Spokeo

Lots of questions in my email this morning about Spokeo.  I'll try to answer some questions here.

Spokeo was created by some students at Stanford.  Consistently self-billed as a "search engine", Spokeo uses an algorithm to collect data that is already out there & create a searcheable profile.  Some of the information might not be totally accurate or up to date either, since Spokeo does not use humans to make decisions about profiles.  (Click here to read what they have to say about that). 

For instance, when searching my own profile, I learned that I have 2 children.  When did that happen?  I sure wasn't aware of it...  I was also able to find out how long I've lived in my home, what my home might be worth, who my husband was (like I could forget that), what our street name was, what my interests were, etc.  I was a bit surprised to find out that one of my interests was cooking.  Actually it was Randy who was surprised ...

Spokeo uses info from social sites, real estate records, magazine subscriptions, census data, & who knows what else.  The info has been out there all along.  If you are on MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, Picassa, LinkedIn, public message boards, newsletter subscriptions, etc., you could potentially have that info aggregated into a profile. 

Spokeo makes money by selling subscriptions to people/companies trying to collect consolidated information on a certain profile or profiles.  This could include: loan companies, bill collectors, private investigators, psycho ex-boyfriends, & the like. 

Then the psycho ex-boyfriend (or whoever) can use GoogleMaps to get a photo of your house & exact driving directions from the jail to your neighborhood.   Now the folks you paid a penny to in the 70's to get your record collection started from can find you & repossess all your Peter Frampton & Bay City Roller vinyl.

I find it interesting & disturbing that Spokeo protects those searching for you, but won't protect you from the searchers if you request it.  So you'll never know who is looking for you! 

Click here to read what they have to say about that.

The thing that is bothering folks emailing me today is that:

• no one was asked ahead of time if they could be included in this database of information
• the information is only partially accurate
• the information includes income, credit scores, personal photos (including children) & overall wealth in the same listing.
• personal data is now public & connected to a real name.  In other words a personal email address can be connected to a name which is connected to a phone number & address & spouse, etc.
• you can't control who sees your data

Supposedly you can have your name removed from this database but so far the 2 people I've talked to who have tried have had no success at all with it.

So now what?  Well, as I've said all along, there's no such thing as a free lunch.  When you sign up for something & it doesn't cost you money, there's a good chance that your privacy is going bye bye. 

I don't know how to erase data from sites like this.  I wish I did, but I don't.  I'm not sure it's possible at all.  I'll keep checking & will let you know what I find out.  Till then take a few deep breaths & go read some George Orwell.

Facebook: All Your Stuff is Ours, Even if You Quit

Facebook: All Your Stuff is Ours, Even if You Quit
It's old news. MySpace has been doing their version of it for a long time. Ever read the TOS on MySpace? If you ever want to hear a rant, ask me about my experience with it...

Update 2-17-09
Facebook Privacy Charge Sparks Federal Complaint

Update 2-18-09
Facebook Backtracks on Terms After User Protest

Facebook Fatigue

I've been hearing the word "Facebook" for some time now & it's intensifying every week. Words like "Superpoke" are gaining ground in common American lexicon & the average business lunch includes reference after reference to Facebook, often ending with "hey man, look me up on facebook when you get back to the office".

I've been hired to teach a class on Facebook & tie it to guerilla marketing & it doesn't even bother me to do so. I think it's inevitable that Facebook will peak & then level off. Maybe it already has.

For those of you wondering (I can't imagine), Facebook is a free-access social networking site that allows users to join & instantly become part of networks organized by city, workplace, school, region, or interest to connect withothers. You create a personal profile & voila! the friend finder tool instantly starts suggesting others you might know so that you can add them as a friend to your profile.

Messages, free apps, etc. are all stupid-simple & require little or no real training on the part of the user. Within a day many newbies hook up with friends & loved ones they haven't been able to find for years.

I know people who admit to spending at least an hour a day on Facebook & from what I can tell, most folks using the service actually log in multiple times each day to check up on their posse.

You can update the world as to what you are doing at any given moment. Ex--"I'm craving a parsley salad" No joke, I actually saw that in December. I might not have seen that fellow since 5th grade but I now know he craves parsley salads.

It's exactly that kind of information overload that is going to tire us out. Oh wait, maybe it's the thinly veiled semi professional commercials my friends are throwing at me now. Or could it be the 90+ requests in my Notifications to "join ________ group & make a difference"? Information overload!

When I get asked to teach a subject to a group of business people it means the subject has become mainstream & business is now trying to figure out how to exploit it to their advantage. Not that I blame them. After all, we're talking about an extremely targeted demographic that they, "the business people" can market to for no cost but their time. Oh, maybe their integrity too, but I'm pretty sure most of them aren't using that anyway.

So start saying buh-bye to your love affair with Facebook. You'll be tired of it soon enough & it will eventually sink into it's proper place on the Internet. I don't think it will go away anytime soon, but it will evolve & it's appeal may be a bit tarnished by the time this massive wave of
"average joes just trying to make a buck" is finished with it.

Piece of advice--don't even ask me about Twitter.

See you at the next big thing.