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Posts Tagged: data
22
Apr 10
Is the new Facebook a boon or a threat?
The Facebook overhaul announced at F8 yesterday is easily the most significant social-media development of 2010 — and it’ll be a tough act to follow for anyone to follow this year. Like all great shifts, it’s impossible to say what these changes will mean. Are we looking at a shiny new dawn of the social Web ? Or is this the biggest invasion of privacy this side of a George Orwell novel? A boon for marketers everywhere? A naked grab for power ? Talking informally with friends yesterday about the changes, I was struck by how divided many people were. Some people were salivating about how the changes would enhance their businesses — and then they’d turn right around and fret about what would happen to all their personal data. I found myself feeling the same way — profoundly torn between the promises and the perils of that much data. The only thing I can be sure of right now is that I’m dying to learn how these changes will unfold each day as I prepare SmartBrief on Social Media . The biggest news of the year may already be out — but the story is just beginning. What about you? Are you more excited or concerned by these announcements? How will you respond to these changes? Personally? Professionally? What will we need to relearn to survive in “a Web where the default is social”? Image credit, Gunnar Pippel , via Shutterstock
Originally posted here:
Is the new Facebook a boon or a threat?
6
Apr 10
Should social-media data be used for research?
Facebook’s stance on user privacy is anything but straightforward. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg claims the concept is irrelevant — but it’s clear from looking at user reactions to the various settings changes over the past 18 months that not everyone on the network agrees with him. Yet when someone wants to actually do something with that data, such as Pete Warden as detailed in the lead story from today’s SmartBrief on Social Media , the network has a decidedly different reaction. Why the shift? Was is because Facebook didn’t stand to profit from giving data away to academics? Was it because it was worried about fan backlash? Maybe Facebook wants the option to do something similar on its own one day? The explanation that Facebook was worried about creating a historical record of user preferences seems flimsy to me. I’m willing to be that it reasoned that if it was going to upset their users with privacy concerns, it should profit in some way. I’d be surprised if it didn’t look for a way to do just that before too long. Are you comfortable with the idea of social-media data being used for research? Should Facebook have allowed Pete Warden’s work to continue? Image credit, gualtiero boff , via Shutterstock
Originally posted here:
Should social-media data be used for research?
2
Apr 10
What will the semantic Web mean for social media?
The semantic Web is sometimes hailed as the future of information technology — an “Internet of things,” in which all devices big and small are constantly talking to us and to one another, enhancing our lives with a breathtaking stream of data. This future can seem incredibly distant. Researchers are working on a variety of exciting applications for this technology — such as smart power meters for electricity use, RFID-enabled soda fountains and augmented-reality enhanced car windshields . Very cool ideas — but not mainstream quite yet. Meanwhile, we hear the technologists crow about the wonders of the semantic Web and all we can think is, “OK, cool — so when do I get a pair of SmartPants?” (Note to self: Get my company to trademark the concept of “SmartPants.”) But maybe that semantic world is closer than we think. In the lead story of today’s SmartBrief on Social Media , Richard MacManus explains that a critical component of the semantic Web — linked data — is making serious strides, as companies and governments move to get more data online. What does this have to do with social media? As MacManus explains, “one of the reasons the Semantic Web hasn’t yet been widely adopted, at least commercially, is that it’s often difficult or time consuming to mark up data semantically.” I wonder if the social networks can solve the technical challenges of marking up this data, the same way it eased the cultural barriers that made us not want to share data in the first place. While everyone is talking about the possibilities of mobile and location-aware social networks, I wonder if maybe those are just half-measures. Maybe the real potential of social media isn’t in what we say to our networks — but what our semantic networks could say about us. Privacy concerns aside (and yeah, I realize that’s a very big aside), that’s the kind of knowledge that could change the world. Are you excited by the possibilities of the semantic Web? Think it’s all pie-in-the-sky? Interested, but not sure how it connects to social media? Let me know! Image credit, photobank.kiev.ua , via Shutterstock
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What will the semantic Web mean for social media?