I finally got around to setting up my profile in Microsoft’s Live Spaces, and found SkyDrive.
Besides being pretty impressed with the interface and user experience, I get 25GB of free storage.
After going through the process of installing Sociable’s Facebook Connect plugin into this wordpress blog, I have created a Facebook page that has all the bells and whistles of a full (if basic) presence.
Check it out here.
I think that is cool. Check out the message targeting I have now:
I can also set up some ads in a few clicks…
Even my favourite: social ads!
This is a message for people who are concerned with their privacy after uploading pictures to Facebook:
Stop using the Internet. It is just simply not for you. Don’t use email anymore, because any message you send is stored on your ISP’s server, the destination server, probably on a backup or two in some data center somewhere. The message itself is readable by sinister criminals looking to steal your identity. If you created a profile on Facebook with all your personal details, and pictures of your dog, and whatever, then your expectation of privacy is non-existent.
For those of you that are concerned that Evil Facebook is claiming to own your pictures of your dog, and your deep, dark secret status updates:
Get over yourself. Your pictures and videos are worthless, and even if Facebook had claimed sole ownership of it (which they never did), what do you think they will do with it? Sell t-shirts with your picture on it, or sell DVDs of your birthday party, and not cut you in for at least a few points on the back end? Understand what is Facebook’s potential business model: your participatory information. That is, they want to know what you are doing, where you are doing it and when you are doing it. This is the raison d’etre for Facebook Connect. They just announced that they will sell crowd-sourced market research data to corporations. They need you to participate. For this to work, certain information needs to stick around, and they want to keep it. This explicitly does not include anything you marked “private”. If you have marked stuff private, see my first point.
If you don’t like it, close your account. Facebook is a FREE service that allows you communicate with your friends, share pictures and videos, and all kinds of other fun and useful stuff. Close your account and go to MySpace or Linked In (who’s terms read like a non-exclusive content licensing deal, potentially in perpetuity). Don’t enter ANY user-generated content site, who will universally claim the sole ownership of your goofy video, and WILL re-purpose it in every conceivable way.
I like Facebook. I don’t think they are evil. I think they have a cool product, and they can’t seem to make any money. If I can passively provide data to help them make a buck, then all the power to them.
Just don’t represent me to my friends that I endorse schlock.
Why should all publishers be looking at Facebook Connect?
There are a number of websites to find examples of the cool stuff you can do by implementing Facebook Connect (FBC) into your product. Razorfish’s Jesse Pickard posted an article for insidefacebook.com that outlined a number of interesting connected applications, AllFacebook.com has a list of the “top” Facebook Connect enabled sites, and The Facebook Developer wiki aspires to maintain an exhaustive list of connected sites. If you are a PowerPoint freak, here is a slideshow created by social media marketing agency bigMETHOD, laying down the FBC basics.
The Facebook Connect homepage lays out the key benefits:
Enable your users to…
* Seamlessly “connect” their Facebook account and information with your site
* Connect and find their friends who also use your site
* Share information and actions on your site with their friends on Facebook
Beyond that, they also claim:
“early results have shown that sites using Facebook Connect for login have seen as many as 2 out of 3 new registrations come via Facebook Connect, and those users have about 50% more engagement on sites.”
The enthusiasm for FBC and excitement about its potential is significant.
However, our clients (large media companies and brands) have been hesitant to adopt, or even experiment with FBC because of some early assumptions relating primarily to user data access.
I would like to try to address some of the questions I have been asked by these clients about Facebook Connect.
What user data do I get from Facebook?
What data can I keep?
What can I store in my CRM?
Will my community be limited to Facebook users?
I am doing some research into Facebook privacy, and stumbled upon this option in the Facebook privacy policy.
Users must explicitly opt out of being included in “Social Ads”. For those who are not familiar with this concept, picture your profile mug in a sidebar ad suggesting you heartily endorse this event or product.
In the Social Ads tab, change Appearance in Social Ads to No one.
I’m really very surprised about the lack of “Hey! WTF?” that this feature has gotten, especially after the Beacon debacle and other Facebook criticisms.
