Evolution of Facebook Privacy - Matt McKeon 2010

In a world where being able to connect with old friends, family, co-workers, and connections is now the “norm” it surprises me when we start to see backlash as we are with Facebook recently. Especially when these are FREE services. However, everyone in the Internet age has been foregoing bits and pieces of their privacy for the convenience of connecting with each other and interacting in a social way online.

The thing is that when we interact online we are always leaving a little digital signature of who we are, where we came from, what we did, etc. Part of this is an aspect of the Web in general through cookies and GPS coordinates. Another part is just by virtue of how the Web works and how analytics are tracking site behavior. While Web sites may not know who you are specifically (unless you log in), they will certainly get a good idea of what you like and deliver better content next time.

Free sites have to make money. Running Web servers, development costs, etc all costs money and no investor or venture capitalist is going to invest in a company without the potential to get their money back. So for companies like Facebook, Twitter, Hulu, (insert name of cool website with free service), they all have the same issue; how will they make money? For many, it will be in online advertising. Google does this with most of its products from Google Search to Gmail to YouTube. Facebook does it with ads and virtual gifts. Even LinkedIn does it with their online recruiting (job board), research arm, and advertisements. However, nobody really seems to care about it when it is advertising because most often it is what keeps the service free to use. Do you remember when Google first rolled out ads that were contextual to your search, or your email messages? Everyone was outraged, yet millions of people still use those services. When you go onto Amazon and you see products that are based on your behavior, your information you have shared and more. No matter what we do online, the more we want convenience of personalized information and use of free services we will have to give up a piece of our privacy. When you check-in at a restaurant using Yelp, Foursquare or Gowalla, you are sending out your location over the web. “I’m here!”

Surprisingly I?ve seen little mention of the possible reasons why Facebook has shifted their privacy policy. I was recently at Facebook?s HQ and the light bulb went off for me when it came up in conversation. Facebook doesn?t want to be a social network anymore, they want to be a single source of your online presence. They want to provide you, the user, with news, communications, and ability to interaction with all your social graphs (friends, family, co-workers, and brands). Facebook has become a platform and stopped being a social network.

The easiest way that Facebook, and other social networks, are integrating your personal information is via their authentication tools. In Facebook?s world this is Facebook Connect. It allows you, the user, to log into another website with your Facebook credentials. In some cases, like a registration for a site, you can populate certain fields and share your activity with this new site with your Facebook friends. This is where everyone is getting their arms up air over this privacy invasion. But if you want the convenience of not having to remember dozens of usernames and passwords, using one, like what you use for Facebook becomes convenient.

The other big discussion is around Facebook?s social widgets. These are actually less intrusive as one might think. They are what we call iframes, which means the ?Like? button that they just rolled out is actually a page within a page. The Web site that the ?Like? button is on actually doesn?t get any information about that person. So for me, I have the ?Like? button on this blog post. If you see other people who ?like? this post, I get none of that data. It doesn?t go into a database of mine, or into an email to me. Zip. Nada. What makes them attractive to Web site administrators, like me, is that it provides a level of personalization that I couldn?t achieve otherwise. And because Facebook is 500M strong, the chances are of that personalization working on my Web site is pretty good. The same goes for CNN and thousands of other sites which have integrated these new features into them.

The next time you think about your privacy and where your information is being shared, or even sold, think about he conveniences you have online when you use Web sites. You are giving up your privacy every day, but you are also willing to do so. In fact, if you really want to know who else is using your personal information just look into the fine print of the following:

• Your Bank
• Your Credit Cards
• Your Loyalty Cards (Grocer, Movie Rental, Book Store)
• Google Account (Oh, how quickly we forget about them)
• Professional Association or Trade Association

You may be surprised on what you read.

• If Facebook were a country it would be the world’s 3rd largest ahead of the United States and only behind China and India
• Social Media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the Web
• 80% of companies use social media for recruitment; % of these using LinkedIn 95%
• 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations
• Kindle eBooks Outsold Paper Books on Christmas (COMMENT: I wonder how this will change next year with the iPad out)
• Successful companies in social media act more like Dale Carnegie and less like Mad Men Listening first, selling second

Here is the latest video.  What do you think about the stats?  Anything jump out at you?

Twitter and LinkedIn Apps for BlackBerry

Recently the BlackBerry device was delivered two important apps for business users to their app store, Twitter and LinkedIn.  For the last year the iPhone has been the dominant device for most major app development with Android becoming a distant second.  BlackBerry devices seemed to be falling by the wayside.   Which strikes me as odd seeing how BlackBerry devices are very dominant in the business world and growing in the consumer phone world as well.   I know the easy answer is that the touch screen and just plain sex appeal of an iPhone is better than owning a BlackBerry (myself included), but I think these two apps will start to change that thinking.  The reality is that the BlackBerry codex is more complicated and thus the apps cost more to make.  However, as a business user, my BlackBerry rules and I need apps for it.   After I recently had my BlackBerry upgraded to the Curve 8900 I started to look at apps not only to see what they looked like and how they worked with an eye to something we might build for my organization, but also just to see what was out there.  Not much existed.  While there are plenty of apps, nothing was ringing the same way my friends who have iPhones would talk about their apps.   Hey, if we “bump” our phones together, we can share contact information.  But maybe that was the point – the BlackBerry market is just different than the iPhone market.

I know that BlackBerry is more complex to write an application for.  It has a different user interface and that can’t be simple to compensate for a lack of touch screen as an input (well there is the Storm(2).  But I’m hoping these two apps start a push;  a push for more apps to be developed.  The Twitter and LinkedIn apps are important to me because I use them for professional purposes.  And while I like looking at Facebook updates on my BlackBerry, I really have ignored my professional network on LinkedIn…until now.  This app is a much needed upgrade from their mobile site, allowing me to do much more to monitor or share with my professional network.  This is good.

Twitter App

Before upgrading to the new Twitter app I was using Über Twitter.  Uber Twitter was nice at the time because it did more than just going to the mobile site of Twitter.com.  However, it had ads that I found annoying, even if they were minimal intrusion.  Now that Twitter has an official BlackBerry app, I’ve bailed on Über Twitter.  I have to try the official app.  According to the BlackBerry site, Twitter for BlackBerry features include:

• Get your Direct Messages as soon as they arrive
• Reply to tweets, re-tweet and send Direct Messages
• Post a link from your BlackBerry® Browser
• Take a funny picture and upload it

After a few days of use, I like the interface.  I find the integration into my inbox for notifications useful.  One of the downsides right now is that you can’t integrate multiple Twitter accounts or access them without logging out.  The latter is something I like about Über Twitter.  Also, you can’t edit a re-tweet in the official BlackBerry app.  I will live with these two cons for the additional pros of accessing trending topics and overall Twitter search.  Right now I have to find a balance between monitoring my Twitter accounts when I’m at my desk vs. on the go.  Desktop monitoring is done via TweetDeck, which doesn’t have a BlackBerry app yet.  The jury is still completely out on the official app, but it is a good first step.

LinkedIn App

LinkedIn is a different beast in and of itself.  Similar to Facebook, but also not.  LinkedIn is really the defacto profession network.  While specialty networks will still arise, like MH Connected for lawyers, LinkedIn really addresses the business world as a whole, no matter what industry you are in.

Again, according to the LinkedIn blog, the app features:

• Network Updates. View and share crucial business intelligence and updates with your network.  Perfect for those spare moments between meetings.
• Search. Search across over 60 million global professionals, and get the answer back in seconds. We’ve implemented a unified search across both your direct connections and the entire LinkedIn network.
• Connections. LinkedIn is your address book in the cloud.  Get quick access to any of your connections to get their up-to-date profile information, and the ability to send them a message immediately.
• Invitations. Why wait to get back to your desk? Accept outstanding invitations immediately.
• Messages. Messaging is one of the reasons that BlackBerry owners love their devices, and we’ve worked hard to integrate your LinkedIn Inbox.
• Reconnect. You can’t leverage your network if you don’t build it.  This module brings suggestions for new connections to you anytime.  Now you can build your network from anywhere, in seconds.

These are great features that I have started to use.  It reminds me a lot of the Facebook for BlackBerry app, but better.

Taking Advantage of the Platform

According to the announcement blog post, the LinkedIn app also takes advantage of several native BlackBerry applications.  These include:

• Contacts.  Integrate your LinkedIn connections with your BlackBerry address book, and view the profile of any contact directly on your BlackBerry.
• Messages.  LinkedIn invitations and messages will now appear in your BlackBerry Inbox, just like any other email.  You can also view the LinkedIn profile of the sender of any email you receive.
• Calendar.  You can now view the LinkedIn profile of any attendee of a meeting on your BlackBerry calendar.

I can’t stress the importance of integration with the native features of BlackBerry OS.  If you are going to use these third party networks, integration is key and this is one of the great aspects of the LinkedIn app.  Going from the mobile site which was really basic and clunky to this app is like going from a pinto to a corvette.  Nice job.

Overall the BlackBerry market needs to get a kick-start.  Mobile professionals, while migrating to the iPhone and probably the Droid phones now too need apps for the BlackBerry.  I’ll be frank in saying the pure interface of a BlackBerry is one of its biggest challenges.  Whether it is the roller ball, the touch pad, or even the touch screen in the Storm(2), developing for the BlackBerry can’t be as easy as the Android and Apple devices.  But here is to hoping. Hoping that more business applications come out that support good business use on the BlackBerry device.

Further Reading:

Twitter Blog Post re: BlackBerry App

LinkedIn Blog Post re: BlackBerry App

Photo by Wolf 359

In social networking one of the first things we think about with LinkedIn and Facebook are the relationships we have and make.  We have Connections and Friends.  Through our contacts we acknowledge through a virtual “handshake” that we can have a symetrical relationship.  We grow our “friends” or “connections” sometimes through widgets of “Who you may know” or through referrals.

With Twitter, we “follow” other Twitterers.  You don’t have to acknowledge, agree, or allow someone to follow you.  They just can.  You can follow more people than follow you, and vice versa.  This asymetrical relationship with your followers introduces a different type of relationship than Facebook or LinkedIn.  The only exception is if you have a closed Twitter account, you have to allow certain people to follow you, which in essence is a form of a symetrical relationship.

After reading Relationship Symmetry in Social Networks: Why Facebook will go Fully Asymmetric by Joshua Porter, it got me thinking about his theory of these two types of relationships.  While Porter states that Facebook will take on a Twitter model because of the different style of relationship it allows you to have, asymetrical and thus a larger “network” than a mutual agreed upon one, I believe social networks, like Facebook and LinkedIn should adopt a hybrid approach.

While Porter articulates the four types of relationships that Twitter allows highlighted by a post by Andrew Chen, there is something that is truly to be said about having a formal knowledge of who is attempting to claim a relationship with you.

The four relationships of Twitter are:

1. People who follow you, but you don’t follow back
2. People who don’t follow you, but you follow them
3. You both follow each other (Friends!)
4. Neither of you follow each other

“Following” not that different than RSS Subscribers if you think about it.  A blogger writes posts, and one or many people subscribe to an RSS feed, or read that blogger on a regular basis.  Twitter takes the writing to a micro-level, but the “relationship” is the same.

For those not familiar with OpenID, it is:

…a shared identity service, which allows Internet users to log on to many different web sites using a single digital identity, single sign-on,
eliminating the need for a different user name and password for each
site. OpenID is a decentralized, free and open standard that lets users
control the amount of personal information they provide. (Source: WikiPedia)

Where OpenID gets interesting is when you think about taking it beyond social websites and think of it with larger corporations.  It is one thing for Yahoo!, Microsoft, or Google to accept an OpenID protocol, but entirely another with your bank, utilities, and investment websites start to accept it.  Think about all the different online accounts you manage, how many of them can you manage with the same login and password.  I “try” to use the same information for most of my sites, however, it doesn’t work that way always.  Can it be more convenient?  Yes. 

However, it has several impacts beyond just logging in. Security, fraud issues, and framework maturity are still outstanding for other major corporations ot adopt it.  But think about a level of websites beyond blogs, but not quite your financial institutions.  Can associations adopt this and make it work?  Of course!  Can media websites adopt this an make it work? Of course!  Currently over 22,000 websites accept OpenID (including this blog) as a form of identification.  It is projected that this number of sites will reach close to 50,000 by the end of this year.  So if you have a login/register process for your website, why aren’t you looking at something that will make it easier for users to manage their account with your site?  Take a look at offering OpenID as an alternative to your current login procedures.  

Full Twitter String
RSS Feed
—-

Online Community Sites of Note:

Dell Community
IdeaExchange by Salesforce
Real World New Cast Member by MTV
IdeaStorm by Dell

This article originally was published in the May 2007 issue of LLRX.

You have worked for a large firm for many years and you have made the decision to either go solo or start a small firm. You were used to having access to all your information via an Intranet, file server, and your desktop. You could practice law and let the IT department worry about when the printer jammed or if you got a virus. Now that you are solo, you are the one that has to deal with all those problems as well as practice law.

It is no secret that one of the largest concerns for new and existing solo lawyers has to do with building an infrastructure for your new firm. Specifically, technology related concerns impact this group the most; computers, office software, security, back-up, billing software, case management, etc. The options are either to invest in all the technology yourself and spend a lot of time, money, and energy keeping all the systems running properly, troubleshooting problems, and performing regular maintenance, or outsource all of this overhead for someone else to manage on your behalf. However, you became a solo to practice law, not troubleshoot technology applications each day.

Alternatives to the two scenarios above do exist. You can invest in Web-based tools to take some of the burden off of you, and let someone else worry about the back-up, security, and maintenance. The benefits allow you to practice law and have fewer worries about issues that may come up regarding the technology itself. The downside is that if your Internet connection goes out, you cannot do much. Even worse is if the hosting company that you are using has severe problems, your data may be lost forever. I’ll cover some of the tools that are available for you to explore as well as raise concerns of relying on such Web-based services for your daily work.

Tools Available

There are many office and support tools available in Web-based formats that can lessen your office overhead.

Google’s Products

Google continues to roll-out new web-based office applications that are worth reviewing. The company started with an email client called Gmail and through acquisitions and their own development teams, have expanded their offerings to include office applications. Currently Google provides the following:

• Google Docs (word processing and spreadsheets)
• Gmail
• Google Calendar
• iGoogle (personalized page)

Google Docs and Google Calendar offer collaborative functions, allowing them to be shared others. Both services are free. Google also has a version of their office tools in a complete package that is fee based.

Google offers a small business package (Standard Package is free, Premier Package is $50 per year per user) includes:

• A customizable Start Page
• Google Docs and Spreadsheets
• Page Creator (basic webpage with a WYSIWYG editor)
• Gmail account
• Google Talk (IM/VOIP)
• Google Calendar
• Control Panel to manage accounts and your domain
• Help and support
• Extensible APIs to integrate with other third party software

This can be a very powerful combination of tools for solos and small firms who are looking to reduce overhead and IT support for basic office functions.

ZoHo’ Products

ZoHo is a brand of AdventNet, a software company. Their free and for pay services offer a wide range of options for solos and small firms who are looking to reduce IT overhead. Like Google, their Web-hosted tools provide a lot of functionality, but not a full suite such as Microsoft Office. Currently Zoho has the following product offerings:

• Writer
• Sheet
• Show
• Calendar and Email
• Project
• CRM
• Planner
• Wiki
• Chat
• Notebook (private beta)
• Mail (private beta)

Tom Mighell recently wrote about the benefits and differences between Google and ZoHo’s products vs. Microsoft Office in the March issue of Law Practice Magazine. One of the biggest drawbacks of using these services has to do with back-up. Tom reports that neither Google nor ZoHo offer bulk back-up to another source. You must download each file individually to your local computer prior to transfer to another data back-up location.

37Signals’ Products

While being able to replicate what a Microsoft Office Suite might offer is important for solos and small firms, there are other tools that will help manage your office. 37Signals based in Chicago, offers a variety of Web-based tools that address needs such as project management (or case management if you want to think if it in that perspective) and Client Relationship Management. Known for producing simple to use tools that offer many features but are not overwhelming, 37Signals products include:

• Highrise (CRM – Customer Relationship Management)
• Basecamp (Project Management)

37Signals’ products also offer many other opportunities as each of their products have APIs (application programming interface), which allow for other software to interact with theirs. A great example is their Basecamp product. This project management tool allows you to collaborate with others on a project by setting tasks, milestones with reminders, and file management for that project. If you purchase their comprehensive package of services it will even do time tracking. One feature Basecamp does not offer is billing or invoicing. That’s where FreshBooks comes in. They use the Basecamp API to allow their web-based billing and invoice software to interact with Basecamp to allow you to create invoices for each project. Of course you would need a FreshBooks account to make this happen, but having those two applications talk to each other makes sending out bills and invoices seamless.

Concerns for Lawyers

As the new generation of Web-based services and software arrives, lawyers will always have concerns. Do you reduce your overhead costs by outsourcing these tools or do you manage all of them yourself? If you do take a serious look at using Web-based tools, then privacy, data security, and copyright of content will be issues with which you will have to deal. This is particularly important if you plan to use “free” versions. Catherine Sanders Reach, Director of the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center, recently wrote on the group’s Site-tation site about the cost of free resources. Ms. Reach stated “…attorney’s must give thought to the potential repercussions of relying on free technology for mission-critical functions.” And she is correct. If for some reason your free web-based email service is down and clients can’t contact you efficiently, that certainly impacts business.

Ultimately, you have to be comfortable with the due diligence you perform in backing up your data, understanding what you are really giving up by using free services, and evaluating how these factors impact your clients and their respective matters.

What Does the Total Package Lack?

At this time I think there are several hurdles that must be overcome before any lawyer or business professional can truly use web-based tools to manage essential office tasks.

Simple single sign-on: Of all the online tools that I use, test, and experiment with, one of the nice things about the Google products is that I don’t have to re-login to use each application. Single sign-on is important for users who use multiple web-based applications from the same vendor. Of course if you decide to pick different products from different vendors this may always be an issue. OpenID may solve this problem (a universal unique identifier many web-based companies are adopting for access).

Access to third party back-up sources: Data security is always going to be on the mind of any lawyer or small business owner. This means that if you want to ship your data off to a third party security/storage center you need to be able to have the ability to do this at any time.

Smartphone access/integration: The world is quickly becoming more mobile. The expectation to have access to all your information at any given time is also becoming more mainstream. If you worked at a larger firm, what was your required response time? I understand some firms require their lawyers’ response to clients must be within 2 hours of receipt. Web-based products need to have the ability to integrate with Smartphones (Treo, BlackBerry, Q, BlackJack, etc.) to allow lawyers access to their contacts, documents, and email directly from their mobile device.

Central Start Center: Finally what would be very desirable is the ability to have a central start center which you can log-in when you get to work, have a portal that gives you access to all these applications as well as the ability to pull in other information like local news, custom search, and maybe even sports scores. Applications like iGoogle (now their name-brand for their personalized page) and NetVibes help do this, but these sites still have limitations, although they are improving continuously.

Ultimately, you can become relatively efficient with current Web-based applications. For the “office” applications, you need to be diligent in using the Web-app as an application, not as a storage facility. If you are finished writing or collaborating on a document, export it out to save in some other location. This does not mean you cannot re-import it and work on it again, but you should think of these as applications only as a tool, not as a complete, final solution.

By using Web-based applications, you can reduce the overhead dedicated to operating your office. Be diligent in checking the terms of use and privacy statements of all “free” applications. Be cautious of using vendors who are still small and have the potential to fold at any given moment (namely anything in “beta”). You do not want to lose your data forever because the lights go out in Silicon Valley. Finally, use the tools you feel most comfortable using. If you are a WordPerfect or Microsoft Word pro and use special features, equivalent Web-based applications will not serve your needs. Be smart about the tools you use and you will find the benefits and efficiencies come with those decisions.

What concerns you most about web-based office solutions replacing traditional desktop applications? Let me know at fred@frederickfaulkner.com.