled in the House is supposed to do as Congress takes a new look at  web privacy.

Representative Rick Boucher of Virginia, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and Internet is currently putting together the bill designed to federally regulate how websites collect information from consumers.  According  to the post by RedOrbit.com, Boucher says that the goal “is make people more likely to trust electronic commerce and the Internet.” Considering the recent explosion in social networking and mobile web use seems like this regulation is one that we could all use, right?

Of course the problem could be that without the ability to track and serve up just the right ads to consumers, online advertising could quickly shrivel and die. While I wouldn’t mind getting rid of a majority of the annoying ads I see everyday, the fact remains that a majority of the web is supported by advertising.  If we removed that building-block, its seems possible that a lot of sites could come crashing down.

So how are we going protect our web privacy?  It looks like the debate will boil down to four different philosophies.

1. The Opt-In Approach- The preferred option of the privacy watchdogs, like The Center for Democratic Democracy, this web privacy tactic would ask each consumer if the site can track their actions, kind of like how some computer programs work.  While privacy would stay safe, opponents argue that this would be ultra-annoying to consumers.
2. The Opt-Out Approach- Online advertising would love to see this one work. Rather than an opt-in screen, each site must offer the consumer the chance to opt-out. The question remains if consumers would actually know where and why they should take this privacy shield.
3. The Tiered Solution- Boucher suggests that the best way to protect your data might be forcing different sites to play by different rules.  Sites that deal with health information for instance might have to go through a more secure process that your local newspaper’s site.  What stands to question here is how quickly can sites be properly categorized and vetted? More importantly to the social media community is with sites today quickly moving to a networked approach through things like Facebook Connect, which sites are going to need to protect us the most? It could vary based on use!
4. Self-Regulation- As the current model for securing your internet privacy, self-regulation was only adopted by major web advertisers in July as a way to combat this bill.  According to the full report, the regulations are built to protect the concerns of the public relating to their privacy in issues of  Education, Transparency, Consumer Control, Data Security, Material Changes, Sensitive Data and Accountability. With the way the web moves, this may be our best bet. But then again who watches the self-regulating watchmen?

Do you think this bill could affect online advertising? What option would your prefer to protect your privacy?