YES! Facebook IS Scarier Than Google!
When Mark Zuckerberg was hailed by the world as the leader of the (Web’s) free world in May because he announced a proprietary Facebook software development platform, I analyzed why FACEBOOK IS SCARIER THAN GOOGLE!
On May 28, 2007, I wrote: “Is Facebook really on track to be the next Google? YES, but that is NOT a good thing! Think Google wants to be YOUR “Big Brother”? Watch out, Facebook is there, already.”
Six months later, Saul Hansell, the New York Time’s technology blogger brand leader (as per Vivian Schiller, GM, NYTimes.com at Ad-Tech yesterday) now seems to be wondering the same thing, after he read a link-blog post (and spreads some reciprocal link love) of a University of Minnesota Law School professor, who just happens to be spreading some link love himself to the very same Hansell!
While the media and tech “leaders” were hailing Mark Zuckerberg as the next great Alexander the Great, I warned, way back in May:
While the blogosphere is cheering for Zuckerberg to take over the Web, sooner rather than later, the consequences of such a takeover are neglected. Why should ANY one company rule the Web? Why would it be a good thing for a for-profit corporation’s closed Web-based application to achieve worldwide Internet domination?
How did I know, way back then, that Zuckerberg was NOT what the media believed (wished for) him to be? I READ HIS NOT SO GREAT PRIVACY POLICY, posted to synch with the unveiling of F8 to the world.
(The Facebook command and control “communications” strategy–in the (not so) great Google tradition–bolstered my beware Facebook thesis)
Following an analysis of the Facebook official privacy policy, I concluded in May why Facebook IS scarier than Google:
Each Facebook user knowingly and willingly provides an interested corporation with the intimate details of their daily personal and professional lives to enable persistent data records for the unique data mining profit advantage of the corporation. Because Facebook as “Big Brother” is consensual, there is no redress.
Chris Kelly, Chief privacy officer of Facebook now agrees. How so?
When Saul Hansell takes to his New York Times blog, “Bits,” to opine, rather than on the staid old gray lady (real) news pages, he apparently is not subject to the rigorous editorial standards that served to create a perception of the New York Times as a “newspaper of record.”
In headling “Are Facebook Social Ads Illegal” at his NYT blog, with an easy question mark at the end for self-insurance, Hansell engages in the (not so great) blogosphere tradition of merely regurgitating another blogger. NO original NYT research, NO NYT fact checking and NO pesky ”balance” required!
Given its blogging lack of editorial leadership, the Hansell blog now finds itself in the same postion as many a blog in the blogosphere, posting an “update” in lieu of professional reporting: A rebuttal from the “accused” party that was not reached out to prior to posting, Facebook’s Kelly.
The difference between the New York Times’ Saul Hansell and Joe or Josephine Schmoe blogger, however, is obviously that Hansell has ready access to Chris Kelly and undoubtedly anyone else in the world, if he cared to take advantage.
Despite the GM of NYTimes marketing Saul Hansell as a NYT personal brand leader, his blogging dilutes the NYT brand equity, same as by “opening up,” the NYT dllutes the quality of its audience that it sells to advertisers, as I report and analyze in my exclusive: NYTimes.com on TimesSelect End: ‘Too Early To Declare Victory,’ Ad-Tech Report
The Hansell blog also got it wrong about Facebook and OpenSocial last week. Read my rebuttal: Google’s Facebook KILLER Strategy, Microsoft Too
Also, contrary to Hansell’s assessment that New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo “took on Facebook,” Cuomo actually caved in to Facebook, as I analyze in: Facebook STILL a Danger to Children: Zuckerberg, Attorney General Cuomo in PR Push
MORE EXCLUSIVE INSIDER CHATTER ON FACEBOOK:
Facebook, the Web’s State Fair vs. LinkedIn, the Chamber of Commerce AND
Is a Facebook vs. LinkedIn Showdown Near? AND
Facebook Cold Shower: Zuckerberg NOT Killing Anything, 2% Internet Share
With Facebook Platform as a Developer Friend, Who Needs Enemies?
Startups: Why Facebook Platform is a Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
Why Does Facebook Make Young Men Swoon?
David Kirkpatrick to Mark Zuckerberg: How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways
Mark Zuckerberg: Use Facebook at Your Own Risk!
PLUS: Sexist LinkedIn: Hillary Clinton and Gender Politics and Google Sends Microsoft $10 million Press Release: Bye, Bye Windows Mobile!