If this is the way that we as a society behave (more often or not) then why are we so nonchalant about sharing our data in the online arena? How is it any different?
The buzzword online at the moment is privacy. Do a quick Google search on the term and you’re inundated with articles, blog posts and people threatening to delete their facebook accounts. However, I’m yet to see any of my Facebook friends delete their accounts or complain that their content is no longer theirs. So is privacy as big a deal as it’s being made out to be?
Some people answer no. They feel that nothing has really happened to their data or content yet so they’ll worry when they’re affected, something I call the smoker’s attitude. People who smoke aren’t scared by warnings on their cigarette boxes. They’ll worry when they’re diagnosed with lung cancer.
So these social media smokers probably still feel in control of their content – they choose what to share and where to share it. They upload photographs to their Facebook account because they want to share them with family or friends, or they hope that someone in the public domain will notice their photographic skill. They share resumes and contact details on LinkedIn hoping that someone will see them and offer them their dream job. They are putting more and more of themselves online, without considering who will have access to their data and more importantly, who now OWNS that data and content.
There is this idea that we have a degree of privacy in that we are able to selectively choose the contexts in which we share specific information about ourselves, and thus the way we share data and content is deliberate. Basically, we think we’re protecting our data and content by setting our privacy controls. Yet what we’re forgetting is that we’re on a SOCIAL NETWORK, meaning it’s not just yourself you have to worry about.
“Personal privacy is no longer an individual thing,” said Harold Abelson, the computer science professor at M.I.T. “In today’s online world, what your mother told you is true, only more so: people really can judge you by your friends.” New York Times.
Everything online today is about connecting. And each connection we make is like dropping another breadcrumb. In essence "the most important thing we can do to improve security is to ensure that others get that wake-up call." But yet again, say we get to the point where we, and all our friends and connections, have set our privacy settings to maximum. Are we safe then? I don't think so.
What about the cradle in which we lie? Why is the data that we share online not private by default? Basically we’ve been tricked into opting-in to a database of information worth billions and billions of dollars. We’re a real-time target market waiting to be used in ways we never agreed to, and we’ve dished out everything about ourselves and by ourselves for free.
So what if we could get back the power? What would the ideal Social Networking space look like?
- It would be private by default (with customisable settings of course).
- It would also allow us to retain ownership of all of our content and data that we share.
- It would allow us to customise our socialgraph (our network) to one that categorises our interests and connections
- And it gets better. It would allow us to monetize our content and knowledge. Your everyday input and participant is turned into a valued commodity. You’re worth something in the online world.
I'm talking about MyCube, an exciting new start-up aiming to fulfil all of these and become the perfect social network:. It’s still in Beta stage but I have a feeling its popularity is going to skyrocket.
What it comes down to is about knowing your online worth and MyCube seems to be the perfect platform to support this. Request an invite to join here: http://www.mycube.com/
