Awhile back Chris Berry and I had a conversation about the state of analytics and tracking and where the industry is going. We were both concerned that analysts were going to screw themselves by tracking information they had no business to. And that it was just a matter of time before someone dropped the ball….Well, the ball has dropped.
Violating personal privacy is nothing new to Facebook. Heck, their entire business model is based off of selling your personal information which is why I got off of it years ago.
In comparison, the breech of Sony was a Fukushima, it was a disaster for the corporation but was caused by an outside force. One could argue they should have been prepared but if the hackers hadn’t attacked them it would not have been an issue.
In the case of Facebook, it’s a Chernobyl. It is violation of privacy caused by the companies own actions (which it calls a glitch). In an effort to cover it’s ass it has recently set up its own Political Action Committee, an American term for a lobbying outfit to get its views heard on Capitol Hill.
So far this year it has already spent £352,000 ($550,774) on lobbying, already ahead of last year’s total of £224,000.
Scumbags….
Money it made by selling its customer’s personal information to advertisers.
I was thinking about circles and social media after reading Chris’ post. Google + gave me an opportunity to return to social networking after a lengthy hiatus. While I like the idea of circles, the IA in me struggles with how to classify people. For example, I originally organized people by their relationship to me. Which seems pretty straightforward, but it’s not sensible.
For example, I have a CBC circle for people I work with here. I have a Critical Mass circle for people I know from that job. I have circles for friends, and another for family but it’s not about me. It’s a strange thought since they’re my circles but not all of my friends are interested in video games, or cycling, or painting, or analytics and some are.
For example, if I post that I rode 204km on the weekend and reached speeds of 86+ km/hr who is going to be interested in that information? Other cyclists of course, so does that mean I create a circle for cyclists? Perhaps, but that would mean I would need a circle for each interest or theme of post. I would need to assign each person to a group or multiple groups based on what I know about them.
I’m not really interested in doing this. I already have a spouse and a hard enough time trying to figure out what he’s thinking without worrying about everyone else. Not to mention that I may post only two or three times a day but we all know someone who tweets or posts every thought that pops into their head.
I block those people, even though I like them and sometimes they have good information. I block them because they create too much noise, and it is hard to pull out the nuggets that are of interest to me. And what each person considers noise is different, so I can’t really say their posts are worthless, they are just worthless to me. So what about a social network that allowed the social to shape what you do and say, you know like in real life.
What if, you were able to subscribe to someone and then select what tags or types of things you are interested in? Then if someone posts about cycling you could get that in your feed, but if they post about their baby daughter’s potty training you could avoid that. I suppose it is a ratio of relevancy to noise but it would let you choose which circles you belong to and account owners could see what circles are forming rather than imposing their own architecture.
Recently in the Toronto news there has been a fair amount of traffic around the issue of social media and the TTC. The media has managed to make a mountain of a molehill and managed to distract the union and it’s head Bob Kinnear from the issue at hand. That however isn’t what interests me. What I find fascinating is the use of social media and social networking tools in this debate.
It started with this photo:
This photo ended up in all the papers and resulted in the operator making an apology and explaining that he was on a new medication. A perfectly reasonable excuse in my opinion except for the fact that he didn’t contact his union.
If I had trouble staying awake at work I would immediately go and talk to my boss, explain the situation and go home. If I did need a nap I would take it in a lounge or employee area where I was out of the way and certainly out of the public eye.
The interesting thing about this picture however is how it made the rounds and media explosion ensued. First media was talking about Twitter and Twitpic and all the different ways people can share images.
Next this video appeared on the internet of a driver taking a coffee break in the middle of his route. Apparently this poor guy is now suspended pending an investigation.
The description reads: “TTC driver taking a coffee break in the middle of the shift while leaving the bus with passengers behind – The driver did it every week night in a period of 2 weeks (total of 10 times)!”
The head of the Union’s response is,
“We have heard from many operators who now fear taking a few minutes for a needed washroom break because they don’t want to be subjected to ridicule or embarrassment,” Mr. Kinnear added. “I invite any journalist here today to go online and take a few minutes to research the health effects of chronic urinary retention. Let me give you a head start on the most common problems: urinary tract infections, kidney infections, kidney failure, bladder cancer and prostate problems.”
Are you kidding me? You’re actually going to defend this by talking about urinary tract infections?? That’s probably not the best way to handle this. A more appropriate response would have been:
“We try to ensure our drivers have ample time to use the facilities at the end points of their streetcar runs, but clearly it is not enough. We want to ensure our drivers and employees are comfortable as well as our customers as a result we have asked drivers to make an announcement when they need to stop for any length of time. We will do our utmost to ensure streetcars stay on schedule.”
Of course, that would require streetcars to have a schedule but I digress. This stopping issue wouldn’t be a problem except it has happened many times and now with cellphone cameras and Youtube anyone can be a reporter:
The problem with reporting however is that there is a bias, and no journalistic ethics need be applied. This kind of guerrilla journalism isn’t about reporting on events or distributing information it is about pushing an agenda. Every photographer makes a choice when he or she chooses to point the camera. And that isn’t to say this media blitz is all one-sided either. All the streetcars have cameras in them now. The CBC has a video posted of a driver needing to fight a passenger off of the bus. And the TTC employees have posted their own Youtube videos:
Personally I applaud the TTC putting cameras on the streetcars. It not only ensures the safety of the drivers but the passengers as well. And no one deserves to get assaulted while at work no matter how late they are! While I support the TTC I suggest the footage should be kept off of the internet.
A Facebook group called “Toronto Transit Operators against public harassment” which describes itself as “a group where Operator’s can give suggestions on how to fight back to the recent photo and video harassment from passengers just looking to make trouble for us.” cropped up not long after these videos appeared.
At one point they were reportedly advocating a work to rule policy to combat what Union boss Kinnear described as, “ an entitlement to film our operators in the performance of their duties”. That Facebook group started out public but quickly became private after the public lashed back on the site.
What is interesting is there is another Facebook group for “Employees of the TTC” and it is open to the public. And the public is beginning to lash back again. This is a social media disaster for the union and the TTC. First off you have to have a strategy and a clearly defined purpose when deciding to engage in social media. The last thing you need is a mouthy employee to write something rash which further damages your already battered reputation. You also don’t want to add fuel to the fire of the malcontents
The Union, if it had any brains at all would ask it’s members to kindly stop attacking the public, because right or wrong, if you argue with a troll it only gets stronger!
That isn’t to say there hasn’t been adult and measured discussions but if the Union, or the TTC decide they want to hash it out in the social media space they had better get a game plan together. The public has been in this space for years and they had best catch up before they try to go troll hunting.
