Posted March 13, 2010 by cgseo under under
Pay-Per-Click At the keynote today at SXSW , Microsoft ‘s Danah Boyd placed a lot of emphasis on Google’s privacy “fails” with Buzz. The topic of the keynote was the relationship between privacy and publicity, and she certainly covered much more territory and social media in general, but it was interesting that Google Buzz was essentially the first thing talked about. A lot of people will love Buzz, and will use it, but that doesn ‘t mean Google didn ‘t mess up in terms of privacy, she said. She says that the company did nothing wrong technologically (there were multiple ways to opt out), but that Google managed to find the social equivalent of the ” uncanny valley “. Google got in trouble by integrating a public facing system inside of one of the most intimate (Gmail), she said, adding that a lot of users believed Google was exposing their private email, even though this was never actually the case. Google also assumed that people would opt out if they didn ‘t want to participate, she said. She said she gives the company the benefit of the doubt, but she can’t help but notice that more companies are starting to think it’s ok to expose people and then back pedal once people flip out. She said she kept meeting users who thought if they opted out, it would cancel their Gmail account. With regard to Google’s handling of the situation, Boyd says they “foolishly” told users what they wanted to hear rather than asking them what they wanted to hear. Make no mistake, the point of the keynote was much larger than pointing out Google’s failure, and it was quite a thought-provoking talk. Still, one can’t help but notice the excessive amount of jabs at Microsoft’s main rival, and emphasis placed on a very young product (the remainder of the speech’s focus was mostly placed upon Facebook and Twitter, with a little bit of Chat Roulette).
Tags: excessive, little bit, Microsoft, mistake, relationship, remainder, roulette, social equivalent, Social Media, Twitter
Posted March 13, 2010 by cgseo under under
Pay-Per-Click I’m sitting here in the exhibit hall at SXSW getting ready for the opening remarks keynote, which is getting ready to get underway. It will be delivered by Danah Boyd of Microsoft Research Her SXSW
Tags: harvard university, Internet, micosoft, microsoft research, opening remarks, People, Social, specfic, teacher, time
Posted March 13, 2010 by cgseo under under
Pay-Per-Click After a long morning of travel and SXSW preperation, WebProNews popped in on an interesting talk from writer and tech watcher, Kaiser Kuo (here’s his bio ) about what might happen with the whole Google/China situation, which has essentially remained at a stand-still for the past two months, since Google made its famous announcement about a “new approach to China.” Kuo said right out that he doesn’t have the “inside dope” about what’s happening within Google, but he did give a fascinating history of Google’s efforts in China, as well as a look at some possible scenarios that could play out. Some he listed specifically, include: Worst Case Scenarios – Blow up: Google decamps in atmosphere of acrimony – Google.com blocked, possibly even Gmail, Gtalk, Google Docs, Buzz, etc. – All google products exit from China (partnerships with mobile companies end) Moderate (and according to Kuo, most likely) Scenarios – Google.cn shuttered – Google.com, Gmail, Google Docs, etc. unblocked – Google research and development and sales continue to operate in China – Google continues mobile partnerships Best Case (and not very likely, but not entirely far-fetched) Scenario – Google.cn stops censoring and still stays in china – Pigs fly over a frozen hell scape The session was not without a sense of humor, but that’s not to say Kuo doesn’t take the situation very seriously. In fact, he appears to be putting much more time into looking at the big picture than anyone I’ve seen (at least those outside of Google itself and the Chinese government). Perhaps the most interesting part of Kuo’s talk was about how
Tags: big picture, blow up, China, chinese, decamps, frozen hell, google-cn, industry, Internet, past, proxies, sense of humor, two kinds, worst case scenarios