List updated 5 September 2 September. Thanks to @MarkBriggs (KING5) who tipped me to the existence of a Seattle pitch list … and to @JoeSunga (TeachStreet) who did the initial compiling. I’ve elaborated a little on his list. Deadline for voting is 9.59 pm Pacific on Monday Sept 5, 2011 Friday Sept 2, 2011! Registering to vote is quick! Continue reading
Category Archives: Social Networks
LinkedIn Joins Facebook In “Personalized” Ad Push; Here’s How To Opt-Out
To some of you, this may be old news. After all, LinkedIn announced the change via a blog post last month. But I learned about it today on GooglePlus.
First, there were announced changes in the LinkedIn privacy policy in June. (Missed those, too.)
Then last month, under the familiar guise of “deliver[ing] ads that are more useful and relevant to you,” LinkedIn opted-you-in to agreeing to let the company use your name and photo in social advertising.
Facebook Adds eMail Addresses To “Download Your Info” But In The “Off” Position
Facebook has quietly implemented a new feature as part of its “download your information” tool.
The company, which is notorious for introducing new features that force its customers to “turn off” default settings, has set up the “let my friends have my email” option … in the “off” mode. Yep, it is a nod to personal privacy. But it’s really a nod to Facebook’s attempt to have a stranglehold on all that personal data.
Before this announcement, it was possible to export your Facebook friends — at least a subset of them — using the import contacts feature at Yahoo mail and Hotmail. When I did this earlier this summer (post GooglePlus launch), the two sets were not identical (N was different). Clunky, though.
This new “opt in” feature seems to apply only to Facebook’s “download your info” tool. In other words, it is still possible to import Facebook contacts into Yahoo mail (I did not try Hotmail) … and this import/export process still doesn’t capture everyone. No, I don’t know why!
[Follow the jump for "how to" instructions and screen shots.]
Google+, Facebook and Online Identity: The Problem With “Real Names” (And Why It Matters To You)
A long time ago, Lawrence Lessig wrote the book Code (1999). He argued, persuasively, that “code is law.” And “code”? It’s written, in the main, by profit-maximizing organizations.
In 2003, Mark Zuckerburg launched the site that would become Facebook. You had to use a real email address and your real name. The site was, for all intents and purposes, a limited edition Match.com (which requires real names – “accurate” profile information). Content was not accessible via the public web; it was only accessible to those who had access (harvard.edu email addresses) to the site. Reams have been written about privacy and the poorly enforced “real names” policy as Facebook pushed its users from from the protections of a very closed garden to the public web — a push mandated by the profit-maximization needs of a corporation.
Flash forward to June 2011. Google launched Google+ and technology early adopters scrambled to secure a field trial invitation. As danah boyd writes: Continue reading
Companies and News Organizations Gravitate To Google Plus
Brand Page Field Test To Start In About Two Weeks
Updated 8 July 2011, 3.00 am
It’s only slightly more than a week old, yet news organizations and major companies have jumped into the new sandbox that is Google+ despite the fact that the field trial is supposed to be for “people”:
Let me be clear – and I’m sorry if this wasn’t obvious – we are not currently supporting brands, organizations, and non-human entities in the Google+ field trial.
That action is coming to a screeching halt. Christian Oestlien, The Google+ Project Ads Lead, explains (emphasis added):
How users communicate with each other is different from how they communicate with brands, and we want to create an optimal experience for both. We have a great team of engineers actively building an amazing Google+ experience for businesses, and we will have something to show the world later this year.
The business experience we are creating should far exceed the consumer profile in terms of its usefulness to businesses. We just ask for your patience while we build it. In the meantime, we are discouraging businesses from using regular profiles to connect with Google+ users. Our policy team will actively work with profile owners to shut down non-user profiles. [...]
If you represent a “non-user entity” (e.g. business, organization, place, team, etc.) and would like to apply for consideration in our limited program (and be amongst the first to be alerted when the business product launches) you can sign up here:
