privacy

Facebook: A Deal with the Data Devil

By Mark Evans in Social Media 6 Comments Tags: , ,

Unlike Julian Assange, I don’t believe Facebook is “the most appalling spy machine that has ever been invited” but I do agree with Niall Harbis Facebok has aggressive ambitions to dominate the Web.

Steadily, Facebook is appearing everywhere all in the name of the social graph. It starts with Facebook Connect making it oh so easy to register or log into a Web site. Then, it’s the “Like” button to show your friends the places you frequent. Facebook rolls out comments to the things you say on a blog can be streamed into your Facebook account. Now “Send” makes it easy to share articles or blog posts with your Facebook friends.

So what’s the end game for Facebook beyond global domination? The simple answer is: data. All the information and content shared and posted on Facebook, the “Likes”, the Facebook comments, “Send”, etc. are sucked into Facebook ever-growing server farms. The more you interact with Facebook directly or via a Facebook tool/widget on another Web site, the more intelligence they have on you – your likes, dislikes, job, favourite Web sites, hobbies, where you go (Places), etc.

By using Facebook to connect with friends and family, you’re making a deal with the data devil. A key part of using this “free” social network is you agree to provide Facebook with all kinds of data. Even if you’re super careful about your privacy settings – something most people don’t think twice about – you’re still providing Facebook with lots of data.

So why does Facebook hungry for your data? It’s simple: revenue. The more information they have about their users, the better job Facebook can do to serve the needs of advertisers who want to target specific groups of consumers. It’s a straightforward but brilliant economic proposition that will drive Facebook’s revenue growth much the same way that AdSense has turned Google into a money-making machine.

For anyone interested in Facebook’s ability to target consumers, go through the process of placing an ad on Facebook. One of the tools is the ability to target based on age, gender, interests, geography and even workplace. All of this information is provided by users, and then used by Facebook to sell ads.

Facebook’s need for more data is a financial necessity because it still needs to convince advertisers that spending money on ads is a smart thing. Facebook is hoping ultra-targeting is a way to get around the problem that many Facebook users ignore the ads because they see it as a way to stay connected with friends and family rather than a way to learn about new products and services.

But if Facebook can deliver super-targeted and relevant advertising, maybe consumers will start to pay more attention.

In the meantime, Facebook will continue its data jihad by rolling out new services that provide value to consumers and, at the same, help the social network collect more data about you. It’s a much more palatable approach than having to focus on privacy settings with far more economic potential.

Finally, Privacy is in the Spotlight

By Mark Evans in Social Media 1 Comment Tags: , , ,

For the past year, it feels like I’ve been on a personal crusade about digital privacy and how people need to pay more attention to how much information they disclose online. But in many ways, it been like whistling into the wind because there was so much enthusiasm about social media and sharing information and content.

I thought maybe it was just my own personal biases or perhaps my view that privacy is still important was out of step with how the digital world is evolving. When you’re going against the grain, it can be disconcerting when everyone else doesn’t seem to be worried about what seemed to be an important issue.

But now it seems the world has finally caught on to privacy. You can probably give WikiLeaks credit for thrusting the spotlight on privacy. Suddenly, people seem to be looking at privacy differently. They have realized that Facebook’s privacy two-step, Google’s plans to photograph everything, and the dangers of broadcasting your location to the world via location-based services actually have a downside. ReadWriteWeb has even declared privacy to be one of the top trends of 2010.

My reaction is: What took everyone so long?

Seriously. There is so much giddy excitement about being open and transparent, too many people have happily surrendered their privacy by disclosing everything and anything about what they’re doing, thinking or going.

The biggest culprit is Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, who idealistically believes that being more open will somehow make the world a better place. That’s easy to say when the growth of your business hinges on disclosing more information so advertisers have more opportunities to target consumers with eerily relevant offers.

What has been fascinating is how so many members of the media and blogosphere have gone along for the ride, enthusiastically promoting all these new privacy-killing online services while pretty much ignoring how they have been waging a steady attack on our privacy.

Maybe WikiLeaks has managed to turn the tide. Maybe we’ve finally reached a point in time when more people will start to seriously explore privacy and examine the kind of information they disclose to the world. Maybe I’m being too optimistic but here’s hoping we’re on the verge of a pro-privacy trend.

Here are some of previous posts about privacy:

- Is the digital pendulum finally swing back?
- The downsides and dangers of geo-location
- Facebook should give up on privacy

The Downsides and Dangers of Geo-Location

By Mark Evans in Social Media 2 Comments Tags: , , ,

A couple of weeks ago, I did a lengthy interview with a reporter doing a story on geo-location. The angle was how geo-location services was the next, big thing but it was easy to tell my answers weren’t what she was seeking because my focus was how people need to be aware of the negatives of broadcasting your location.

Perhaps it’s my personal approach or my demographics but the idea of broadcasting my location has never captured my imagination. I just don’t see enough benefits to surrender one of the few remaining bastions of personal privacy. When I hear “check-in”, it conjures up images of George Orwell’s “1984″.

It does make me wonder whether I’m on the outside looking in given the tremendous willingness to share anything and everything via social media services. Foursquare may have two million users but you have to ask who are these people and why are they so enthusiastic about telling the world where they are.

Sure, Foursquare awards badges so there is a gaming element, and the tips can offer some information about different locations. But is there really an upside to broadcasting your location so friends and family can possibly meet you at that spot. Isn’t that what phone calls, e-mail or text-messaging accomplishes?

While geo-location has tremendous potential, Foursquare is simply a small, initial step that could be looked back upon with “Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time”. It could be that broadcasting your location is the wrong use of the technology.

The right services may be those in which you provide your location on a when-needed base to get information at the right time and place. For example, Yelp’s iPhone app is a great way to find nearby restaurants, stores, etc. so I have no problem telling Yelp where I’m located when required.

This explains why I rarely use Foursquare, although I do feel some obligation given part of my consulting business is social media strategy. It is hard to provide clients with advice either way without knowing what the services offers. While I’m active on social media and share a lot of information, it’s mostly professional, and rarely about who I’m meeting or where I’m located because it’s something that needs to be shared.

Meanwhile, there are many people in my digital circles who are enthusiastic Foursquare users. They broadcast their locations on a regular basis so I know only know what they’re doing and thinking but where they are located. To be honest, it feels like too much information.

The inspiration for this post was a blog post by Ari Herzog on why he deleted his Foursquare account. He talks about a couple of people who had some troubling experiences with Foursquare after recognizing people they didn’t know had lots of information about them.

Herzog’s decision may be drastic or an anomaly but it doesn’t surprise me. My sense is the geo-location pendulum swung way to far in one direction because of the novelty, and that it’s now going to swing back when more people start to realize there is a downside to broadcasting your location.

Using these services isn’t like sharing links about interesting blog posts or newspaper articles, which may provide people with a sense of your interests or thoughts; geo-location provides information about your location, personal habits and activities. They can provide a detailed snapshot of how you’re living your life – something you may want to think twice about.

Facebook Should Give Up on Privacy

By Mark Evans in Social Media 5 Comments Tags: , , ,

After watching Facebook make so many missteps when it comes to privacy over the past couple of years, including how some leading game developers passed along user data to marketers, I’ve come to the conclusion it should just throw in the towel.

Forget about tweaking privacy settings so they’re easier to control, manipulate, configure or understand. Forget about having to worry if new services make more personal data public so that search engines can discover it so Facebook can serve up more pages to display more ads. Forget privacy settings altogether.

Facebook should just make everything public. Anything you post, share, like, comment on or message would be public data, available to anyone. It would make Facebook’s job so much easier not having to worry about pesky issues such as privacy. And it’s what Mark Zuckerberg really wants to create a more transparent, open world.

If Facebook went completely public, life would be easier for everyone. First, we’d all know the rules. There would be no ambiguities, no confusion, no surprises. Anything posted on Facebook would be public, making it even social because there’s nothing like sharing everything with 500 million of your closest friends…or friends of friends.

For Facebook, privacy is a headache so let’s turf it. Right now, Facebook wants to eat its cake and have it too when it comes to privacy. It wants to make a lot of data public to drive its business needs but, at the same time, it needs to meet the needs of consumers who want the ability to make some or most of their information private.

Perhaps the solution is a new service called Facebook Private. On FBP, everything is private other than what your friends can see. There’s no worry about privacy settings because anyone you decide to let into your FBP network would have access, putting the onus the user to be selective about who let in to their inner circle.

With FBP launched, Facebook could then make the old Facebook completely public because users would have a clear about what service best fit their needs. At the end of the day, everyone would be much happier.

Does this make sense or what?

More Control from Facebook. Really!

By Mark Evans in Social Media No Comments Tags: , , ,

So, Facebook has some introduced some new tools so you can have better control over how and with whom you share information, as well as a bunch of other goodies.

There’s plenty of other places dissecting the nitty-gritty of Facebook’s announcement but what is perhaps most interesting is how Facebook continues to wrestle with the public-private issue. On one hand, it wants more of its users information to be public so more page can display advertising. Facebook’s advertising business is based on volume, volume and more volume given many clients use a pay-per-click formula.

On the other hand, Facebook has continued to get slapped for trying to make more user information public, which is well deserved for ill-advised moves such as making some personal controls public as the default. It has also forced users to opt out of new features as Places.

What makes today’s announcement intriguing is how Facebook has been forced to continually address the privacy thing. For whatever reason, it just can’t seem to get it right. Maybe it has to do with Mark Zuckerberg’s belief that total transparency is a good thing so why would anyone want to make anything private. The only problem is that not everyone is ready for total transparency – at least not yet.

Maybe Facebook’s new controls will address some of the concerns about the company’s approach to privacy. Maybe it will mean that I won’t be forced to check my privacy setting on a regular basis just to make sure Facebook hasn’t been fiddling around with my settings as part of a “new and improved” privacy policy.

Still, this is probably not the last time we’ll hear about “new controls” from Facebook. Count on it.

Is Privacy Really Dead?

By Mark Evans in Google, Social Media 2 Comments Tags: , , , ,

The New York Times published a story recently about how the existence of GPS technology in digital cameras and smartphones is another blow to privacy because it discloses your location if posted on a social media site.

When I shared the story on Twitter, one of the replies suggested “we have none” – meaning we no longer have privacy. It’s a fair point given the massive amounts of data collected about our Web activity, GPS in smartphones and digital cameras, the growing number of security cameras, Google roaming the streets taking photos of our houses in the name of a better mapping service, and more governments wanting access to Blackberry e-mail.

So is privacy really gone?

Have we got to the stage where everything we do is being tracked, collected and aggregated? Was George Orwell prescient with “1984″ with Google taking the role of “Big Brother”?

Unfortunately, the reality is “definitely” because technology has made it easier to track what we do online and, in many respects, off-line when you consider that every credit card, debit and loyalty card transaction is tracked, and that security cameras can quickly and easily take photos of our license plates when we’re driving.

It’s pretty troubling to realize just how quickly the concept of personal privacy had eroded in such a short period of time. It has happened so fast that most people are unaware of just how far the pendulum has swung.

While technology and the growing hunger among corporations and governments to collect data is a major part of the erosion of privacy, we’re also have to take a share of the blame.

Social media, for example, has become so public playground in which many people voluntarily and happily share information (including photos and videos) about their professional and personal lives, including intimiate details. The willingness to share with others also means sharing with Twitter, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, etc.

Heck, we’re apparently even willing to publicly broadcast transactions made by our credit cards using services such as Blippy.

In other words, we’re willing participants in the anti-privacy movement, although we may not recognize our enthusiasm for waving the flag.

The question whether there’s anything to bring the pendulum back?

It may, in fact, be too late but there are small things you can do to protect your privacy. For example, throttle back the details shared on social media services. Do your “friends” have to see photos of your children frolicking on the beach, or you enjoying “refreshments” at a party? Does Twitter need to be a place to share details about the state of your mental health, or political views?

And maybe we should consider using cash more often rather than credit and debit cards, although it would mean giving up convenience delivered by technology. Cash means purchasing privacy and, who knows, you may even get a small discount in the process.


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