Comments on: Public by Default, Private when Necessary

By: Bird

Bird — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 03:40:37 +0000

Seriously, the way that people are self-censoring because they cannot control the intended audience, and are forced to mainstream their message, is really sad. Honestly, I took a walk down Friendster Lane, and was touched to see this shadow of my perhaps younger, also bolder self, along with my noticably less self conscious friends. I realize the trend cannot be reversed, but how to deal with all of this self-monitoring, self-objectification and the feeling of surveillance. The interface was nearly in place back in 2004. I appreciate most the point made in this blog that facebook began as an exclusive network. Likely key to its inception was the guaranteed, and real social capital appeal of its elite culture. That massive appeal has fundamentally “trickled down,” where founders are reaping benefits of attention motivated by the utility of such social information for survival, i.e. how to be attractive, appear impressive relative to the norms of high status individuals, and know what others are up to. Honestly, I write in anonymity because who knows how this information can will be used against me. Let’s just say, I always feel like a bird on a wire, like drunk in a midnight choir…(~ L. Cohen)

By: Dan Gruen

Dan Gruen — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:01:52 +0000

I found this interesting from two perspectives. One is the sense that in a social space, providing access to personal information, and including people in the group who can see that information, is a way of establishing and cementing relationships. There's value to your being my friend because I share stuff with you that I don't reveal to the world at large. Salespeople I have interviewed have spoken of how providing a bit of personal information to long term customers increases a sense of personal connection and loyalty. In a way, this has less to do with the confidentiality of a specific piece of information than with the social power of revealing something not shared with all. The value of actions that bring people into your inner circle. This also made me think about conversations I have had with a few large companies recently about their interest in (or at least curiosity about) what social software could do for them within their own organizations. There, they see a major goal that of shifting the dominant culture from one of hoarding to one of sharing . An environment where your perceived value is based more on what you've chosen to share and let people discover on their own, than on what people have to come to you for.

By: Alyssa Gardina

Alyssa Gardina — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:00:38 +0000

I think that Facebook has brought to light this increasingly evident fact: everyone should put information online with the assumption that it can, and probably will be, public at some point. I see this becoming an issue primarily with users who are less technologically apt – those who crave privacy, but don’t understand the options before them.

For teens and adults alike, Facebook’s treatment of their privacy settings as temporary and experimental is unacceptable. Other websites treat changes in TOS or privacy policies as landmark, transparent events. Facebook should do the same, especially considering the large, diverse audience it boasts.

Thanks for the great post – it provides some great context & food for thought.