Further thoughts about social networking and Buzz

In this age of information overload, most consumers know that the desired data exists, and many consumers are able to access at least related data. But consumers are not comfortable with their access. Consumers are sensitive of their own ignorance in the incredible excess of information available.

As a result, consumers choose to corroborate. They choose to network. Socially.

Users make information exchanged via a platform like Facebook credible because they believe in the integrity of their networks. The networks found on Facebook are social, not commercial. Information is shared (largely) for non-financial gain—out of genuine interest in sharing with the wider community. Because Facebook users believe in their networks, they trust in the data produced by these networks. Because they trust the data, the data is valuable. Valuable data is marketable.

Whether Facebook in reality warrants the trust that users give (rather, gave) it is debatable—no more so now than before the Beacon fiasco. The Facebook platform itself is just a medium. So why did the Facebook Beacon mess that up?

Facebook’s Beacon ruined Facebook community trust because it reminded Facebook users that the platform itself is a moneymaker as well as a community space. Worse, Facebook reminded users that it makes money off information that users share for free.

This was always true to a certain extent. Many Facebook community members recognised that to live in a community, one must pay taxes to support the community infrastructure (here the Facebook platform). The commercial ads dotting Facebook Profiles and conversations were a necessary means of financing the community’s online space. Public profile information was also fair game, providing information for advertisers as well as a means of extending a user’s network. After all, other users were required to gain the permission from the owner of the Profile before accessing further information.

However, Facebook crossed a line when it began to aggressively market the data that the platform had gathered unobtrusively before. Facebook’s Beacon was like an invasive gossip rag, turning private community members into targets of unwanted marketing paparazzi. The platform exploited its citizens when it pimped their private data to the Facebook public.

Buzz is unobtrusive. Buzz is public information that consumers want to share. Buzz does not target individuals, but it allows marketers to respond to an appreciative audience. Buzz allows marketers to collect the information that they want and profit from it through careful observation, not outright exploitation. As privacy and security issues become more prevalent on the Internet, Buzz will prove more and more the means by which organisations, agencies, businesses, and even government collect information about the individuals and communities that make up their audiences.

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