On the Internet Your Reputation Really Does Proceed You

Your DFI (Digital First Impression) really does proceed you these days. Whether you are a person, place, brand, business or thing, people usually can look you up long before they meet or are considering you. Worried about your DFI or that of your kids as they prepare for the future? Take a look at some of the ways the damage can be done in this article called Your Reputation Online, Part 1. These days everything from where you went to school, what your political leanings are, who your friends are (and their candid remarks about you) and even nasty comments from former employers are all online along with every past legal entanglement, divorce, DUI, traffic ticket, or bits and pieces of the past that might have found their way into the police blotter in your local newspaper. Of course, we are all our own worst enemies, usually revealing more online in blogs and on social networking than even our enemies. Have you Goggled yourself lately to see what your DFI looks like?

Internet Privacy- More Questions than Answers

Recent Senate hearings pointed out that there are far more questions than answers when it comes to web privacy. For example: If "personally identifiable information" is to be guarded by the law, what constitutes personally identifiable information? Should a person's numerical Internet address be considered private? If people ought to be informed about data-collection practices, what format should the notice take? (Web sites already issue long and convoluted terms-of-service agreements that most consumers never read.) And if a company builds a profile of a consumer, should the consumer be allowed to see what's in her file?

Another thing the hearings pointed out is that the Senators who asked the questions - some so convoluted that witnesses had to ask repeatedly for explanations - are not well enough informed themselves on the topic to understand the questions or the answers. So what's the solution? Let the industry regulate itself? Some critics of regulation say  that companies have a lot of incentive to keep information private. These days it would get around very quickly if a company was handing out private info that could only come from one source.

But it is rather odd to think about Web sites collecting information about where you travel online and what you do there. One senator likened it "to having someone follow a shopper around at the mall, jotting down what they looked at and bought as they moved from store to store." For most of us that's pretty mundane, but, to my mind, kind of creepy. (This entry is linked to the Washington Post and can be read for free but you will need to register.)

You Can’t Hide Anything

Have your kids figured out how easy it is to get "busted" these days? Cut school and it ends up on Facebook , or in someone's blog, or somebody sends an instant Tweet about it that everyone in the world can read, and suddenly you are busted. Little white lies just aren't little anymore either. You tell someone something and it can end up everywhere in nanoseconds to be challenged by someone else. For an interesting comparison between how easy it is to get caught out these days, compared to the way it used to be, read Getting Found Out, Web 2.0 Style for a fun narrative on how a skipping school movie like "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" is just so outdated these days. Of course, it doesn't mean that kids aren't going to stop trying.....

A Survey Reveals Social Networkers Concerned About Digital Manners

A survey released last week by the Consumer Internet Barometer, a production of TNS and The Conference Board, found that common pet peeves among social networking regulars include lack of privacy and, more interestingly, lack of "manners." While the survey doesn't delve into much detail about what people mean by the lack of manners, it is not hard to conceive of what they might be thinking about. How do you turn down a friend request without hurting the requester's feelings? What happens if you categorize someone as a "teammate" when they consider you more of a close friend? How do you avoid offending someone who doesn't make the cut as one of your "top friends?" How do you politely ask your friend to stop bombarding you with countless invites for yet another application? When should you just pick up and give someone a call versus just blowing them off with a digital message? Would love to hear your thoughts on this in regard to you and your kids.

Flashy Facebook Page May Lower Privacy Walls

Facebook fanatics who have covered their profiles on the popular social networking site with silly games and quirky trivia quizzes may be unknowingly giving a host of strangers an intimate peek at their lives and those of visitors to their sites who take them up on the challenge to play. Every widget or application that is added to a site means handing over information to the developer of that software and suddenly large groups of people you don't even know can have access to your data and that of your friends. That's because MySpace and Facebook, the largest online social networks, let outside developers see a member's information when they add a program. More than 95 percent of Facebook users have installed at least one application, it seems. So think about keeping it simple - for not only your sake, but that of your friends. (This entry is linked to the Washington Post and can be accessed for free but you need to register.)

Technology and Election 2008

According to the latest Pew Internet & American Life Project survey nearly 46 percent of Americans have used some form of online media to learn about the candidates or -- as is typical for the Web -- share their opinions about them with others, according to the report. That number is triple the visitors to those venues during the 2004 cycle, according to the Pew report. Democrats are benefiting the most from these trends, Pew also notes. In part, this can be attributed to demographics: Younger people, who typically spend more time online, tend to favor the Democratic party. Barack Obama has been the beneficiary of much of this online interaction. Seventy-four percent of Obama's supporters have used the Web to find information about him or to donate money to his campaign, according to the survey. By contrast, only 57 percent of Sen. Hillary Clinton's supporters took such actions.

Virtual Products Shared on Social Networking Sites

Vitamin Water, owned by Coca-Cola, in April launched a campaign with Slide (a third party Facebook application) to promote the beverage. In Slide's "Top Friends" application, Facebook users can send one another virtual bottles of Vitamin Water. The brand's advertising agency hoped that 100,000 bottles would be swapped during the week-long campaign. More than a million bottles were exchanged in the first day alone.

It is successes like that which are launching other brands to push for widgets or applications that do the same thing for them. While nothing real is exchanged - just think of the brand recognition. It seems like Madison Ave and the cyberworld are only going to get tighter. Watch out consumers! But it's not all bad. Planet Green, Discovery's eco-friendly TV channel, is among the brands using Facebook and MySpace applications as an advertising opportunity. Go Green!

(This article is linked to the Washington Post but you can read it for free if you register.)

Facebook Getting a Facelift

A new navigation setup for Facebook is expected to make the social network easier to use for both developers and users. The site is also introducing new profile tabs to help members better organize their information. The new design is in beta (test form) for those who want to see and try it out.

New Way to Screen Kid’s Net Presence is in the Works

Symantec is developing a Web-based service that will let parents control almost all aspects of their child's Internet activity from anywhere in the world. Still in the demo stage and without a formal name, the application gives parents sweeping control over their child's activity. Parents can set it up so that they have to approve a new buddy for instant messaging or they can scrutinize content before it is posted to a social networking site. Symantec is terming it a "family online safety" program rather than the more negative term of "parental control" and is emphasizing that parents and kids can work together to set up these controls. The program is Web-based and can be accessed through a Web browser, so parents have control even if they're not at home. After logging in, parents can click on a tab labeled "news" and see a list of recent actions by their child. The application was rolled out within the last two weeks for Symantec employees. Down the road it will then be offered on a forthcoming Web site called the "Incubator" that Symantec plans to launch within the next two months. After that, the family online safety application will go into beta with a commercial release planned before the end of March 2009.

Is 5000 Friends Enough?

A false rumor that Facebook was going to take the cap off how many friends you could actually have on the site has brought focus on the factoid of how many friends you actually can have. The magic number? 5000. That number seems to fly in the face of that old adage my mother used to say when things weren't going so well on the social scene in high school  - "You can have lots of acquaintances, but you only have a few good friends." Most people would think 5000 friends is quite a few, but apparently some Facebook addicts are clamoring for more. What's your thought on this?(This entry is linked to an article in the Washington Post that you can read for free but you'll need to register.)