Identity

So if you’re an iPhone user, you want contact and calendar syncing over-the-air, you don’t want to pay for Mobileme, and you think Microsoft Exchange server sucks, then you’re just like me and there’s a great solution out there for you: Google Sync.  It supports syncing (manual, fetch or push) contacts list and up to 5 calendars via an ActiveSync protocol.  Mail is coming soon (but you can still use IMAP or POP, so I’m content to wait).  Google Sync is currently in beta, but google betas are fairly stable, and you should have started backing up your data years ago so as to never be totally caught off guard again, so I wouldn’t worry too much.  I’ve been using Google Sync for several weeks now and I’m loving it.

When Facebook released the News Feed they didn’t decrease anyone’s privacy.  They simply showed everyone exactly what they were revealing.  Facebook made sharing data so easy that people didn’t realize what they were sharing.  But micromanaging data online makes people less likely to share.  So where’s the balance?
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Someone once asked what business McDonalds is in. The response was predictable, “they make burgers.” However the answer is very different:

“We are in the real estate business. The only reason we sell hamburgers is because they are the greatest producer of revenue from which our tenants can pay us rent.” ¹

Similarly, it can be asked what business Facebook is in and the subsequent response, “social networking,” would be misguided.

Facebook is an advertising platform that specializes in targeted advertising. They gather data about your usage on Facebook (and 40+ other sites) in order to server up advertising that you’re more likely to click on.

So here’s the kicker…today I saw an ad for “the fastest growing gay social network for gay men” on my Facebook profile. So this brings me to one of two conclusions: One, Facebook thinks I’m gay. Or Two, Facebook thinks that people who look at my profile are gay.

I don’t mind advertising as a means of sustaining freely available online services, but I never signed up for sexual or provocative advertising. And I’m not about to start clicking on it, so it’s a waste of my time and their money to show it to me.

I was once so proud of Facebook. But I have been perturbed by recent events. I currently work for a company whose primary business model is advertising. And I hope that my disgust with Facebook will help shape our companies future for everyone’s best interests.

1. http://everything2.com/index.pl?node=mcdonald’s

I finally got around to installing my very own WordPress blog. Not that I’m actually going to use this thing, but it might be nice since that whole xanga thing died out. Wow, that was short lived. I remember all my friends were screaming, “you gotta get a xanga account” So I set one up and 2 yrs later none of them use it any more. Now they’re saying, “you gotta get a Facebook account.” Fads.

We’re just passing out control of our identity to whoever shakes the newest shiny trinket in our face. I believe that my identity should be in my hands. Or at least, I should have some control over it.

The problem with the online world, currently, is that controlling your identity and establishing community are at odds with each other. It doesn’t have to be that way. We just need a new model of identity discovery that allows the users to maintain his/her identity as they choose to share, or not to share, it with the world. Unfortunately, it seems most people don’t really want that kind of responsibility.