I heart Facebook. This morning I awoke to Yet Another Facebook Innovation (YAFI). Facebook amazes me because they are driven to make things easier for me — or at least give it a go. Facebook is willing to suffer constant backlash in order to improve usability and efficiency. Case-in-point below:

New Friends Facebook Check Boxes

In this particular case, the innovation is what I call a “Twitterish” innovation — stealing something directly from Twitter. A couple weeks ago, I stayed up until 12:01AM to secure another hype-drenched Twitterish innovation: vanity URLS: facebook.com/chrisabraham — I am such a sucker!

However, Facebook is an equal-opportunity thief and also quite creative as well. Next innovation inspired by Utterli, FriendFeed, or LinkedIn?  Who knows!

I hate to admit it but I am used to lazy web applications.  I am used to apps like Flickr, Delicious, Craigslist, Ebay, MySpace, Twitter, and YouTube — sites that are pretty much the same as they were when they were born. Facebook, on the other hand, innovates almost constantly. In fact, Facebook tends to innovate so aggressively that there are millions of members who constantly picket Facebook to revert itself to the way it was when it was a college-only service. The reason why most apps don’t innovate is because of this vocal minority — the change-averse.

Another thing I love about Facebook is that they’re not wed to their innovations.  When Facebook Beacon pissed off the world, they scaled it back. The developers at Facebook are smart — land grab with ten new innovations, throw them agains the Wall, and then see what people adopt and then, over time, remove the fails.

Facebook is willing to spitball, Facebook is willing to steal ideas shamelessly from other platforms, and Facebook is willing to fail fast and move on.  That’s what you’re supposed to do!  That’s why I love Facebook.

MySpace is running out of surveys that still place it as the #1 social network in the US. After yielding the position to Facebook earlier this month in stats released by Compete, today, the social network slips to second place in the latest numbers from Nielsen Online.

According to data from January, Facebook saw 62.4 million unique visitors, besting MySpace and its 60.6 million uniques for the first time in the survey. At the end of 2008, MySpace still held a narrow lead, with 58.4 million unique visitors in December compared to Facebook’s 55.2 million.

As for those engagement numbers that MySpace likes to cling to? It can no longer claim a lead there either – engagement fell to one hour, 35 minutes per user in January, down 32 percent from last year and barely more than half of Facebook’s two hours, 50 minutes per user.

We’ve been documenting the ascent of Facebook versus MySpace on a monthly (if not more frequent) basis, but for some longer-term perspective, check out this post from mid-2007 to see just how big a shift this represents. Back then, MySpace claimed 3x more traffic, 3x more engagement, and claimed to not only be America’s most popular social network, but its most popular website.

As I said yesterday, All Your Data is Belong to Us, Says Facebook, Facebook was bound to renig on its Terms of Service; however, I was wrong, believing that Facebook would take three hills and then return two — it looks like Facebook decided, rightfully, that when the New York Times and CNN jump all over you on MSM, you had better return all three of the hills:

Over the past few days, we have received a lot of feedback about the new terms we posted two weeks ago. Because of this response, we have decided to return to our previous Terms of Use while we resolve the issues that people have raised. For more information, visit the Facebook Blog.

If you want to share your thoughts on what should be in the new terms, check out our group Facebook Bill of Rights and Responsibilities.

I received a call from CNN news this morning asking for my sage insight into the issue that Facebook has changed its Terms of Service (ToS) to expand its ownership of data to include your first born.  Well, I didn’t have any time this morning to know much about it so I was no good to Amanda over at Turner.  Well, I am finally back to my desk and I did all of my reading.  If you want to learn more, read Mashable,  Consumerist and the New York Times for more information.  Here’s the evil excerpt of the new Facebook ToS for your appalled amusement — hurts so good!:

You hereby grant Facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute (through multiple tiers), any User Content you (i) Post on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof subject only to your privacy settings or (ii) enable a user to Post, including by offering a Share Link on your website and (b) to use your name, likeness and image for any purpose, including commercial or advertising, each of (a) and (b) on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof.

I know how Facebook works.  What Facebook does, historically, is make an assault on three privacy hills fully expecting to have to return one or two.  This was illustrated by the initially over-aggressive privacy invasion posed by Facebook Beacon, Here’s Why Facebook Beacon is Uncool for User Privacy, which ended up being mellowed in response to outrage (see, they took three hills and really only gave back one — this is their strategy).

This is what Facebook is doing again.  They’re demanding Copyright of all of your consumer-generated content and media through their new ToS; however, I bet you they’re going to do a little Mea Maxima Culpa “the lawyers made us do it” bullshit before loosening it all up.

Mark my words, this is how it is going to work from now on.  And, based on how addicted all of the student I met today at UMD are, I daresay that Facebook might very well be able to keep possession of all three hills this time.  We’re all addicted.  We’ll do anything for our Facebook!

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Hello. This is the Life Changing Box. A box that holds the potential to change things for the better. A game that has the potential to give out some really cool stuff. What does the box hold for you? Click to find out. Play the Life Changing Box! Prizes include 52″ flat screen televisions, exclusive tickets to sporting events, international trips, home theater systems — 20 prizes in all — with values ranging from $400 to $14,000. There are two of everything so everyone who wins a prize wins its twin for the person who invited him or her.

What is this “Life Changing Box” you speak of?

Life Changing Box is a game where you win big fancy prizes.

How do I win a big fancy prize?

First, install the Life Changing Box game. Then touch one (or all) of the Life Changing Boxes to get in the game.

Then what?

Then you wait. YES, you wait and you watch. This game is based on timed rounds where a Box either opens and gives it’s holder a prize or it randomly jumps to someone else. If you are one of the people who touched the Box, then this person could be you.

Then do I win a prize?!

You might! But you’ve got to be on the ball, or more correctly you’ve got to be on the Box. If at the end a round the box hasn’t opened for you, it’s outta there and on to someone else.

I want a prize!! Do I keep touching?

You are clever! That is exactly what you do! After each round the game resets and you have to touch again so the box knows to jump to you.

Can I cheat?

A little bit. If you invite a friend to play and they win, you win the exact same prize!

What!?!?

You heard right. You don’t even have to win to get a prize. If the friend you invited wins YOU ALSO WIN THE EXACT SAME PRIZE!! Invite as many friends as you like, every time they win you win.

This game is awesome!

Yes it is.

Sooner or later these Boxes are going to open and if I keep touching I’m going to get the Box and the prize!

That’s the spirit! Now let’s play

One great thing about owning a Social Media PR firm is that I get to do cool stuff. Another great thing is that I can bogart some of the stuff. Well, I am number-one box of the Life Changing Box, which you can see over on my Facebook Profile! (Please feel free to add me) I will be holding onto the box for a full eight hours today, so feel free to “touch my box.” You know you want to — and you don’t have to go “through” me — feel free to just join up yourself directly! I have a feeling that you can add the app to your Facebook Pages as well — check it out! Long story short:

The game launched at 10AM today, June 12th. Prizes include 52″ flat screen televisions, exclusive tickets to sporting events, international trips, home theater systems — 20 prizes in all — with values ranging from $400 to $14,000. There are two of everything so everyone who wins a prize wins its twin for the person who invited him or her. Lowe’s client doesn’t want to be revealed just yet, so please plug some words into the query box on the teaser site, LifeChangingBox.com.

Please enjoy this handy widget you can come back to again and again to watch the current course of the 10 boxes as they move around, awaiting to be touched by you!

Life Changing Box Facebook Game Launches!

• The promise of the extraordinary
• The surprise of something new
• The power to bring change
• It all starts here!
  • The Box: www.lifechangingbox.com
  • The Game: apps.facebook.com/lifechangingbox

The Life Changing Box game is a Facebook application believed to be the first of its kind…A contest with BIG PRIZES – many worth thousands of dollars!

Quick Links: News Facts | About Life Changing Box Facebook App | Screen Captures | About LifeChangingBox.com | About Lowe Worldwide | About Abraham Harrison | Contacts | Social Media | Tags

News Facts

• Life Changing Box the game is an application for Facebook which resembles Hot Potato in reverse. In our case, the “potato” is a box and inside each box is a prize. The goal of the game is to be in possession of the box when it opens, thus winning the prize. Part of the fun of Facebook is the option to invite your friends to install an application you enjoy. We encourage you to do so with a creative twist. If someone you invited into the game wins a prize, you win the exact same prize!
• There are 10 boxes total in the game. The currency the game uses to allow players to take possession of the box is called a “Touch”. Players get 24 “Touches” per day. Each “Touch” enters the player into a Round. At the beginning of each Round, the box will randomly jump to one of the players that entered that Round. A Round lasts between 30 minutes and 8 hours, randomly decided by the application. If the box didn’t open that Round, a new Round will begin and everyone must “Touch” the box again to participate.
• Since there are 10 boxes, 24 Touches, and up to 48 rounds per day, players will have to strategize their Touches in order to maximize their chance to win. This creates engaging and addictive play
• Click here to go to the Life Changing Box Facebook application page

About Life Changing Box Facebook App

LCB is a lottery-style game based around 10 boxes that open to give prizes to whomever is in possession of them.

Enter to Win

To get possession of a box you go to its application page and “touch” the box. Whoever touches the box first is in possession of it. Email and other contact info must be entered in case you win. The pic and name of the holder appears next to the box on the app page.

Gameplay

The game play is based around timed rounds where a box either opens to reveal a prize or jumps to another player’s page.

If you have touched the box you are in for that timed round only.

If someone else is in possession of the box for that round, your touch means that you are eligible to get the box only if it doesn’t reveal a prize on that round.

Then you are in a pool of people that the box will randomly jump to.

Strategy

All 10 boxes appear at the same time but they open sequentially over a four-week period. Nobody knows when they open, or how many rounds of “touching” there will be until they do so you get a limited number of “touches” per box to use at your discretion. You choose if you want to sit out a round and save your touches. If someone else wins and you have touches, you can roll them over into another game. If you invite a friend to the application and they win, you win a duplicate prize.

• There are 10 boxes total in the game
• To gain possession of a box, users use a currency called a Touch
• All players get 24 “Touches” per day
• Each Touch enters the player into a Round
• At the beginning of each Round, the box will randomly jump to one of the players who entered that Round
• The player given the box holds it for the entirety of the Round, which lasts between 30 minutes and 8 hours, randomly decided by the application
• If the box doesn’t open in a Round for the player, a new Round will begin and everyone must Touch the box again to participate
• 20 prizes will be awarded with values ranging from $400 to $14,000
• If you invite a friend to the application and they win, you win a duplicate prize
• Click here for the rules and regulations

Screen Captures

(click on thumbnail to view full-sized image)

About LifeChangingBox.com

• The Life Changing Box is part of a marketing strategy developed to promote a new campaign from Lowe New York. The client sponsoring the application will be revealed as the game progresses
• LifeChangingBox.com is a mysterious website designed to intrigue users and let them guess what is inside this “Life Changing Box.” This first of its kind contest will run for one month starting on June 12th, 2008
• Shhhhh! Try these words in the search bar (but don’t tell anyone!):
  japan, takumi, komayama, baseball, mlb, sports, world series, home run, diamond, catch, hit, bat, swing, glove, catcher, short-stop, hitter, batter, grand slam, bases, loaded bases, stadium, major league, pro, professional, pastime, Pennant, uniform, outfield, out, fly ball, foul, umpire, fans, seats, tickets, dugout, couch, run, score, safe, call, official, play, slide, signal, contract, stealing, cleats, walk, pop-up, heckler, fanatic, stats, cards, card, mitt, bullpen, inning, infield, color, crystal, HDTV, light, molecules, contrast, hertz, refresh rate, pixels, resolution, high def, high definition, home theater, remote control, display, flatscreen, big screen, picture, image, clarity, brilliance, transmit, transmission, spectrum, 108 inch, portal, window, viewing, friendly, sun, solar panel, energy, efficiency, carbon footprint, ecosystem, ecology, save the environment, nature, natural, earth, planet, light, air, water, animals, birds, clean, renewable, grid, power, future, tomorrow, responsible, generate, generation, sustainable, mother earth, habitat, species, food chain, change, harmony, low emissions, summer, spring, kitten, life, movies, film, action, comedy, romance, chick flick, hollywood, horror, terror, stars, celebrity, sitcom, documentary, channel, surfing, classics, script, dialogue, cinema, art, expression, acting, show, shows, commercials, soundtrack, theater, news, cartoons, prime time, ratings, re-runs, director, genre, audience, flick, blockbuster, live, on air, season, video game, theater, game, calculator, pencil, mechanical pencil, japanese, scientist, factory, technician, engineer, invention, inventor, innovator, innovation, leader, first, company, brand, pioneer, legacy, technology, electronic, electronics, advancement, vision

About Lowe Worldwide

Lowe Worldwide is an interconnected global community of marketing agencies. Its client roster includes Unilever, Saab, Johnson & Johnson, Nestle and Stella Artois. The agency is founded on the belief that the greatest service it can render its clients is High Value Ideas coupled with Problem Biased Thinking. Lowe is a member of Interpublic Group (NYSE:IPG), one of the world’s leading organizations of advertising agencies and marketing services companies.

Lowe New York is one of the cornerstones of Lowe Worldwide with a client roster including Milk, Perdue, XM, Sharp and more. www.loweny.com

About Abraham Harrison LLC

Abraham Harrison understands that the Internet is not just a different advertising medium, it is a different culture with unique customs and protocol. Knowing this culture allows us to translate your unique company message to relevant online communities. This approach drives business your way—our primary and sincere goal. www.chrisabraham.com

Contacts For Press Inquiries

Sal Taibi
President, Lowe New York
sal.taibi@loweworldwide.com
(212) 605 8750

Social Media

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Tags

TV, electronics, travel, environment, Japan, baseball, solar, LCD, flat screens, consumer electronics, game, Facebook app, Facebook, Life Changing Box, lifechangingbox.com, Facebook Application, game, hot potato, musical chairs

Here’s the official Press Release from Lowe Worldwide:

Lowe Launches First-of-its-Kind Facebook(R) Application
12/06/2008 – 13:00

Today Lowe Worldwide announces the launch of an industry-leading application on Facebook Platform called The Life Changing Box. The application, developed by Lowe New York for one of the agency’s global clients, is an interactive game giving users a chance to win prizes, some of which are worth thousands of dollars.

The Life Changing Box is part of a marketing strategy developed to promote a new campaign from Lowe New York. The client sponsoring the application will be revealed as the game progresses.

The application on Facebook Platform resembles the classic game Hot Potato, only in reverse. Facebook users who install the game can take possession of a box from another player, which is then passed around to other friends who have installed the The Life Changing Box application. The goal is to be in possession of the box when it opens, thus winning the prize it holds inside.

There are 10 boxes total in the game. To gain possession of a box, users use a currency called a Touch. All players get 24 “Touches” per day. Each Touch enters the player into a Round. At the beginning of each Round, the box will randomly jump to one of the players who entered that Round. The player given the box holds it for the entirety of the Round, which lasts between 30 minutes and 8 hours, randomly decided by the application. If the box doesn’t open in a Round for the player, a new Round will begin and everyone must Touch the box again to participate. 20 prizes will be awarded with values ranging from $400 to $14,000.

“We are excited about this groundbreaking contest we are bringing to Facebook Platform. It is a unique offering that will give users the chance to win actual, tangible, valuable prizes rather than just the virtual trinkets usually found on Facebook,” commented Mark Wnek, Chairman of Lowe New York. “What is really great about this program is that if someone invites a friend to play the game, and their friend wins a prize – they win a duplicate prize. This will add significantly to the viral nature of this program while increasing the level of both awareness and engagement with lifechangingbox.com.”

Since there are 10 boxes, 24 Touches, and up to 48 rounds per day, players will have to strategize their Touches in order to maximize their chance to win. This creates engaging and addictive play. The game will last through July 14, 2008, to coincide with the full launch of lifechangingbox.com.

About Lowe

Lowe Worldwide is an interconnected global community of marketing agencies. Its client roster includes Unilever, Saab, Johnson & Johnson, Nestle and Stella Artois. The agency is founded on the belief that the greatest service it can render its clients is High Value Ideas coupled with Problem Biased Thinking. Lowe is a member of Interpublic Group (NYSE:IPG), one of the world’s leading organizations of advertising agencies and marketing services companies. Lowe New York is one of the cornerstones of Lowe Worldwide with a client roster including Milk, Perdue, XM, Sharp and more. www.loweny.com

Lowe New York
Sal Taibi, 212-605-8750
President

I received this post to my Wall, “I fellow Kama’aina from Radford HS (not from Punahou or Iolani) wrote a really wonderful post about MyDataisMyData. Mahalo, Amy Jussel!” I don’t know if you knew it, but I grew up in Hawai`i-Nei and attended Saint Louis School and became Student Body President and wrestled and was a “Ranger” in JROTC and even visited Washington for the Government-study course, CLOSE-UP! Well, Saint Louis ’88, is the answer. Other than making me super-nostalgic, Amy Jussel wrote a really fantastic piece on MyDataIsMyData on her blog, Shaping Youth, “My Data is My Data:” Putting Choice Back into Social Media:

My Data is My Data.org is a plug-in for those of us who are not so wild about social media hubs tracking our every move for data-mining purposes like the infamous Facebook Beacon controversy I wrote about in those two posts.

Believe me, the irony doesn’t escape me that the development of this useful plug-in to bring ‘choice’ back to the internet from vested interests and corporate coffers is being sponsored by a MySpace meets CraigsList style-ad community called FlugPo. (as a name generation gal, I have to ask myself, where DO they get these names?!)

I love it when technologists and advertisers trump their own kind, offering solutions-based freebies that kids and parents can ALL benefit from in open-source good-guy style…

I’ve officially joined the My Data is My Data Facebook group to see where this is headed in the privacy/preferences arena. We’ll see. Created by Chris Abraham of Abraham Harrison (who also started ‘Facecrook’ to warn folks about the Beacon balderdash) the FB group is promoting customization of preferences to suit YOUR agenda, not the advertisers’.

Hmn. Sounds good to me…

You’d think Facebook would ‘get it’ that we want to control our own data…

…Especially after they got a strong bracer from 50,000 of us in 8 days using their own mobilization tools to tell them we were ticked about being blindsided, sending our friends our purchases and preferences without our permission.

Yet…after a few (forced) ‘mea culpas’ in the press, and shifting to an ‘opt-in’ format, Facebook still snoops, spies, tracks, and harvests our info on the back end (albeit much more stealthily) saving the info for gawdonlyknows what’s next…

Yep. I’m hoping this new My Data is My Data plug-in has some chops.

Granted, the last freakin’ thing I need is another free ‘toolbar,’ but it sounds like a logical, user-driven way to put the control of your private information back into your own hands with all kinds of alerts, notifications, and ‘cookie’ choices, (alas not the chocolate chip kind) to customize your digital footprint beyond the ‘all or nothing’ approach.

A little pop-up box warns, “you are trying to navigate a FB collaborating website, would you like to continue?” and the user can change preferences or turn off or on cookies accordingly. Seems fair.

My first instinct is to globalize it into a ‘yeah, what about Google and all the REALLY big search engine info-collectors…how can this be applied universally?’ dialog…

What about Double-Click? Double-Fusion? And every other integrated mega-mogul marketing play that’s out for kids’ eyeballs?

Even those of us who LOVE social media mobilization, HATE being sold out and commodified, especially without asking. And that’s not even counting the issue of kids! The arrogant gall of techno tools shipping data to ad partners on an “opt-out” or saturated eyeball/urban wallpaper basis is bound to have backlash…(if not from the parents, then from youth themselves!)

Guess THAT might fall into the policy arena on a much larger FCC and FTC privacy scale…

Or not. Those watchdogs haven’t been barking much…

Though today, the Center for a Digital Democracy (CDD) and members of the Children’s Media Policy Coalition, (specifically American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Academy of Pediatrics, Children Now, etc.) called the feds on their lax-n-loose policies…asking the the FTC ‘powers that be’ to get with the program and update themselves regarding online behavioral advertising and the sorry state of self-regulation in the youth arena. Yay.

Self-regulation is great in theory, but let’s face it, COPPA, schmoppa…

Sure, advertisers are supposed to comply with COPPA but we all know the corporate claws have been out early on, insidiously working fast and furious to blitz tweens and teens with profiling and branding sans privacy protection, before parents, media and the snail-pace of governmental bigwigs even get a whiff of what’s goin’ on. (um, Neopets, anyone?)

Many parents are still at the ‘What is social media?’ stage, much less having any hint of awareness of data-mining kids’ behavioral patterns and online fingerprints.

Talk about a tipped scale of the fairness factor…

Even the kids themselves don’t know the degree of personal data-mining going on…

Judging by our own Shaping Youth tween and teen advisors, they get ticked off when they see their eyeballs are being harvested and sold as fast as those macabre ‘urban myth, donor kidney heists’ where someone falls asleep and wakes up with their organs gone! (ooh, a tub full of ice and kids’ eyeballs, ewww…got a horrific visual there)

On the flip side, when people DO want info tailored to them, it can be perceived as a benefit and ‘value-add’ (e.g. a coupon for a store they frequent, or sale on the same block served to them via their GPS mobile).

It’s all a matter of privacy-security, how ads are handled (opt in/opt out, invasive vs. requested, etc.) who it benefits, and how to engage consumers in the dialog to advocate for themselves, and put the power back in THEIR hands.

My data is my data outlines the FAQ very succinctly and clearly on the whole info-sharing issue, at least as it applies to Facebook.

But again…what about a more global policy here?

I’d like to know who’s capturing MY info in all arenas…ever since I read Nowhere to Hide and Generation Digital I’ve had my awareness at “level orange.”

This news report on CNET yesterday gives a glimpse of prelim industry response in this glib comment, “if you have an agenda to push, remember this phrase, ‘protect the children.”

Hmn. C’mon, now, folks. Be fair.

I’m not a child, but I deserve the right to control MY own information.

And yes, kids ARE in a ‘most vulnerable’ category, no matter how much advertisers want to ‘pooh-pooh’ it…

Besides, the Beacon outcry on FB was an amalgamation of collegiate, adult, teens of all ages, speaking to the “surveillance aspects” applicable to us ALL. Those privacy practices need disclosure for everyone…NOT just ‘for the children.’

That said, here’s today’s (14 pp pdf) from child advocates submitted to the FTC from the Institute of Public Representation at Georgetown University. And, here’s the official FTC filing (37pp) addressed to FTC Office of the Secretary, Donald Clark…

Finally, below is late-breaking news from Congressman Edward Markey’s office with an early-stage reaction to same. Perusing his site, it looks like last week he opened a hearing on virtual worlds too, so this lawmaker could be one to watch as these digital events begin to unfold.

Meanwhile, kids, teens, youth advocates, parents…What do YOU have to say on the data-mining/privacy front?

Is mandatory transparency the way to go? Plug-ins and pop-ups when you’re visiting a site that monitors you? Age-appropriate regulation? Walled-off regions within platforms that are commercial-free and/or non-traceable?

Can the ‘my data is my data’ concept be applied to a larger scale beyond social media applicable to mobile, VoIP, virtual worlds and virtual goods via cookie-setting that puts choice into the user’s hands?

What are your solutions and ideas?

Sound off…As I wrote here, the digital frontier is ‘unwritten’…

No matter what your views are, now’s the time to tap into your own gut instincts and best practices and begin to have your say, before others do it for you!

Visual Credits: eyeballs: WPClipart

Congressman Edward Markey’s comments on the FTC filing today:

MARKEY: NEW ONLINE PRIVACY SAFEGUARDS NEEDED TO PROTECT CHILDREN, TEENS

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA), a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and co-Chairman of the Bi-Partisan Congressional Privacy Caucus, released the following statement this afternoon in response to the Federal Trade Commission’s proposed principles for industry self-regulation of online behavioral advertising:

“The FTC has appropriately recognized the pressing need for updated online privacy protections for children that reflect the sophisticated data collection and behavioral targeting practices now used widely across the Internet. Without stronger protections, including a prohibition on collecting data on children’s and teens’ online activities, young Internet users may become unwitting targets of the ‘hidden persuaders’ of the digital age. The evolution of online behavioral advertising since the enactment of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act requires a commensurate rejuvenation of privacy safeguards. I look forward to monitoring the FTC’s work in this important area.”

Related Shaping Youth Posts on Internet Privacy/Kids’ Concerns:

Facebook: Can You Hear Me Now? Your Peepin’ is Creepin’ Me Out!

Dare to Share? What’s Your Beacon Story?

Related Posts Elsewhere:

Digital Natives/Harvard Law: Deleting Facebook (vs. Deactivating It )

Charlene Li’s Close Encounter with Facebook Beacon (Groundswell/Forrester Rsch)

Rough Seas Nearly Sink Facebook’s Beacon (CNET)

Lessons from the Beacon Backlash: iMediaConnection

Facebook Beacon Backlash Leads To Apology & Opt-Out Option: Laughing Squid blog

I have been working with Abraham Harrison, my firm, Flugpo, our client, and MyDataIsMyData.org to create a plugin, currently for IE, that would protect and alert browsers from any Facebook Beacon sneakiness. Check it out! The plugin is forthcoming but it’s not out just yet outside of the internal beta wall. We have some pretty amazing press so far, Mashable: Facebook Beacon Haters Get Their Own Plugin, and, TechCrunch: MyDataIsMyData: An Anti-Facebook Beacon Plug-In That Nobody Needs.

Mashable: Facebook Beacon Haters Get Their Own Plugin

Facebook Beacon has caught a lot of flack since its release, to the dismay of many advertisers out there. While the backlash hasn’t been as noticeable as some of Facebook’s other releases, there are still a good number of folks out there that would rather not see their faces on other people’s feeds as part of an advertisement.

My Data is My Data has beta-launched a browser plugin that will alert you when Facebook Beacon’s system tries to make a connection with a partner site, so you can determine when and where you’d like to share your third-party purchasing activity with your Facebook friends. While there are already a number of privacy options inserted into Facebook, and even more services out there that will rid you of cookie problems all together, Facebook Beacon’s mainstream press presence in itself may help My Data is My Data gain a good amount of users based on principle alone.

The plugin is still a bit buggy, but the team is working on it. Given Facebook’s restrictions to curb newsfeed abuse, and the limited growth of Beacon, there will surely be more tweaking on Facebook’s end in order to ensure that end users are more or less happy, whether this is through voluntary manipulation or oblivious bliss, with the Beacon’s implementation.

TechCrunch: MyDataIsMyData: An Anti-Facebook Beacon Plug-In That Nobody Needs

The Facebook Beacon controversy may not be making headlines any more, but the privacy concerns it raised still linger. According to this post about MyDataIsMyData, an upcoming privacy-monitoring service sponsored by classifieds site Flugpo, Beacon may still monitor traffic and personal data, even if a user has opted-out of the system. In response, MyDataIsMyData is creating a plugin for Internet Explorer that enables users to eliminate any traces of Beacon from their system.

Facebook Beacon tracks usage information by monitoring cookies on a client’s computer. As users browse various participating websites, such as Blockbuster and eBay, their activities are relayed back to Facebook, where it can be shared with friends. Many users find such notifications to be intrusive, and much of the original controversy stemmed from the automatic inclusion of all users in the system.

The MyDataIsMyData plug-in notifies users via their browser toolbar when Facebook or one of Beacon’s participating affiliates creates or accesses these cookies. The plug-in can automatically delete these cookies at regular intervals, and also allows for users to individually select which (if any) sites will still function with Beacon. Finally, the toolbar will feature a constantly-updated list of sites that participate in Beacon, allowing users to boycott them, should they choose to do so. MyDataIsMyData will soon be available for Internet Exporer, and plans to expand to offer functionality for both Firefox and Macintosh-based browsers.

It should be noted that while the plugin offers some value in terms of a sense of security, it is fairly easy to monitor cookies with a number of extensions using the Firefox browser. Furthermore, by installing the free toolbar, the users will be placing their trust in MyDataIsMyData—the same type of users who presumably would be put off by installing any sort of monitoring software on their computers.

My Data is My Data Social Media News Release

Flugpo Sponsors Development of My Data is My Data

Counters Growing Concern about the Privacy Rights of Social Network Users

News Facts

• In response to the growing concerns that users of social network sites have had over privacy, the growing social network site, MyDataIsMyData.org.

• This free plug-in (found at MyDataIsMyData.org)is a toolbar that will allow users several different options to monitor and delete cookies, offline content, and track visits to Facebook Beacon collaborator companies. Once downloaded, the toolbar allows users to decide how often he or she would like certain cookies deleted. The user can choose to delete Facebook cookies and Facebook Beacon collaborator companies’ cookies. It also includes the option to delete all cookies at once or none at all.

• Selling private information for profit unbeknownst to the users is an abuse of trust and MyDataIsMyData.org hopes to empower users by allowing them to control the amount of personal information that they make visible.

• MyDataIsMyData.org was created as a direct response to the Facebook Beacon uproar, which broached many privacy concerns for users of social network sites.

About the Facebook Beacon

The Facebook Beacon refers to the agreement that Facebook has with popular online retailers. This agreement allows Facebook to utilize their users’ private information in ways that violate their privacy. When a Facebook user purchases something with one of the participating online retailers a message is sent to the user’s “friends” on Facebook, notifying them of the his or her purchase or transaction with that online retailer.

Facebook Beacon was meant to be optional; a buyer/Facebook user could choose to opt out of letting their friends know about their latest purchase. However, several instances have emerged in which personal information from the Facebook Beacon network was sent to the user’s friends without his or her approval. This is just one example of many ways in which social network sites have been working to monetize their user’s experience.

About Flugpo

Flugpo was developed as a place where people can go to make friends, share photos, network professionally, share ideas, buy and sell items, and list and locate jobs. As an online resource for everyday people, Flugpo is a great community for people to make new friends, share common interests and reach out to like-minded individuals and discuss current topics, review top movies and share stories Flugpo also creates a space where businesses can promote their services.

Flugpo is often referred to as “Myspace meets Craigslist” by their members. Created in the 2007, Flugpo takes an interesting approach to classified listings by eliminating the anonymity features found with Craigslist and allowing the members to connect with one another. “The classifieds, as the world knows them now has no community, said David Metz, founder of Flugpo. Each classified posting is linked to the profile of the member posting the ad. Given the current landscape of Internet safety, Flugpo is quick to address safety concerns by connecting all classified listings with a “face and name.”

Contacts

For Press and PR Inquiries

Contact Dani Sevilla, Media and PR Strategist at dani@mydataismydata.us

For More Information About Flugpo

Visit http://www.flugpo.com or email David Metz, CEO at davidmetz@flugpo.com

Multimedia Elements

Download the Flugpo Logo

Download the My Data is My Data Logo (400 pixels)

Download a Screenshot of the Plug-In

Additional Resources

The My Data is My Data Group on Facebook

Information about My Data is My Data on the Flugpo Forums

The My Data is My Data Group on Flugpo

Social Media

Add to del.icio.us | Digg it | Google Bookmark | reddit | StumbleUpon | Twit This

Tags

Beacon | Facebook | Facebook Beacon | MDiMD | My Data is My Data | MyDataIsMyData.org | privacy | privacy advocates | privacy protection

I have been working with the gang over at Flugpo to put together a plug-in for Internet Explorer (IE) for Windows that will allow folks to be able to track what is going on with Facebook Beacon, your cookies, your JavaScript, and Facebook’s advertising partners. Thing is, it isn’t out of private alpha yet so if you’re interested, please join either the Flugpo MyDataisMyData group or the Facebook My Data is My Data group and we’ll let you know when it’s up! Via Memes.org and the Social Media News Room.

What is My Data is My Data?

• MyDataisMyData.org empowers users of social network sites by giving the user control over the personal information an SNS can surreptitiously collect and sell.
• Flugpo.com, an SNS that never has and never will collect or sell private information about its users, sponsored the development of a plug-in that will be available through MyDataIsMyData.org

Why Was My Data is My Data Created?

• MyDataIsMyData.org was created as a direct response to Facebook Beacon.
• Beacon is Facebook’s way of making a profit from your private information by selling it to online retailers (such as Amazon.com or Blockbuster)
• When Beacon was first introduced, whenever a Facebook user purchased something with one of the participating online retailers, a message would be sent to the users “friends” on Facebook notifying them of the his or her endorsement of the retailer

Facebook and its Advertisers are Spying on You Right Now

• Although Facebook has stopped publicizing their users personal information on purchases to their Facebook friends, it has not stopped spying on its users and selling their personal information for profit
• MyDataIsMyData.org wants to help the user be aware of which retailers are using this method of data collection so he or she can choose to avoid those retailers

Take Back Your Privacy with the My Data is My Data Plug-In

• The free plug-in is a toolbar that will allow users several different options to monitor and delete Cookies, offline content and track visits to Facebook Beacon collaborator companies.
• Once equipped with the plug-in, the user decides how often he or she would like certain Cookies deleted. The user can choose to delete Facebook cookies, Facebook Beacon collaborator companies’ cookies, both, all cookies, or none. The user may also choose to delete all or no offline content at various time intervals. The user can set up the toolbar to notify him or her of visits to Facebook Beacon collaborator website. It will also feature a drop-down list of these collaborators updated on a daily basis through the MyDataIsMyData.org website.

Protect your Own Privacy…and Help Other Victims Do the Same

• The features MyDataIsMyData.org is offering are meant to protect users privacy and allow them to be more conscious of the way their private information is being used. The plug-in is a work in progress and we need your feedback, bug reports and suggestions to make it better.
• Support for users of the toolbar will be provided though a forum on Flugpo.com.

About Flugpo

• Flugpo was developed to be a place where people can go to make friends, share photos, network professionally, share ideas, buy and sell items & list and locate jobs. As an online resource for eveyday people, Flugpo creates opportunities for businesses to promote their services. Aside from the professional aspect, Flugpo is a great community for people to make new friends, share common interests and reach out to like-minded individuals and discuss current topics, review top movies and share stories.
• Flugpo is often referred to as “Myspace meets Craigslist” by their staff and members. Created in the 2007, Flugpo takes an interesting approach to classified listings by eliminating the anonymity features found with Craigslist and allowing the members to connect with one another. “The classifeds, as the world knows them now has no community, said David Metz, founder of Flugpo. Each classified posting is linked to the profile of the member posting the ad. Given the current landscape of Internet safety, Flugpo is quick to address safety concerns by connecting all classified listings with a “face and name.”
• To learn more visit www.flugpo.com or email David Metz, CEO, at davidmetz@flugpo.com