Infinite Path » Industry News

Facebook privacy row gains momentum

Infinite Path — Tue, 25 May 2010 12:19:17 +0000

The debate over Facebook privacy intensified on Monday with co-founder Mark Zuckerberg admitting that the company had “missed the mark” over the issue.

Tension has been rising on the social networking site over new privacy settings which were introduced late last year. This spawned a spin-off website entitled ‘quitfacebookday’ on which over 13,500 Facebook members have committed to delete their profiles on May 31 in protest.

Mr Zuckerberg’s comments are clearly designed to placate these users, as well as privacy groups in the US who have complained to the Federal Trade Commission over the new settings.

They argued that privacy on Facebook has been compromised by the firm encouraging users to open up their profiles. Facebook did this to make it easier for users to control their profiles but it also made it easier for content to be shared with all Facebook users. The thought of personal photos and comments being seen by all 350 million Facebook users has angered privacy campaigners.

In a column in the Washington Post, Mr Zuckerberg said that Facebook would now make changes to the privacy options of users, and that the company had listened to recent concerns and was responding to them. He went on to say that “the biggest message we have heard recently is that people want easier control over their information.

“Simply put, many of you thought our controls were too complex. Our intention was to give you lots of granular controls; but that may not have been what many of you wanted. We just missed the mark.”

The criticism of Facebook’s privacy policy has not been confined to the US. In the EU, data protection officials have described the changes to the privacy settings as “unacceptable”, whilst in Canada two investigations were conducted after complaints about the site’s privacy policies had been made. The complaint concerned an allegation that a new tool made it harder for Facebook users to control who sees their personal information.

On Friday, Facebook also admitted that it was changing the way it shares data with advertisers on the site. The Wall Street Journal had highlighted that Facebook had been sending the ID or username of the person clicking on an advert to the advertiser under certain circumstances. A Facebook spokesman expressed that this had been fixed as soon as it had been discovered.

Mr Zuckerberg has not stated when the new changes will be implemented but has admitted that they will happen “as soon as possible.” Whether this will be enough to placate the 13,500 users who are committed to leaving Facebook at the end of the month remains to be seen.

Update: Facebook has stated that it will roll out a new set of privacy settings to all users starting tomorrow. The company will post details on its blog.

Google in hot water over Street View scandal

Infinite Path — Wed, 19 May 2010 11:34:12 +0000

Google boss Eric Schmidt has downplayed fears over privacy after it was revealed that data had been harvested from private wi-fi networks by its Street View cars.

The revelation was made last week in response to a request from the German authorities to audit the data that was gathered by the cars. The cars’ primary purpose is to take photographs of streets for use on Google Maps but it has now been revealed that for the last three years, Google has been collecting information sent by people over unencrypted wi-fi networks.

Google claims that this issue has arisen because in 2006 “an engineer working on an experimental wi-fi project wrote a piece of code that sampled all categories of publicly broadcast wi-fi data” but that it had been a “mistake” for the code to be contained in the cars. Google also said that its inclusion had not been authorised by the company.

Speaking at Google’s Zeitgeist conference in Watford, Mr Schmidt expressed his hope that nobody would be prosecuted over the incident, asking “Who was harmed? Name the person”. He also said that he did not want to blame the engineer specifically and that the incident had harmed Google more than any one person could.

Mr Schmidt also said that it was “highly unlikely” that the data collected would be “useful” and that there appears to “have been no use of that data”. He went on to say that nobody had been given or has done anything with the data.

Meanwhile, Google co-founder Larry Page expressed his view that the difference between “worry versus harm” was an important one when it comes to online privacy. Despite this, the US group Consumer Watchdog has demanded a Federal probe into the company and European countries are also considering taking action.

The UK will not take action on this matter, although a spokesman for the Information Commissioner’s Office did say that they were taking the matter “seriously” because Google had been involved in the “unnecessary and excessive collection and storage of personal data”.

In Germany, a request has been made to see the data by May 26th and that it should only be deleted after being subject to a review. Meanwhile, the Financial Times has reported that German prosecutors and the Czech authorities are also investigating the issue.

However, Mr Schmidt said that Google will not delete the data unless ordered to do so. His company is contacting authorities in the 30 countries which have Street View asking for guidance on how to proceed.

Instant Messaging falls victim to social networking dominance

Infinite Path — Wed, 19 May 2010 10:39:47 +0000

Instant Messaging (IM) has been one of the victims of the growth of social networking according to a new study.

The UK Online Measurement company (UKOM) has published statistics which suggest that the average internet user spends nearly one day every month online. This represents an increase of 65% when compared to three years ago but in that time, the use of IM has dropped dramatically, accounting for just 4.9% of online time in 2010 compared to 14% in 2007.

Email had also been predicted to suffer due to the rise of sites like Facebook and Twitter but statistics do not reflect this trend. In fact, the use of email has increased to 7.2% of total internet time now, compared to 6.5% in 2007.

However, the explosion in social networking over the last three years is clearly demonstrated, with nearly a quarter of all internet time in the UK devoted to it. Gaming also came in strongly, taking up 6.9% of online time.

Another field that is experiencing growth is online news, which has increased from 1.5% to 2.7% of total online time. This may add fuel to the fire of those who are toying with the idea of offering a paid-for news service as companies look at ways of making profit from their currently free online content. This is a particularly prevalent issue to media moguls as the internet has taken many people away from traditional print media, meaning that many newspaper companies are struggling financially.

The “digital myth” that the internet’s sole purpose revolves around pornography has also been debunked, as the survey reveals that people spend more time on news sites than adult sites. Only 2.7% of online time is dedicated to titillating pursuits but the fact that adult content still makes the top 10 of the 85 categories surveyed suggests that this industry is still strong.

Speaking about the survey, Alex Burmaster, a spokesman for UKOM, suggested that the rise of social networking has occurred due to its organic nature. He suggested that the internet “is like an organism, feeding off itself and getting bigger. People are plugging more and more of their lives into it.”

The results came out on the same day that a survey was published by Weight Watchers UK Ltd, which suggests that the average Briton spends 14 hours 39 minutes of every day sitting down. Of this time, they spend an average of 2 hours 25 minutes on a computer at home.

The rise to prominence of the internet in our day-to-day lives over the last ten years shows no sign of abating and new developments in online video streaming and media suggests that the next ten years will see it become an even more dominant influence.

The rise of social networking has given us access to more people and introduced us to new perspectives and interests, from news to leisure pursuits, and shopping to banking. The world of wonder that has been opened up is like a Pandora’s Box and it seems that nothing will stop us from being sucked in.

Microsoft revamps Hotmail to gain edge over rivals

Infinite Path — Tue, 18 May 2010 11:47:40 +0000

The market in free email services is particularly fierce and now Microsoft is revamping its Hotmail brand in an attempt to gain a competitive edge over main rivals Yahoo! and Google.

Improving security is a primary aim of the company due to the increase in the number of phishing attacks and the amount of spam that is being generated. Microsoft’s system is designed to spot these more easily and the company is hoping that this will be a key selling point.

A further improvement will see the possibility for documents sent via Hotmail to be viewed and edited via web versions of Microsoft Office. Hotmail may be the world’s biggest email provider with 360 million members worldwide but the American market is proving to be particularly competitive. Yahoo! is the strongest brand in the field in the States, with Google’s Gmail catching up quickly.

Some of the changes to Hotmail are designed to help users deal with the high volume of mail that comes through their inboxes, particularly now that email has become an integral part in the rise of social networking. Accordingly, the revamp will improve the ability to access web links, pictures, and videos that are contained within email messages and this can be done in the Hotmail browser itself rather than through external sites. This feature will be known as ‘Hotmail active views’.

It will also be easier to send pictures via Hotmail through Microsoft’s new SkyDrive system. This overcomes the issue of attachment limits as a SkyDrive folder will be created whenever photos are sent or received. The full-sized images will appear in this folder, whilst the email itself will only contain thumbnails, which are smaller in size and easier to send.

To aid functionality, Microsoft are introducing an ability to sort e-mails by conversation rather than individual messages, copying a feature that is already part of the Gmail platform. Furthermore, one-click filters will allow people to see all emails from a particular source and emails from particular people can automatically be sent to specific folders.

Most of these features will be available after an update in the summer but the tighter links with the new Microsoft Office will not appear until the autumn. The new version of Office was launched last week and is a direct response to Google, Microsoft’s main rivals. The free online component, called Office Web Apps, mimics Google’s free online tools, so you will now be able to access Microsoft Office through your Hotmail account without the need to download any additional software.

Gmail already has this funcionality with its own software, so this is clearly seen as a way of halting the rise of Gmail, particularly in the US. Google has done a good job of integrating Gmail and Docs but the service cannot convert Office documents and most documents that are exchanged via email are Microsoft formatted.

However, there is a fear that users could take to Google Docs, particularly as consumers are less likely these days to purchase Office. This is why it is essential for Microsoft to incorporate Office into its free offerings in order to maintain its dominance in the office productivity market.

No end in sight for YouTube juggernaut

Infinite Path — Tue, 18 May 2010 11:40:27 +0000

The first video uploaded to YouTube was a charming affair entitled ‘Me at the Zoo’ by co-founder Jawed Karim. Now, just over five years later, it has been revealed that the site receives over two billion hits a day.

The extraordinary rise of YouTube was not predicted by founders Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim when the 19 second video was posted on the site on 23 April 2005. Now, though, the site is celebrating its fifth birthday and gets nearly double the number of people tuning in than the US’s three prime time TV stations combined.

The site was bought by Google at the end of 2006 for $1.65bn and, since then, it has become a staple of social networking, not to mention modern journalism. The evocative imagery of a wounded girl dying in front of a crowd during the Iranian election protests shows that the site has also shaped history, allowing amateur videographers to report on important events and bring fresh angles to stories that otherwise may not have been shown.

A YouTube interview with President Barack Obama, Ronaldinho’s Nike advert, and Susan Boyle’s performance on Britain’s Got Talent were all given greater publicity on the site and this is reflected in the ethos of the company. With the slogan ‘Broadcast Yourself’, Mr Hurley stated that the company’s aim was “to create a level playing field that gave everyone that ability to be seen and heard”. The fact that you can have President Obama and your trip to the zoo hosted on the same site proves that this goal has been successfully realised.

Catharine P Taylor, media blogger at news website BNET.com, has expressed her belief that YouTube is very much at the forefront of popular culture. Describing the site as a “game changer” she expressed her admiration that the site provides opportunities for the average citizen to become a big hit, saying that this would have been unheard of five years ago.

Mr Hurley believes that the site still has “much further to go” and, although admitting that he is proud of the site’s achievement so far, he accepts that there is still “a lot of work ahead”. In an Internet culture that is continually evolving, where YouTube will head next is a question asked by many. Many analysts believe that the site will become part of Google’s “media cloud” in which you can access a wide range of digitised content including films, books, magazines, and TV shows.

Live streaming is the obvious place for YouTube to go because 40% of all online video watched in the US is viewed on YouTube. Some believe that it could become a traditional distributor of content, very much like the American cable channels. Further links to portable devices may also be generated.

Like most online companies in the social sphere, finding a profitable business model has been difficult for YouTube but 2010 could be the year this changes. However, Bloomberg News has pointed out that advertisers may be reluctant to appear on the site as its content is not as strictly controlled as that on other outlets. User generated content is YouTube’s main strength and this carries a risk because editorial standards are far looser, meaning that the content is more likely to shock or offend people.

Furthermore, in the social sphere, people are generally turned off by advertising and move to other sites. This means that any marketing strategy would have to be well-defined and executed by YouTube executives.

Mr Hurley has admitted that his company is willing to work with anyone and with traffic already extremely strong (only seven months ago, the site clocked up over a million downloads a day), the YouTube juggernaut is showing no signs of stopping just yet.

Twitter risks alienating users with focus on advertising

Infinite Path — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 12:48:00 +0000

Twitter’s recent announcement that it is going to allow advertising on its pages has divided opinion on the micro-blogging site.

Twitter had previously resisted the spectre of advertising but co-founder Biz Stone has confirmed that advertisers will now be able to buy “promoted tweets” that will appear on Twitter’s search pages. Stone said the new policy “made a ton of sense” for Twitter as it enters the commercial market. It is one strand in its marketing policy as they have just started to make deals which will aim to monetise the hugely successful service.

Social networking sites have found it notoriously diffcult to make profits, despite their vast numbers of users. Facebook’s targeted advertising model barely allows it to break even and this is seen in the industry as the best system currently available.

Twitter will experiment with the “promoted tweets” policy. “Promoted tweets” have been described as “ordinary tweets that businesses and organisations want to highlight to a wider group of users” and only one tweet will appear on each search results page. It has signed up a raft of big companies including Sony Pictures, Starbucks, and Best Buy, who aim to benefit from this new policy.

Stone has admitted that “promoted tweets” will have to “resonate with users” and that they would simply disappear if users did not interact with them. The reaction to the news on Twitter has been mixed, with some cautiously optimistic and willing to give the policy a chance, and others threatening to turn their backs on Twitter altogether.

Twitter is quite clearly wary of commercialising its successful product. Meanwhile, the fact that it is successful is what attracts potential investors and advertisers. Stone and all at Twitter know that there is a thin tightrope to be walked between making money and alienating their userbase and they will have to be careful regarding this new policy.

Facebook’s targeted marketing has not alienated its subscribers but AOL’s purchase of Bebo has been cited as a contributory factor as to why a previously successful social networking site has been haemorrhaging visitors. Clearly commercialisation needs to be done correctly as people do not like to be overtly sold to in their spare time and the views of users on Twitter have reflected this.

Twitter emerges as the new film critic

Infinite Path — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 11:41:01 +0000

Twitter can be used to predict how successful a movie will be at the box-office, according to latest research that has been published on the Arxiv website.

The technology firm Hewlett Packard assessed three million tweets about 25 movies and discovered that the rate at which the messages were produced could be used to predict box-office takings. Furthermore, when the content of the tweets was assessed, further predictions could be made about a movie’s success. This was done by using a technique called sentiment analysis, in which the tweets were classed as being positive, negative or neutral about a specific movie.

Bernardo Huberman, speaking to BBC News, cited a couple of examples as proof of the power of social networking sites such as Twitter. His team predicted that ‘The Crazies’ would take $16.8m during its opening weekend. It took $16.06m. Meanwhile, they predicted that ‘Dear John’ would take $30.71m, whereas it took marginally less at $30.46m.

Speaking about the research, Dr. Huberman stated: “We developed algorithms to analyse these tweets and measure the rate at which they were produced. Our intuition was that the faster people tweet, the more likely they are to go and see it”.

The technique of sentiment analysis worked with ‘The Blind Side’ and ‘New Moon’. The former was received positively and eventually picked up an Oscar nomination. Meanwhile, the latter was greeted more negatively and after a strong opening weekend, its takings significantly dropped.

The research proves that word of mouth is sometimes the best form of advertising and clearly movie companies will be hoping to harness this, and the power of Twitter, to make more money and develop more successful and engaging movies. Word of mouth worked for ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ back in 2002 but now there are more mediums out there on which the average film fan can make their voice heard.

It is clear that Twitter, Facebook, and other social blogging services are leading the way in providing a forum upon which people can critique anything from films and music, to science and politics. It is also clear that the application of this research has potential beyond the movie industry. It could also be used to predict how well a product is likely to be received in the marketplace, how popular a band may become, and researchers are already monitoring the micro-blogging site to see if any trends can be discovered regarding the forthcoming UK general election.

The power of social networking is now such that it can have a significant influence on our daily lives and can alter the profitibility of companies, the direction of the arts, and perhaps even the nature of politics. If Twitter does play a signficiant role in the general election, it will clearly demonstrate how influential such technologies now are and how companies and politicians will need to appeal to the vast number of online critics who have the power to express their views through social networking.

Facebook remain resistant to CEOP’s demands

Infinite Path — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 11:32:35 +0000

Facebook and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre (CEOP) had a meeting in Washington on Monday and, despite high hopes about the CEOP being able to persuade the social networking giant to install a “panic button” on their site, Facebook are still resisting the move.

The discussion lasted four hours and CEOP director Jim Gamble concluded afterward that Facebook was “one small step from doing the right thing” but had failed to agree outright to meet his organisation’s demands. Mr Gamble also stated that he was pleased to secure some concessions from Facebook. Speaking after the meeting, he stated: “What I am pleased about is there is a commitment from them to improve what they provide to UK policing. There is no doubt they are looking to improve their position around child safety and we recognise that. What I am looking for is turning words into action.”

In response, Facebook’s head of policy in Europe, Richard Allen, expressed his belief that the social networking site is one of the “safest places on the internet”. However, Mr Gamble has expressed his view that they are not experts in law enforcement, nor are they providing reassurance to parents with its current policies.

The request for the installation of a “panic button” came after the brutal rape and murder of Ashleigh Hall, a 17-year-old girl from County Durham who befriended a convicted sex offender on the social networking site. Peter Chapman, posing as a bare-chested young man named Peter Cartwright, had been free to meet Ashleigh on Facebook and many believe that had there been a more robust child protection policy in place, this set of affairs would never have happened.

This has resulted in chief constables up and down the country, as well as Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson, signing a letter in support of the installation of a “panic button”. This would link the user to information about how to deal with incidents of cyberbullying, hacking, viruses, distressing material, and inappropriate sexual behaviour.

This is a measure that other social networking sites such as Bebo have already implemented but Facebook has so far refused. They have agreed to update their existing system by installing links to CEOP on its reporting pages but Mr Gamble doesn’t understand why they won’t adopt the “panic button” policy, particularly as it is a free way to help vulnerable children.

This debate will rumble on as Facebook increases in popularity. It is already the biggest social networking site in the world and with more visitors comes more opportunities for predators to prey on children. Whatever is implemented, let’s hope that it is effective in ensuring that what happened to Ashleigh Hall will never be repeated.

Facebook gear up for CEOP meeting

Infinite Path — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 12:12:56 +0000

The murder of Ashleigh Hall, a 17-year-old student from County Durham, last October by a man she had met on social networking site Facebook has brought into focus the concerns regarding child safety online. Now, Facebook executives are set to meet the head of a British child protection agency to discuss how to keep young people safe online.

Ashleigh’s murder shocked the country as it highlighted the ease with which youngsters can be groomed. The conviction last month of 33-year-old Peter Chapman – who posed as Peter Cartwright, a young man, on Facebook – for raping, suffocating, and dumping Ashleigh’s body near her home in Sedgefield highlighted the dangers youngsters face if they give their trust too easily. Chapman was a previously convicted sex offender but was allowed to interact and arrange a meeting with Ashleigh on the social networking site. It was this meeting which led to Ashleigh’s brutal death.

There have since been calls for Facebook to install a “panic button” similar to that found on Bebo, which takes users to a site which details how to deal with cyber-bullying, hacking, viruses, distressing material, and inappropriate sexual behaviour. Facebook has so far declined to do this but Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) is hoping to persuade the social networking site to change its mind.

CEOP directer Jim Gamble has reiterated how urgent this is in the wake of Ashleigh’s death. Speaking in March, he stated the “panic button” was necessary “so that children are reassured and empowered, so are their parents, and offenders are deterred”. He also stated that “Facebook is a great environment, they are experts on advertising and engaging with young people in those areas where you can get click-through. But they’re not experts on child protection”.

Facebook has admitted that it will adapt and improve its existing systems rather than install a “panic button” but Mr Gamble has cited the 252 complaints against Facebook that have already been made this year. 40% of them – an equivalent of 101 - have been concerns about the potential grooming of children. Furthmermore, the organisation states that 75% of the reports it received in January were about Facebook. CEOP want a “panic button” on every page, whilst Facebook have said that they will put links to agencies such as CEOP on its reporting pages.

Back in March, a Facebook spokesman robustly defended its current policy, claiming it employed an “innovative system [that] has been developed by analysing millions of reports submitted over the years and [by] testing ways to continually improve our system.” However, the spokesman admitted that Facebook was “exploring ways to improve safety” and that it “will also explore adding the CEOP button to our safety centre”.

One issue that may be raised by Facebook focuses upon the accessibility of the UK sex offenders register. In the US and other European countries, the names on the register are more freely available but this is not the case in the UK. This has made the job of removing paedophiles and sex offenders from Facebook a difficult task and whilst the company accepts that they “work aggressively to find and remove these people from the site”, they admit that more could be done at Government level in aiding them with their task.

At the time of Ashleigh’s murder, Facebook said they had been “deeply saddened by the tragic death”. They also made a statement in March stating that Facebook was “no place for convicted sex offenders” after they removed the profile of a Somerset man who was jailed in 2005 for sexually abusing a girl aged under 13.

The social networking site has stressed that they are taking the matter seriously and that they welcome the meeting in Washington this week. Whether anything substantial can be agreed remains to be seen but as world leader in social networking, Facebook should also aim to become world leader in child protection online.

Death knell sounded for AOL’s Bebo

Infinite Path — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 11:32:08 +0000

Social networking has become increasingly popular over the last five years and this has generated an extremely competitive industry. In any burgeoning market there will be casualties, particularly during times of economic slowdown, so AOL’s admission that its Bebo site is set to close if it is not sold comes as little surprise.

It could be argued that Bebo was a failed venture for AOL. They bought the social networking site two years ago for the princely sum of $850 million (£560 million). Back in 2008, the markets were still buoyant and Bebo’s traffic had peaked, but many analysts still believed that the site had been overpriced. Now they believe that AOL will be lucky to get a fraction of the price that they paid for it, if any buyers come forward at all. It is understood that no one is interested at the moment.

AOL has admitted that it will review the situation in May but Jon Brod of AOL Ventures told employees in an email that “Bebo, unfortunately, is a business that has been declining and, as a result, would require significant investment in order to compete in the competitive social networking space.”

Bebo has been beset by numerous problems, one of which is of AOL’s own making. Generally, people don’t like large companies encroaching on their personal time and many have chosen the more independent Facebook in order to get their social kicks. Furthermore, many believe that AOL could never replicate the verve and vivacity that Bebo’s founders once had and that this was reflected in an inferior product.

Many Bebo users have admitted that they moved over to Facebook because the latter is more interactive. The fact that it has more features raises questions about Bebo’s development strategy and whether AOL had a plan for the site after they purchased it. Furthermore, making money from social networking sites is notoriously difficult. It is believed that Facebook only just breaks even and in a market that has seen online advertising revenues collapse, even the mass visitors to these sites haven’t encouraged companies to invest.

If more people are leaving Bebo for Facebook, it’s only going to make the advertising potential even worse. Bebo used banner advertising, which clearly failed, whereas Facebook’s targeted advertising has been a greater success. Even so, no one has developed a profitable marketing plan for social networking sites and this represents a significant problem for companies like AOL, whose aim is to make money.

Bebo’s target audience is the 18-24 age group and 18 months ago, its market was huge. But just like the comparitive demise of Myspace, it is clear that trends in social media and online marketing are fluid and change rapidly. Many users complained that Bebo was not as mature as Facebook and the danger with social networking is that all it takes is a few people to move over and whole communities soon follow.

Bebo is still relatively popular in the UK and Ireland; it is the failure to break into the American market that analysts believe has contributed to the demise of the site. On the face of it, 5 million users in the US sounds encouraging but when compared to Facebook’s 210 million, it pales into insignificance.