Realtime is Realcool

I apologize for not blogging in a few weeks; but, quite frankly, nothing caught my attention enough to make me want to add to the clutter on the Web. Yes, Places on Facebook certainly came close but I just couldn’t muster the enthusiasm. What put me back in a blogging mood is really two-fold. I discovered that WordPress now lets me add buttons to my posts allowing you, dear reader, to share the post via Facebook, Twitter, Digg or email (heck, if you want you can even print it for your scrapbook).  The second thing is Google’s Realtime.

Realtime is a new, real time search engine. You can search for something by location, by the time it was posted or by the means in which it was posted (social media posts, blogs, news article, etc.). Yes, you can! The potential benefit for companies is incredible. Let’s imagine you’ve opened a new restaurant. Immediately after you serve your first customers, you can “hear” what they really think about your business by seeing what they are saying on Facebook and Twitter. No more writing surveys and compiling data months after you open to find out if your customers are happy. No one likes the fish entrée – it’s gone. Not enough desserts on the menu – pastry chef hired. Customers think your staff is rude — time to have a “Come to Jesus” meeting to straighten things out. Say your restaurant is a huge success and now you open a chain of them across the state. You can search for feedback by location and as a whole.

While we as individuals may be sacrificing some of our own personal privacy through the use of social media sites, if companies hear what we are really saying, don’t we all benefit?

Is personal privacy passé?

Does it even exist, or is it more of an illusion that harkens back to the days before the World Wide Web? I’m not sure. It seems as though there is a new privacy concern every day. Perhaps, the days of guarding “personal” information are over. Perhaps we are moving into an age where we cannot, and should not, have information that is off-limits? If technology is unable to keep up with technology, and the legal system isn’t even sure how to prosecute breeches, maybe we should take the hint that it is time to let go.

The Associated Press recently reported on a smart phone (iPhone and Android) security issue. Apparently, according to a group called Lookout Inc., somewhere between 25 and 50 percent of smart phone apps contain software code that pulls the user information and ships it off to third parties without notifying the user. The information being sent can include text messages, photos and Internet search histories. The information is used for target advertising, but also then becomes more vulnerable to hackers.

Yes, users are usually told when installing an application that their information may be shared; but, how many people read and understand the fine print? Most folks click “I accept” so they can start using their new app as soon as possible. Another issue is that many users don’t understand all of the information an app needs to access to run. They may not realize that running “x” app may make their pictures fair game.

I don’t fault the companies making the apps as they gave the user fair warning. I don’t fault the user for become so desensitized to the fine print that they don’t retain. So, if no one is to blame, how can we blame anyone?

If there wasn’t “protected” personal information, the gentleman who collected 100 million unique Facebook names and information wouldn’t be making news. Maybe we’ll begin seeing “free information” campaigns alongside those of legalized drugs and gun control? Don’t think so? Me neither, but the ramifications are interesting to think about…

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38463013/ns/technology_and_science-security/

The Internet has a long memory

In this quickly revolving world arena of immediate news, social networking, and instant gratification, it seems, everyone is afraid that someone will scoop someone. Or someone will complain first. Or someone will know something before someone else. We all need to grow up and slow down.

The newest victim of this incessant race to tell all is former USDA official Shirley Sherrod. Apparently, 24 years ago, while employed by a non-profit organization, Sherrod made a speech. In her speech, African-American Sherrod, claimed she didn’t help a white farmer as much as she could have. She THEN goes on to say that she realized she was wrong  – that issues such as these don’t boil down to race, they boil down to economic status.

Twenty-four years later the NAACP got into a fight with the tea party, and a conservative blogger posted a portion of her speech (the portion which seemed racist) on his blog. Word spread. Shirley was fired from her current position and the media jumped on the bandwagon. Again, take a deep breath and slow down.

The person who asked for her resignation has now stated that he will review the decision and possibly offer Sherrod her old job back. Really? Seriously? How do you think a person who has had their character aired nationwide will ever be able to go about business as usual? It is sort of akin to a newspaper printing a retraction over an error in an article… people don’t remember the retraction, they remember the story.

What does this episode teach us? It should teach us to investigate all the facts before jumping to conclusions. It should teach us that our past can always come back to haunt us. It should teach us to, in this era of online presence, guard what we say and where we say it. People we are “friends” with now, may not be our friends in the future (did you know Walmart, and others, allow friends to print their friends Facebook photos?). The Internet has a long memory and we need to be prepared.

Updates

I know — an update posting is kind of like a band releasing a greatest hits compilation, a bit of a copout. However, since I wrote them, some of my blog topics have had updates:

N-E-S-T-L-E-S
Greenpeace, through continued social media pressure and activism, has claimed victory. According to a May 17, 2010 Greenpeace blog, Nestle has agreed to “ensure its products have a zero deforestation footprint.” Nina Backas, Nestle spokeswoman, is quoted in a Wall Street Journal article as saying, “Like all companies, we are learning about how best to use social media, particularly with such complex issues. What we take out of this is that you have to engage.”

Sour Grapes
Apple sold 3 million iPad’s in the first 80 days. No, I still don’t have one.

Get LOST
Lost went off the air in May 2010 and provided ABC with its best viewer numbers for a Sunday night (not including the Oscars) in over two years. The finale proved a marketers dream as the event kept expanding in length and even included a post finale appearance by cast members on Jimmy Kimmel’s show.

ACTA. This could be big. This could be bad. This could be nothing.
There still isn’t a consensus. Some countries want to include the names of food and fashion items (think Gucci and Parmesan cheese). There are also still concerns over the secrecy of the discussions. Aside from an initial draft of the document being released in March, nothing else has become public. “We still have a lot of disagreement on ACTA,” European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht told a committee of lawmakers at the European Parliament on July 13, 2010.

I rant, therefore I am.
Facebook has had run-ins with China and with Pakistan over differences in what their countries views as private and public. The issue is one of data protection regulations in different countries. In one country something is fine, in another it is not. Think about it like this, what happens if a business person from Germany takes his laptop to France for a conference and uploads photos of folks he met. He then travels to Spain for another conference and uploads more photos before heading back to Germany. Are the photos subject to the laws in Germany, France or Spain? According to CNET, “after acquiring a jaw-dropping 7.8 million new monthly active users in the U.S. in May, it only picked up 320,800 in June, the research found, and among users age 18-25 and 35-44 it actually lost traffic.” Some suspect the media hype over privacy issues may be to blame.

Whole lot of shakin’ goin’ on
According to modernsurvivalblog.com (I let them do the computations since I don’t like math), “Earthquakes between magnitude 5.0 and 6.9 are still up and occurring 33 percent more frequently than average statistics so far during 2010 (133% of normal). Earthquakes between magnitude 5.0 and 9.9 are occurring 25 percent more frequently than average statistics so far during 2010 (125% of normal).

Here Comes the Sun

 I’ve been trying to decide what to write about this week and nothing really struck my fancy ( iPhone 4 – No, Social Media and the World Cup – Nah, Google and China – Nope) until I remembered a piece I read about solar storms (ding, ding, we have a winner!). Ready?

Credit: NASA/Goddard/SDO AIA Team

Doom, DOOM! We’re all going to die! (Cataclysmic event coming — think John Cusack movie.) Destruction. World economy collapse. As Dr. Peter Venkman would say, “Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together…mass hysteria.”

Do I have your attention yet?

Actually, it won’t be that bad (probably) – I just wanted to have some fun. Solar activity runs on an 11-year cycle that should peak this time around in 2012 or 2013. Why should you care? Well, for one, solar storms and flares can affect things like satellite communications, air travel, automobile travel and computer systems. A storm in 1989 left six million Canadians without electricity for 9 hours. “If you lose your Internet, if you lose your satellite connection, if you lose your electricity,” Lika Guhathakurta of NASA said recently in a CBS television segment, “there is no Wall Street, there is nothing. It’s almost throwing us back a hundred years.”

In 2006, scientists speculated that the peak of this cycle could be 30-50% stronger than the last one and, in 2008, estimates were floating around that damage from the increased activity could run in the neighborhood of $2 trillion. So, what can we do about it globally? Well, one of the things that can help prevent damage is early warning. The warning allows time for disconnecting transformers and putting satellites in sleep mode. In order to have the warning time needed, scientists are studying space weather (I hope they are better weathermen than the folks on my local television station or we’re all in trouble) and have placed two solar observatories on opposite sides of the sun. What can we do personally? Well, suggestions have been made to have a survival kit in your home in case there is an extended power outage (water, food, candles, etc.); but I don’t know, that answer sounds as effective as sitting under your school desk to protect yourself from a nuclear bomb.

Goin’ Crazy. Wanna watch?

What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy?
~Ursula K. LeGuin

So is the world becoming filled with more crazies, or are we just more aware of their lunacy due to the media and our use of social media? I’ve had this discussion periodically over the years with various colleagues and our consensus tended to run along the line of “people have always been sick, we just hear about it more now”. 

(IMG:J.Anderson)

Over the past year it seems there are more and more crimes committed via the World Wide Web. Take, for instance, the Minnesota nurse who frequented online suicide discussion boards, struck up relationships with the people frequenting them, and then encouraged them to kill themselves in private online chats. Crazy, huh? How about the man who hacked into computers trying to extort sex videos from the women who used them. He would, allegedly, turn their Web cameras on without the women knowing, hoping to catch glimpses of them in intimate situations. There is also Erin Andrews’ stalker who videotaped her in hotels and posted the nude images to the Internet.

National White Collar Crime Center director Donald Brackman, stated in a recent Internet Crime Complaint Center press release. “Internet crime is evolving in ways we couldn’t have imagined just five years ago.”

So, I think, the way I’m still leaning is that there are just as many deviously sick people out there as ever. The difference is that, due to the supposed anonymity of the Internet, people feel freer to act on their impulses. In fact, according to a Euro RSCG Worldwide study published in November 2009, research showed that almost 43% of American Internet users felt less inhibited online. For example, a person who may never have visited a strip club for fear of recognition can participate in a virtual club atmosphere from the privacy of his/her home. The impact of the crimes and those committing them will, eventually, have to change the way society prosecutes and disseminates punishment.

What do you think?

http://blogs.forbes.com/firewall/2010/06/22/man-accused-of-using-hacking-for-sextortion/

http://www.nationalpost.com/related/topics/Nurse+charged+over+urging+teen+suicide/2945599/story.html

Now, that is slick

Okay I’ve been sitting quietly trying not to jump on the slippery bandwagon of folks talking about THE OIL SLICK in the Gulf and BP’s response (or lack thereof).  I’ve held my tongue and not voiced my opinions on the spill, the cap, the clean-up, the economic disaster and the ecological catastrophe (not to mention this whole thing nearly ruined my vacation). I ignored dead experts and non-native marine mammals listed in the BP Gulf of Mexico response plan. I can’t hold it anymore – I might explode.

I saw a commercial last night for BP narrated by Tony Hayward, BP CEO. In it he briefly details the steps BP has taken since the spill and says the company accepts full responsibility for the event.  “We will get this done. We will make this right.” Okay, I understand BP’s desire to present its case and make itself look good. Really, I do. However, at day 50+ it is too late to try to sway public opinion especially when your company, and the disaster it created, headlines the news every evening. Save your money. Buy stock in Apple. Make some significant progress, and then ring your bell.

In addition to a reported $50 million spent on television commercials, BP has also purchased placement on Google so that it appears at the top of the list when people receive results for terms such as “oil spill,” and “volunteer.” While this may seem like BP is trying to control information (really, think so?) it claims the purchase was made to assist people in finding the information on their own site more readily. I’ve been told, on occasion, that I miss some of the obvious things in life. However, I find it hard to believe anyone could miss the information on BP’s Website. The main heading of the homepage is “Gulf of Mexico Response” and there is an orange-red button almost center with links to more information. Hmmm, I think there is more than one slick afloat.

*@**! Jar

Once upon a time in the land of Mayberry (or Mayfield if you prefer) life was kinder and gentler. Couples slept in separate beds, they gave each other chaste kisses, and the women did their housework in heels and pearls. Then the Gods decided that that reality didn’t really match actual reality and started making television shows and movies that imitated life (supposedly). Suddenly, people were showing up in bed together, they cursed, they walked around without shoes and they got angry. Rating systems were created. Rating systems were modified. The computer and the Internet came on the scene and new rating systems were created.  People became freer with their language and their actions and enjoyed “self expression”.

There is now a small movement afoot to return us, in part, to Mayberry.  SwearJarr has one purpose in life – to clean up the language on Twitter and to help charities. SwearJarr launched on June 1 and has already “caught” 763,837 curse words on Twitter (raising over $2,000 for charity). Each month two new charities will be chosen and, at the end of the month, the money will be split between the two. Not only can people police their own tweets, they can also sign-up to be a swear police deputy and encourage those cursing on Twitter to make a donation to SwearJarr.

I don’t know, perhaps I was wrong and instead of returning us to Mayberry we are actually heading to Oceania.

The new A B Cs*

What happened to teaching your children right from wrong? What happened to trusting your children? What happened to individuals accepting responsibility for their own actions? What happened?

I’ve been hearing radio commercials for the past few weeks as I drive to and from work. The ad is simple – it has a mother questioning her son about whether or not he uses drugs. She rattles off a list of street slang for different drugs and the son seems confused by the terms. The ad encourages parents to buy a new over the counter urine test so they can be sure their children aren’t taking drugs. Really? My children are young, but I hope our relationship never gets to the point where I need to have them pee in a cup for me to trust that they aren’t doing what they shouldn’t be doing. There is, of course, a point in time when parents have less direct influence on their children, but I hope that the messages and values I’ve given them over the years carry them through the tough decisions.

I know, many of you are laughing at my naivety; but, I’m serious. I look at Lindsey Lohan who had a breathalyzer anklet slapped on this week and really wonder where we are as a society.  When did technology take the place of guidance? The scary thing about the anklet is that it will probably move into over-the-counter sales sometime down the line.  No more going to CVS for ibuprofen and throat lozenges – we’ll be able to swing by for urine tests and breathalyzer anklets.

*A B Cs

1,000 views and counting

Once upon a time, the Internet was boring. It was just an informational tool used by scientists and government-types. When web 2.0 was born, the Internet became infinitely more interesting as user-generated material provided a means for two-way conversation to take place.

A blog or “web log” is a kind of Internet journal or diary. Entries, or posts, are listed in reverse date order, they are updated frequently, are written in an informal (or conversational tone) and can link to other sites containing more information.

Today there are over 100 million blogs with more being added daily. When tasked with creating a blog nine weeks ago as part of my master’s program, I struggled a bit. Why blog? What do I have to say that is so important, or so different, that someone would take the time to read about it? I’m not an expert in my field, not a known celebrity, not a politician — I’m just me. I fought with my first few posts as I tried to find my “voice” and, then, I relaxed and wrote. Overall, I think it has turned out pretty well.  Thanks, in large part to some great electronic word-of-mouth help from friends, family and colleagues; I met my personal goal of 1,000 views. So I think I will keep the blog going, probably not with the same frequency, but with the same pleasure I learned to find in sharing my thoughts with whoever stops by.

If reading my blog posts has whet your appetite for more in the blogosphere – check out TimesOnline recent listing of 40 bloggers who really count.