Regular followers of this blog can maybe remember that in May 2010 I gave up my Facebook account and till today very proud to belong to the minority without an account to THE Social Network. However from the social media marketing researcher's perspective this proved to be not very handy! I occasionally am refused to look to marketing actions of known and less known brands in their Facebook pages because I have no account in it. So today I took the big decision to open a new account but strictly for scientific purposes! That means no friends and contacts online and a name that would conceal my identity. I gave the right gender and date of birth but no other information whatsoever. To avoid the flux of invitations for Facebook" friendships" I made the content of my page invisible to everyone except myself. You can imagine my surprise when in a few milliseconds after the account was made my screen was full with pictures and names of people all known to me inviting me to become friends!!! The system knew exactly who I was despite the new name and the lack of any information about me.
So what's the snag? Nothing more than "browser fingerprinting" I read about some time ago in combination I think with information stored in the Facebook data mines from my previous account (closed in 2010 as I mentioned earlier). It must be a piece of cake for the Facebook algorithms to recognize me and find instantly about one hundred potential "friends" and "likes".
Conclusion: once in Facebook forever in Facebook. Despite all talk and legislation protecting our privacy the simple truth is that there is no way to erase personal information once it is stored in the memory boards of Facebook's (and for sure many other social networks). The other question of course here is how much personal information is stored there and what exactly happens with it. If you want to find out you must follow the example of the Austrian law student Max Scherms
Showing posts with label facebook. Show all posts
Showing posts with label facebook. Show all posts
January 2, 2012
May 17, 2010
10 reasons to quit your FACEBOOK account
I was never a big fan of FACEBOOK and the only reason of having an account there was mostly scientific curiosity than anything else. I had about 20 friends (all family or colleagues) just to see how things work and my activity was limited to test how user friendly the application is and follow the pages of a few brands and organizations.
Maybe you wonder why the past tense; this because last weekend I took the decision to close my FACEBOOK account. For those who follow what is going on with FACEBOOK not a strange decision at al. The questionable practices of FACEBOOK regarding privacy, data protection etc are widely debated issues.
The idea of quitting Facebook was in my mind for some time now and often I had to reject invitations of "friends" to join them and their network.
However passive posture to FACEBOOK is not enough, I think that we deal with a serious problem here. If you look for reasons why you should quit your FACEBOOK account you should read the Business Insider and GIZMODO's Facebook's Ludicrously Complicated Privacy Settings posts. For those who want to form an even more comprehensive idea of privacy problems in the web (where applications like FACEBOOK play a major role) I recommend to read or see the video of the speech of Eben Moglen's Talk on Freedom in the Cloud at a meeting of the Internet Society's New York branch on Feb 5, 2010.
If you decide to close your FACEBOOK account use the shortcut https://ssl.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=delete_account&__a=3 This will save you maybe an hour searching how to get there!
Maybe you wonder why the past tense; this because last weekend I took the decision to close my FACEBOOK account. For those who follow what is going on with FACEBOOK not a strange decision at al. The questionable practices of FACEBOOK regarding privacy, data protection etc are widely debated issues.
The idea of quitting Facebook was in my mind for some time now and often I had to reject invitations of "friends" to join them and their network.
However passive posture to FACEBOOK is not enough, I think that we deal with a serious problem here. If you look for reasons why you should quit your FACEBOOK account you should read the Business Insider and GIZMODO's Facebook's Ludicrously Complicated Privacy Settings posts. For those who want to form an even more comprehensive idea of privacy problems in the web (where applications like FACEBOOK play a major role) I recommend to read or see the video of the speech of Eben Moglen's Talk on Freedom in the Cloud at a meeting of the Internet Society's New York branch on Feb 5, 2010.
If you decide to close your FACEBOOK account use the shortcut https://ssl.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=delete_account&__a=3 This will save you maybe an hour searching how to get there!
November 23, 2009
Social Media and Employer's Empowerment
In this blog I have often underlined the undisputed contribution of the Social Media to customer empowerment. What we have to realize is that empowerment is by no means limited to customers only but expands to everyone who has access on the online information and alternatives: these can be our competitors, our suppliers and not to forget our bosses (or potential bosses).
One of the effects of the Social Media that certainly requires more attention is the voluntary violation of personal privacy: people posting online content that compromises not only their privacy but also can negatively affect their personal life and career. This becomes evident by some recent cases: A Canadian depressed woman who lost her insurance benefits because of Facebook pictures, a Swiss woman who was fired when she was spotted using the Facebook while claiming to be too ill to use a computer or an intern who was busted partying while he told his boss that he had to return home because of a family emergency!
Cases like these and of course many others like the Domino's Pizza I wrote about some time ago tend to become routine making me wonder if some people are very naive or lack every sense of the often praised personal privacy. The fact is that employers today have a new tool in their toolbox for screening job candidates. A recent study of Creerbulder found that online content posted by potential employers can have negative but also positive effects on employment chances. The summary of the study is very interesting for everyone involved in Social Media networking.
One of the effects of the Social Media that certainly requires more attention is the voluntary violation of personal privacy: people posting online content that compromises not only their privacy but also can negatively affect their personal life and career. This becomes evident by some recent cases: A Canadian depressed woman who lost her insurance benefits because of Facebook pictures, a Swiss woman who was fired when she was spotted using the Facebook while claiming to be too ill to use a computer or an intern who was busted partying while he told his boss that he had to return home because of a family emergency!
Cases like these and of course many others like the Domino's Pizza I wrote about some time ago tend to become routine making me wonder if some people are very naive or lack every sense of the often praised personal privacy. The fact is that employers today have a new tool in their toolbox for screening job candidates. A recent study of Creerbulder found that online content posted by potential employers can have negative but also positive effects on employment chances. The summary of the study is very interesting for everyone involved in Social Media networking.
December 2, 2008
When the Old Media Meet the New
It is encouraging to see that slowly the old media, one of the main victims of the Web, learn to turn the Web and more specifically the Social Media threat into a strategic opportunity by endorsing them as part of their marketing toolbox. Those who follow my publications and blog posts know that this is what my recent research is all about. I am glad to say that talking to either colleagues or practitioners I see that this issue is steadily gaining interest.
The New York Times is good example of an old media business that uses the Social Media very successfully as part of its campaign to increase brand awareness and customers. Their recent Facebook venture is a big success according to the Nieman Journalism Lab. I found very interesting that the NYT concluded that the campaign netted “4,3 times the value of the spend” while it quadrupled the NYT fan figures.
Hopefully those still skeptical about the New Marketing will think again
The New York Times is good example of an old media business that uses the Social Media very successfully as part of its campaign to increase brand awareness and customers. Their recent Facebook venture is a big success according to the Nieman Journalism Lab. I found very interesting that the NYT concluded that the campaign netted “4,3 times the value of the spend” while it quadrupled the NYT fan figures.
Hopefully those still skeptical about the New Marketing will think again
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