Facebook

The New Facebook, Security and You

Posted on September 26, 2011

On Friday night I appeared in a very short segment on KARE11 — the local NBC affiliate — to discuss the most recent Facebook changes – most specifically ‘The Timeline’. It’s funny because that was the second time this week Clockworkers made the news for Facebook, and the third time total (Netflix made for some interesting chatter this week too. But that’s another story). We sure are grateful to our friends at KARE11 for looking to us for some commentary about Facebook.

And it got me to thinking. The reason Facebook changes keep making the news is because Facebook has managed to work its way into the most fundamental elements of our culture: it’s become a primary way in which we connect with other people. We conduct whole parts of our life online now, and Facebook is really trying to capture that. That’s what this Timeline thing is all about really—it’s allowing us to tell our “whole” life story as we see it.

But then that gets broadcast to a pretty broad channel of consumers, while all the details of the story (data, really) are being aggregated to tell new stories about us to brands and marketers. I’ve read that this has been Mark Zuckerberg’s vision all along: as people share more and more data about themselves online, Facebook grows in value. It makes perfect sense that his strategy would also include forcing people to share more—however intentionally or unintentionally—by making our privacy options around each piece of data less obvious. Because that’s really what happened here, right? People are freaking out because instead of being able to specify, in a very general way, what (like photos and status updates, etc.) we share with whom, now it seems like we have to specify who we’re sharing with every single time we update our status or share anything.

As infuriating as it is, it’s sort of genius isn’t it? Influence how we behave and then mess with the most subtle aspects of that behavior to get more information from us. Genius. Because the assumption has to be that the majority of us are too lazy to spend any time figuring it out. And there’s such an overwhelming amount of information that even if we aren’t too lazy—we won’t know what’s real and what isn’t anyway.

How can we possibly protect ourselves?
A couple of weeks ago the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Advance IT Minnesota and Saint Paul College hosted a cyber security awareness forum focusing on online safety and security. I was fortunate enough to be part of a panel along with Dr. Christophe Veltsos, Faculty member in the Department of Computer Information Science at Minnesota State University, Mankato and president of PrudentSecurity LLC, an information security and privacy consulting company and Tim Fraser, Director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Stop. Think. Connect.^TM campaign. (There will be video available from this forum and I’ll be sure to post it when that happens.)

You may or may not know that October is National Cyber Security Month.
President Obama called Cyber Security a critical issue and “Stop. Think. Connect.” is an important message and informational campaign presented by the Department of Homeland Security and sponsored by a large coalition of companies and brands hoping to contribute to increased awareness and education of cyber safety in America.

My contribution to the forum was really around behavior and the psychology of online behavior. We (and I’m using the collective we—a pretty broad generalization, but I’m comfortable with it) have this tendency to act victimized by what happens online. We have this weird sense of entitlement around how our information should be handled. And because of the technology layer—or, what I like to call, the layer of mysticism—we seem to want to believe it’s too complicated and the real responsibility belongs to the owners of the technology.

But our information is so widely distributed (think about how many sites on which you have profiles or where you’ve made purchases or connected with friends) and the web and online communication is so imbedded in how we function that we can no longer really think like that. We have to be less complacent and see ourselves not as victims—but as proactive citizens of digital space. The web has been mainstream for over 15 years, and still I hear people acting as if it just showed up yesterday and it is impossible to figure out. The thing is, it’s not going to slow down. We’re not going to revert back to the way things were. We can’t just throw our hands in the air and leave technology and social tools to our children, or take the word of so many “experts” to heart. Most of those “experts” are just there because they are rolling their sleeves up and diving in—not because they have any body of knowledge unavailable to the rest of us. Experts are people that play around with and think about technology and these tools. That’s all. And it’s something we all can do.

Back to Facebook
You might be asking yourself how all of this relates to the recent uproar over Facebook’s latest changes. Well, it relates plenty. See, complaining isn’t doing us any good. Facebook has proven time and time again that we are low on the list of priorities when they make changes to how the tool works. Yes it started out being a social network for the people, but our interest and willingness to share our information made the business opportunity for Facebook so much bigger than us, the users. And we’re not paying for the service. In this capitalistic society everybody knows a business needs a business model, and this one is grounded in our willingness to share information about ourselves in order for marketers to talk to us about things that are of relevance—to us.

It’s one-to-one marketing: they present us with products and services that matter to us. And they know they matter because we’ve said so, in roundabout ways. By the pictures we post, the brands we “like,” the people we associate with, the activities we enjoy, the causes we’re into. Alone these are just bits and bytes. But together they become a very rich profile—a whole story. A life story that is constantly changing.

The biggest threat to our privacy and our security is not Facebook, or viruses or hackers or any of that. The biggest threat to our privacy and security online is us. It’s how we react to all of this and everything that’s still coming at us. And the bottom line is this: if we have concerns about what we’re sharing or how our information is being used, then we owe it to ourselves to get as smart as we can about how we’re using Facebook, or any service, really. Think of it as agency instead of victimization. Then own it. I said that in the KARE11 piece and I stand by it.

On the surface the Timeline feature that Facebook is preparing to roll out is really cool. It’ll let you customize the story that you tell about yourself in ways you haven’t been able to before. A bigger, richer more expressive image can be seen on your profile page. It’s sounding like the data you share will include the things you update today and tomorrow, in addition to the pieces of your story that happened before Facebook even existed. What’s more, it’s looking like you’ll be able to share content from other networks and applications to which you subscribe. If you integrate your Hulu account and your Spotify account and your Goodreads account (there’s not a lot of information about exactly what additional apps/integrations will be available once the new Timeline launches, so I’m guessing here), then your story will include the TV shows you watch, the music you listen to and the books you read. Add your internet radio stations, your photosharing sites, your recipe exchanges and so forth and over time you’ve got an interesting story.

What will this look like?
If you do what Facebook hopes you’ll do, you’ll get your whole life working for them.

There’s Bob! He was born in 1977. He went to Catholic school. He hated his uniform. He played high school football. He went to this university. He majored in philosophy and art history. These are his friends. These are his girlfriends. Bob volunteers for this really awesome nonprofit. Bob teaches at this really amazing school. Bob married this fantastic lady. Bob reads nonfiction mostly. Bob likes ESPN and comedy central. Bob like action films. Are you with me here? Bob is more of a whole person. He reads something and maybe his friends will read it too. If Bob is into a cause and he elevates it on his Timeline, it’s likely that a few people that subscribe to Bob’s life will contribute money or volunteer themselves. Bob, this complicated, multi-dimensional guy isn’t just connecting with friends any more. Bob is now influencing people within his immediate community. But then, depending on how his privacy settings work, Bob’s sphere of influence might be bigger than even he’s aware. Beyond that though, Facebook advertisers are able to customize Bob’s ad experience so the ads speak to Bob. Furthermore, that sphere of influence that Bob may or may not be aware of interact with the info that they are privy to and that interaction turns into data points in their stories.

Get it? If they like something about Bob’s story, whether they know him or not, they are saying something about themselves. It’s a crazy, viral cycle of behavior. Or maybe it’s just physics. The law of physics on the social web—for every action there is an equal and/or opposite reaction. As cool as this is, remember: Facebook isn’t forcing you to add any information you’re not comfortable sharing.

Take back your cyberspace
What are some of the changes and what can you do?

Third-party apps
Knowledge and awareness are power. What can you do right now to ensure your Facebook experience is controlled by you? First of all, Facebook can’t force you to add information about your life prior to when you started to update your daily status in the network. That is purely voluntary. The network is also incapable of forcing you to integrate any other networks or apps—they must ask your permission. That means you do not have to approve your friends being able to see your Hulu or Spotify or Goodreads activity. You can avoid integrating third party sites and apps altogether. And you can go into your settings right now and deactivate apps that you’ve already allowed to interact with Facebook.

Be mindful of what you click on. “Read” doesn’t just mean “read” any more. You could be broadcasting information passively because you’ve given prior permission to tell the world every time you listen to or watch or read something. But again—you have to authorize these social apps before they can say anything about you. But once you do—be aware.

Lists
Everyone is futzing about the changes Facebook made to lists. Oddly, very few people ever really used them before because they were hard to find and pretty unclear. Now’s your chance. If you used them before and Facebook messed with your lists—it’s do-over time. Take advantage. If you never used lists before—welcome! Facebook wants you to use them and they’ve made them more obvious to encourage you to do it. Lists are one real way you have to control who sees what information that you share. It feels like a daunting task to start categorizing your contacts—but, honestly, it’s now or never. You might as well dive in and do it. Once you’ve segmented your friends list you can actually just share something with your family and no one else will see it. But remember—you need to specify how you share every single status update.

Unfriending
There’s a little fuss about the fact that you can see who “unfriends” you. I’ve got news for you: we’ve always been able to do this. Just not through Facebook. But there were a couple of third-party apps that already allowed this functionality. My advice: get over it. Honestly, if someone dumps you, that’s called life. If you dump someone, be prepared to deal with the reaction. Nine times out of ten there will be no reaction. But for that one time when someone might actually confront you, that’s called human interaction and you can choose not to talk about it. Or save them from themselves and tell them they are posting too many pics of their awesome hair. Or whatever.

Sharing Your Friends’ Comments/Likes
People seem bothered by the idea that when they Like something on a friend’s wall or worse, if they make a comment on a friend’s post, that will get shared with or seen by people they do not know. This is true. This can happen. But I’m going back to my point about being proactive and encouraging Facebook users to find out how their friends share information. I have my privacy settings set to only share my friends’ comments and Likes with my friends. Not with everyone. If that’s not good enough for you – then do not comment on other people’s posts. Of course, that’s half the fun of Facebook. And honestly, most comments are so benign, as yourself if it really matters if they are shared. If it does – then talk to the people who’s walls you interact with the most and ask them to get specific about who gets to see that kind of information.

Tracking your every move
There’ve been some articles about how Facebook will be able to track you when you are not on their website. Welcome to the internet. There are a couple of things to be aware of here, the first—and most obvious—is think before you sign into other websites with your Facebook login. When you do that, not only are they tracking your behavior outside of their website, but they are probably broadcasting back to all of your friends. There’s also concern that Facebook can track your activity on other sites when you are not even logged in to Facebook. Again, a lot of websites can, and probably are doing that. There is data that is collected in your browser that can track how you behave in lots of ways. But it’s not totally personal, it doesn’t necessarily identify you the individual. But let’s say Facebook can. Maybe you want to consider using another browser for your social media activity. Instead of being married to Internet Explorer, try downloading Google Chrome or Firefox or Safari and use this secondary browser for things like browsing the web, shopping and reading interesting articles. One browser cannot communicate your activity to another and that keeps your Facebook experience totally isolated and somewhat more secure.

And on and on
There is a lot more going on. And perhaps we’ll talk about more of the privacy options and concerns in the days and weeks to come. There are ways to manage your privacy. But it requires more engagement, not less. Deactivating your Facebook profile may not be the right answer. Here’s why: a couple of years back Mark Zuckerberg talked about his vision for this network of his and described Facebook as a global “utility.” What he wanted was for this social space to be as necessary as your telephone or the electricity that powers your business. With 750 Million users connecting to each other and brands and business and other cultures via Facebook, he is definitely making that vision a reality. I don’t know, and I don’t care, if Facebook will be around in 5 years. But right now there’s no denying there is a certain dependence on the network. We (again the collective ‘we’) might actually *need* it to feel connected.

Where Zuckerberg might be failing is in not recognizing the power of a network that really is for the people. But hey, maybe that’s a future roll out. And by “future” I mean next week.

Let’s celebrate National Cyber Security Month by thinking and learning about Facebook and online security, not complaining. Celebrate by taking action and being empowered, not detaching. You’ll benefit from it, we will all benefit from it. Then we go back to happily sharing photos and posts!

Storytelling in the Facebook Era

Posted on June 3, 2010

For several weeks the tech world, and much of the mainstream population, has been buzzing with discussion around Facebook and privacy. It turns out that Mark Zuckerburg (Facebook’s founder and CEO) and his crew think sharing, and not privacy, should be the new default and they had set out to make that a reality. The anxiety really hit full throttle during the Facebook developer conference when Zuckerburg announced some significant changes around who has access to the data that Facebook collects and how it might be used. People are angry and confused. Some senators have even authored a letter to Zuckerburg asking him to rethink the default privacy settings they were rolling out. Then last week Zuckerberg announced that Facebook has decided to readdress the default settings and make it easier for people to keep their information under wraps. Still, people are continuing to react to and push back on the issue of privacy and protections around information they share online. There are boycotts of Facebook in the works. This is serious business – not a day has passed without some significant, front page media coverage of the controversy.

I strongly believe this discussion, as loud and emotional as it feels, is necessary because it is shaping the bigger issue of evolution – ours and how we communicate. But, believe it or not, this blog post isn’t really about the privacy settings themselves. Instead, this post is about something I’ve been considering for quite some time and it has only become more obvious to me since the volume of this privacy discussion has gotten so loud. In some ways I think Zuckerburg forcing our hands on the issue of privacy is also forcing something we should have instinctively been better about. Because we’re suddenly so concerned about who has access to all of our personal information I think we’re also suddenly being much more thoughtful about what we choose to share. The bite in the butt is — we should have seen this as a critical issue and been this thoughtful all along. But, as the saying goes, better late than never. We are all curators of content, archivers, historians and storytellers. This is a much bigger responsibility than we imagined when we started posting pictures of ourselves in our underwear standing next to the keg (present company excluded, of course). Wherever Facebook ends up in this privacy debate, whether or not they actually address the concerns of the public, really doesn’t matter. All of us are starting to realize a new responsibility – to ourselves and to our current and future audiences.

It used to be that only certain stories – the more polished or politically appropriate stories – were published for the world to see. Publishers decided what was worthy of mass consumption. The rest of the world were consumers of print and, eventually, consumers of all media. All media worked like this and people got rich off of it. Big newspaper publishers decided what was news and got rich. Big motion picture studios decided what was entertainment and got rich. Big television networks decided what was worthy of our living rooms. The media in the last few years has become fragmented by social media and consumer generated content. But the term consumer ‘generated’ doesn’t really tell the whole story, does it? We aren’t just ‘generating’ or ‘creating’ content, we’re publishing it – to a global audience. And because of the immediacy and the ease-of-use of the technology we’ve significantly underestimated the reach, or potential reach of our content. When the big rich media tycoons owned everything we didn’t think twice about distribution and reach. Now that we are contributing to this global archive and telling our stories – we still aren’t thinking twice about distribution and reach. What’s more, because of the immediacy of the experience of publishing, we aren’t really thinking about the importance of the content. See, because we are all (suddenly) historians, archivists, story-tellers. We are all recording history — our own, our family history, brand stories. It seems to me if we start thinking of it as something that carries a little more weight, something that has more cultural importance, then suddenly the issue of Facebook privacy pales in comparison to our responsibility as content creators. I guess I am just suggesting that instead of demonizing Facebook (which is really so easy to do) it’s time to think bigger picture. It’s time to recognize that communication and the documentation of history and the sharing of stories looks much different than in past generations and it’s just going to continue to change. Instead of worrying whether or not Facebook is going to let the world, or future employers see pictures of you with your pants on your head, I would suggest you simply be more thoughtful when you consider publishing those (granted, sometimes you have no choice because someone else does it for you). I just can’t help but feel that we are having the wrong conversations. Instead of pushing for privacy, which is clearly changing and certainly isn’t the default, perhaps we should push for thoughtfulness and responsibility in the telling of our stories.

This privacy thing – it’s a losing battle. We are everywhere. We’re dropping little breadcrumbs of our lives everywhere we go online and when you add to that all of the intentional or inadvertent content we create or contribute to then you must know there are whole and detailed profiles about you just under the hood of the internet. Yes, some things are sacred — like social security numbers and how much you weigh. But think about it – they are sacred because WE (that’s the collective we – which means everybody) treat them that way. It’s a culturally accepted fact that social security numbers are sacred. It used to be a cultural reality that stories were sacred. Passed down from generation to generation and shared during special occasions. Maybe they were embellished with detail for dramatic flair, but that was done with reverence and out of pride. Now stories are just immediate – someone shoves a beer bong up their nose, someone else takes video of it, and we don’t think twice about sharing that with the world. I’m not suggesting that a beer bong in the nose is not share-worthy. I am suggesting though, that if all you share is beer bong stunts than you become the beer bong guy and is that really who you want to be? You get my drift. There is a need for maybe a little more reverence in how we communicate. No – this doesn’t mean we are not humorous or ironic or even inappropriate. I think we really need to start thinking about telling the stories that are worthy of our time and energy and attention. What picture are you painting? What legacy are you leaving? When it’s all compiled – someday, by someone else, looking to discover who we were in this bygone era – well, who will we be? A generation fighting against an inevitable evolution? Or a generation that embraced change and recognized our responsibility within it? I, for one, would like to be among the latter. I am blessed by the brilliant people in my world, a career I am passionate about, a fantastic family, a good life. There’s a story there. I’m going to tell it.

Remembering The Golden Rule

Posted on January 5, 2010

Everyone learns the Golden Rule at some point in their childhood. You know it – treat others the way you’d want to be treated. Or, simply put, treat people with consideration. It’s one of those basic human values that is shared by Christians, Buddhists, Muslims and Humanists. The Golden Rule is one of ethics and humanity, more than anything else. We need to choose, every day, to be decent to one another. And, surprisingly, it’s not always so easy to do. Being human is just hard. These days, with business and information moving at the speed of sound, and everyone trying to keep up with the Joneses or bubble up or be remarkable or be a ‘thought leader’ humanity takes even more of a back seat. Most of the time, that’s really not the intent. Social Media can be a channel for self promotion. And when we’re too self-focused we lose site of each other and, by extension, we lose sight of that Golden Rule.

Over the holiday my house was bustling with family and festivities. My sister (who has no idea I’m using her for this post and hopefully she won’t care) stayed with us to celebrate Christmas. We were busy – a big family gathering on Christmas Eve. Friends in town and staying over with us for Christmas morning. My three-year-old was enjoying the first Christmas where he really embraced the magic of Santa Claus. The last thing I was thinking about was what sorts of images of me might end up on the Internet. I was wrapping up work, and cleaning my house, and preparing hor d’oeuvres and doing last minute shopping and, you name it – it was on my list. By the time Christmas morning rolled around I was breathing a sigh of relief at the prospect of a nap. Now, I don’t know about you, but I do not sleep in what one would refer to as high fashion. In fact, I’ll admit it, my night-time wardrobe has been sorely neglected over the years and most every morning, when I come plodding out of my bedroom sporting a brilliant case of bedhead and some misguided combination of sweatpants and a t-shirt, I look positively homeless. Christmas morning was no exception. I played spectator to my son and the Christmas motherlode. I completely missed the fact that I was a passive participant in a series of photographs capturing his excitement. There I was looking like a bloated, homeless whale – laying on the couch or curled up on the floor or all contorted for some crazy task with ‘some assembly required’. My sister, whom I adore, was capturing every precious moment of my baby’s magical morning. Unfortunately, my butt was the backdrop for a good number of those moments and I had no idea. No idea, that is, until my butt showed up on Facebook.

Facebook, the basement-home-movies-and-instantaneous-scrapbook all rolled into one. Instead of inviting your friends over to bore them with your latest adventure as you project your vacation slides on your paneled rec-room wall, just share your family fun on Facebook and they can comment and ‘Like’ your life from anywhere, right this instant, and forever. Somewhere between brunch and my long winter’s nap on Christmas Day I logged into Facebook to kill some time and was immediately notified that my sister had posted some pictures. My heart raced as I quickly reviewed her recently uploaded collection. Granted, I wasn’t the focal point of any of those photos. But, it could not be denied, that there I was, looking about as comfortable and unkempt as a person ever should, right smack dap in the middle of my sister’s ‘wall’. I thought very seriously about the correct response to this issue. On the one hand, they were not my pictures and my sister can take and post whatever she wants on her Facebook page. But on the other hand, about 25 of her friends are my ‘friends’ and I wasn’t entirely comfortable with anyone, save my immediate family, seeing me in such a state. It’s an interesting dilemma when you think about it. Social Media only works when the intent and the content is authentic. One could argue that my desire to remove pictures of myself looking terrifying is not exactly authentic. But I also need to feel safe in my own house. I need to know I can roam around in my underwear and not have to worry about it showing up on the world wide web by nightfall. Who is deciding how these things work? We are. And, quite honestly, there’s nothing all that digital or ‘new’ about it. When thinking about how best to be ‘social’ in the Social Media sphere, remember the Golden Rule. Treat others the way you would like to be treated. Show them some consideration.

Now, I’m not suggesting my sis had any ill intentions in posting those photos. I think she simply wanted to share the images of her sweet nephew’s holiday excitement. But without my consent, or prior review, she was sharing much more than that. You see the moral dilemma? What right did I have to ask her to edit what she wanted to share with her network? The problem was, once the content was tagged, it was shareable outside of her network. And I have no idea what her privacy settings look like. Bottom line – I was not comfortable with it. It wasn’t about oversharing – it was about my level of comfort with what was being shared. The Geek Girls have said time and time again, behind every picture is the human that took it and posted it. If you don’t like the picture talk to the human. I mean, come on. In this new era of immediacy in communication – we have to all commit to being reasonable when publishing content to what is really a GLOBAL network. But I say we should go a step further and, as creators of content, we need to apply the Golden Rule. We need to be sensitive to and considerate of others first. Ask before you post if there is anything that could be even slightly compromising. I don’t think that asking for a little kindness is really asking for all that much. In fact, that is exactly what I asked of my sister — I asked her to be kind to me in re-reviewing those pictures. In the end, she was more than kind and for that I am grateful.

Go ahead – post your pictures, share your videos – put it all out there. But before you hit ‘submit’ – remember the moral of this story – remember the Golden Rule. Be kind to each other.

Get A Life – Be A Facebook Fan

Posted on August 16, 2009

Recently a Facebook friend of mine noted in his status message that JCPenney’s fan page had over 43,000 fans. He received several comments on the post, one of which suggested that this number was proof that people on Facebook ‘have no life’. That comment got me thinking about why, in fact, it was important for JCPenney to establish this fan page (which, by the way, currently boasts more than 487,000 fans) and why those people that identify as fans actually do have lives — relatively thoughtful lives, in fact. It should be acknowledged that I am *not* a documented Facebook fan of JCPenney’s. I have no real attachment to the retail chain or the brand and I don’t do any work for them. But it is worth examining what value JCPenney could see from a Facebook fan page, and why Facebook members would want to make their brand interest and loyalty official.

Its funny how people that are *on* Facebook could actually call out other members of Facebook for having ‘no life.’ We all have our own reasons for being there, and when we joined the network, I doubt we expected that one of those reasons would be to declare our loyalty or interest in one, or many, brands. But the fact of the matter is – brands are recognizing the importance of ‘going where the people are’. And if current stats are correct – the population of Facebook makes it the 4th largest country on the globe. You can’t deny the sheer penetration of Facebook as a brand and a service. The opportunity to get in front of millions of users in short order surpasses that of any other medium.

Let’s face it, the past couple of years have been rough on people all over the world. The global economy has taken a dramatic nosedive and people don’t know which end is up or when they can expect things to turn around. Consumers need more than their base desires to influence purchases. They need a *reason* to buy. And they need a reason to choose one retailer over another. Only 14% of people actually believe advertising (according to Marketing To The Social Web by Larry Weber). The rest of the population needs something else. They need to trust products and brands. They need endorsements from real people, trusted friends and colleagues. They need relationships with brands. We don’t spend money as easily as we did a few years ago. We need reasons to part with our hard earned cash. Connecting with a brand on Facebook gives us the opportunity to have these kinds of relationships.

Connecting with brands in the social space is a two-way street. As a consumer, I enjoy that sense of exclusivity. I am part of this test audience to run ads by, or to extend special, Facebook-only offers to. Perhaps I am informed of sales and limited product roll-outs early. Or maybe I just see next season’s back-to-school line before the general public. I have an opportunity to plan ahead for shopping, perhaps set aside cash instead of tapping into credit. Whatever the case, because I have this relationship with a brand, in this case, JCPenney, I am a more active consumer, versus passive — someone waiting until I need something and then heading to the closest retailer to get it, or the retailer that dominates the market in which I reside. Because my experience with that brand is likely to be integrated into my experience with Facebook, I can participate in brand conversations, even passively, several times a day. JCPenney has nearly a half million fans currently. That leaves the potential for engagement with hundreds of thousands of consumers at least once every single day.And when you consider that a fan page is free — the investment is really around resources. The conversations themselves are already happening. Facebook is just another channel for consumer conversations. The primary difference being these conversations have the potential to be two way. And, and this really critical, consumers can contribute to the public conversation. The brand is on the hook to be exactly who they say they are. Because if they aren’t truly authentic, consumers will call them out in this very public space.

The brand benefits too. They have a captive audience. They can monitor conversations they start. There’s viral potential around the content they put out. They are actively invited into the social experience of their constituency. They have opportunities to change audience perceptions around the brand. For instance – in the case of JCPenney, the conversation that ensued as a result of this Facebook commentary on the fan page was around private label blue jeans brands. Like Sears had Toughskins. It was news to me, but apparently JC Penney had a private label brand of their own. The comment centered around this group of friends and their history of experiences with the brand. But the brand has evolved. Those private label brands are no longer synonymous with low quality and JCPenney having a presence on Facebook gives them an opportunity to revise audience impressions of the brand and correlating products. This isn’t your mother’s JCPenney. This retail chain is all grown up. They are in tune with consumer expectations around trends, quality and price. And through their presence on Facebook they have opportunity to tell that story day after day.

This is really just the tip of the iceberg in terms of addressing the value to the consumer and the value to the brand. Once the conversation starts it is perpetuated by all of the players. But we aren’t so far away from brands any more that they aren’t listening to us, and we aren’t influencing how they evolve. One could actually argue that those people that signed on as Facebook fans of JCPenney early in this game really did have lives. In fact, they probably lead relatively thoughtful lives and hopefully are using these social connections to extend that thoughtfulness to their buying behavior.

The One In Which I Rant About The Misuse Of Social Media By Companies And Executives

Posted on July 21, 2009

Recently the Geek Girls talked to a group of emerging women leaders about the merits of social media in promoting both personal and professional brands. It was a great session and afterwards we found ourselves immersed in lengthy discussion about trying to separate the personal from the professional (in short — get over it). In attendance at the event was a group of interns from a very large financial services firm. One of them approached me with a question that she asked in a very hushed tone. “Can I remove a picture of myself, from Facebook, if it is someone else’s picture?” She looked slightly nervous as she waited for me to answer. And when I answered in the negative she looked crestfallen. “You can remove the tag that identifies you,” I replied. “But you are stuck with the picture unless you contact the person who put it there and ask them to take it down. Anyone with any amount of sensitivity has got to respect that kind of request.” She seemed satisfied with my answer and I moved on to another question. But a few moments later I turned to her and asked “Is it an embarrassing college party kind of picture?” She nodded, “Yes.”

A few days later the twittersphere enjoyed a minor buzz around the news that a Montana town’s hiring procedures now included requiring job candidates to hand over their log-in information for their Facebook accounts so that their potential employer could see who they really were. I, like everyone else with any sense, was appalled by the nerve of these people. We all wondered if this was legal. The press didn’t serve them very well and shortly thereafter they backed away from this policy.

When we’re out talking about social media the most common questions we field include those around deleting questionable or personally damaging content, specifically pictures, from Facebook. Oftentimes the questions come from young people. However, more often than you think, established professionals harbor similar concerns. The web and social networks make being “social” a whole new ballgame. Of course, my first words of advice are around the terms of use and terms of service for Facebook. We say this all the time, we’ve mentioned it on the blog, but its worth noting as often as possible: when you put things on the web, whether you like it or not, they don’t really entirely belong to you any more. When you share assets like pictures on a social network you’ve essentially given away the rights or ownership of those images. That is something you need to accept and you should operate in accordance with that awareness. Additionally, if you are someone who enjoys recording social events and interactions through words and pictures remember to be sensitive to your subjects, and, if the subject is you, be smart about what you allow to be photographed.

illustration by Rett Martin (@rett)

As Meghan and I walked away from that event that breezy Wednesday evening, I couldn’t help but express my empathy for the young woman who’d expressed concern around the picture her friend had posted of her. But beyond that, I have real concern for human resource professionals and leadership inside of organizations that would condone invading someone’s privacy in a way where they are intending to seek out these sorts of incriminating images. I take issue with leaders who conveniently lack any recall around their own questionable choices or reckless behavior. Because, let’s face it, we’ve all been there. And I think that is my biggest issue. Social media gives us access to a wealth of personal and professional information the likes of which we have never seen before. Whole educational profiles, resumes, work histories, testimonials, personal addresses, family pictures, life histories, and, yes, transgressions, are all documented and available on the web. For the most part, its a very cool thing. We can record and validate experiences and share them with our communities in a way that enriches our connections. But we can also abuse it. And I think the worst abuse happens when we believe we have a right to scour through that kind of information to establish a profile of questionable behavior. After all, context is key. The context in which certain situations occur color the lense that records them.

It’s more than that though. Some of the greatest lessons of my life and career have come from my mistakes or missteps. I have news for you, people: I went to college. I stood around a keg. I drank too much beer, or maybe I wore pants on my head. I don’t remember. But the important thing is — I matured beyond that. I had those experiences, and I moved on. I grew up. And I can honestly say I am probably a more well rounded person because I allowed myself to partake in the ridiculous or, even (gasp) the forbidden. It hasn’t happened yet where a compromising picture of me has shown up on Facebook (unless you count the one where I look like I’m in drag in a dinner theatre show which is scary for sure). But it might. When it does I will likely ask the person posting it to remove it. Or maybe I won’t, just to prove a point. But to act like college is all academics, or that victories in life are the only moments along the path worth recording, is nuts. In the long run, we might be forcing people to be even more deceptive about who they are. Because we all know resumes aren’t always non-fiction. We’ve all been there. We’ve all made mistakes. We’ve all reframed a professional story so it doesn’t reflect poorly on us. We’ve all been in the wrong place at the wrong time. To deny any of that would be dishonest. Hopefully we’ve all learned from those experiences and they contributed to the professionals we are today. Hopefully we’ve gained some perspective and we can demonstrate some compassion and, by extension, respect the social privacy of job candidates or colleagues or acquaintances.

Social media is here to enrich our lives. Not make us fearful about living them. Let’s not abuse our positions by insisting on access to information we have no right to in the first place. What you condone now, in terms of policy, could always come back to bite you in the end. Put that in your pipe and smoke it (just be sure no one is standing nearby with a camera when you do).

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