Social websites – public versus private data
I read an interesting article by the analyst Jeremiah Owyang on his expected “awkwardness” for Facebook over the next few years.
It seems the key point is over the nature of public and private data, and Twitter has really turned this on its head with its public and fresh data stream, as opposed to Facebook’s traditionally private data stream.
The trend now seems to be moving towards data that is public – this increases it’s eyeball count, which effects sign up, publicity, advertising, marketing etc.
Now what really interested me was security – how safe is it to publically broadcast your teeth brushing or your enjoyment of a movie on Twitter? Pretty safe. And status updates and pictures on Facebook? Fairly safe.
But on The Grid, where their model revolves around geographically placing your position and your media, making this data public is going to be a hard sell. It has legal and ethical issues, so this will be a challenge for them in the light of the “public data” trend of social media websites.
3 Responses to “Social websites – public versus private data”
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Graham Willcock on July 15th, 2009
Nice blog Alan and you raise something I find really interesting: Privacy in public. Sounds oxymoronic but there is growing concern around the world that social networking sites in particular challenge our conept of what constitutes privacy and why it matters to us. It starts with an understanding that the delineation between public and private realms is no longer clear. It also challenges two fallacies: the first is that information in the public domain is not subject to privacy concerns. It is. And the second is that there are no privacy issues concerning the aggregation of information that is gleaned from the public realm. There are.
Alan Haarhoff on July 16th, 2009
Thanks Graham, and I agree with you completely. It is going to be an interesting and “awkward” next few years for social media.
I also think Generations Y and Z are going to play a big part in this… as the early and majority adopters, their behavioural patterns will have a big impact.
John McLaren on July 16th, 2009
A fallacy is not, as many believe, a differing or incorrect belief.
A fallacy is a misconception brought about specifically by a flaw in reasoning logic.
Those that believe that privacy is not an issue in the public domain do not have a fallacious argument. Just a different viewpoint.
I thought I’d share this as it is one of my pet peeves !