Facebook

I have been using Facebook much more extensively recently - and actually find I generally enjoy the experience. However, articles like this keep making me anxious about them. Google also started with a 'don't be evil' mantra and I worry about FB growing size and influence.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/facebook-and-your-privacy.html?page=1

James

James,
I share your caution about social networks. They are a fun way to get/stay in touch with people. A good place to share my work and an occasional quip or two. But I'm very cautious about what information I publish on FB. Many of my "friends" there are merely acquaintances and some, I've never actually met. I have no desire to share my personal, political or other important views with them nor am I interested in theirs. If they're dog people, we share dog stuff. If they are photographers, we share photography stuff. Beyond that, the network doesn't show me a lot of value. Others have used it to market their businesses. I believe that they believe that it's been successful. I have not used it as a marketing tool directly but I have used it to illustrate my photographic skills and, indirectly, that has gotten me jobs that I would not have pursued otherwise.

It's like every other medium: you have to know what it can and cannot do and you have to be careful how you use it. I, too, worry about how much information the social networks collect on all of us. I worry about how they will use that information. Remember when we used to trust bankers and stock brokers to "do the right thing"? We were bitterly disappointed in learning that ultimately greed conquers reason. Let's hope the social network folks are better than that. But let's not lose our vigilance. Again.

Jim

Thanks, Jim. All good thoughts. I agree that it is important to be thoughtful about what is posted there - but I wonder how much is posted there without much thought? I am talking more than the 'girls gone wild' photos that one hears about so often on the internet. How much of our data is used against us - even when we are not cognizant that it is even being provided? This was just on Consumer Reports this week....(you may recognize the first half of it in its entirety)

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2012/06/facebook-your-privacy/index.htm

James

James,
I may be a photographer, but I've spent a lot of time as a marketer and I realize that the most important part of marketing is data mining. And that's what the social networks are there to do. They do it insidiously by providing a forum for sharing, but what folks are sharing -- lifestyle data -- the social networks are collecting and using to attract advertisers who want and need (and can pay for) highly targeted audiences.

We are still active doing advertising/marketing for several corporate clients. Our largest one develops school/college/organizational "directories". Most of their work is online and/or mobile-based these days but the products are seldom what the end-users perceive them to be. They are data mining for fund-raising. And every application they develop collects information about the end-users that then helps the schools/organizations do a better job of targeting their donors. So I have a pretty intimate view of how much information can be collected via apparently "innocent" social media.

Does this cause me pause? Yes, it does. Does it cause me to be paranoid? No, it doesn't. I realize I have to be careful and I try to be careful. But, ultimately, you take a risk every time you join a forum or send an email or test message. There is no personal privacy. So just be careful to make sure that what people see is what you want them to see .

Jim