Today I’d like to talk about privacy. Ad Tech Blogs recently posted an article predicting this topic to be the 2011 digital influencer, and I’d have to agree. Here’s why.
Facebook and Google alike made controversial missteps on the privacy debate in 2010. There was the Google Buzz debacle, and more recently the issue with Facebook Groups.
The takeaway from these case studies is control. With Google, we learned not to automate permissions and, even more important, not to make this information public. With Facebook, we learned that friends aren’t always friends, and it’s further proof that opt-in is always preferred to opt-out.
People want to dictate how their information is used, where it appears, and who can view it.
Enter Diaspora. This is a potential game changer when it comes to the privacy debate. Four NYU graduates set out on a mission – to create a social space where the user dictates their own privacy levels. Diaspora is currently in the early stages where, true to open source, anyone can contribute to the development, testing and troubleshooting via the site’s developer site, GitHub.
Powerhouses like Facebook and Google should take note of little guy Diaspora. After all, they were once in the same position, taking on giants like MySpace, Yahoo and Microsoft. Innovation that takes into consideration privacy, and puts it all in the hands of the consumer, could very well spawn the next dominant social space, and everything currently points to Diaspora being just that.
Finally, thanks to location-based services and location-aware devices, as well as a shift toward making more and more of our personal lives public, dictating privacy becomes ever more important. And giving individuals control over their own information is key to building their trust and developing good customer relationships.
As such, you’ll also see the privacy debate evolve naturally from social networks to mobile devices, which will have huge implications on companies marketing to individuals based on location. With the dominance of mobile and location-based devices in 2010 and very public concerns over privacy, it only seems natural that mobile will be wrapped neatly within the privacy discussion.
Photo by bigcityal.