Temporarily, Facebook stole the very unofficial “social media darling” mantle from Twitter on Monday – for better or worse. Chatter erupted in the blogosphere after Facebook altered its Terms of Service (TOS) such that they appeared at first sight to be anywhere from intrusive to megalomaniacal . Immediate responses filed on some authoritative blogs ranged from relatively nonchalant to fairly neutral, to somewhat mistrusting.
Setting aside the fact that most people probably don’t read the Facebook TOS when they join, that all user information is voluntarily uploaded so that other people can see it, and that by using Facebook users allow a private corporation to profit from them, it is nevertheless understandable that people got bent out of shape. But what interests me is that very few people were prepared for this eventuality.
Let’s do a thought experiment. Imagine that you belong to hypothetical social networking site named “GlobalNet” that suddenly switches from benign to draconian. When you joined GlobalNet it allowed lots of privacy control, but a new CEO wants to achieve extreme profit for a huge bonus that’s written into his contract: GlobalNet now plans to exploit user data by reprinting your notes on their blog, plastering your photos on their billboards, and selling visualized social networks of users with more than 1000 friends to corporations looking for influencers. Despite this, most people won’t leave, because GlobalNet is the leading social network with hundreds of millions of global users, instantaneous language translation, and not a serious competitor in sight.
Sounds bad, right?
Maybe. If your goal is to participate in a modest social network of close friends in a private manner, perhaps catch-all corporate sites like Facebook, MySpace, and the fictional GlobalNet aren’t the right fit. But if your goals include forging new relationships, building a personal brand, and fostering an entreprenurial spirit, you can capitalize on the kind of change that a future GlobalNet might spring on you.
Know how some investors make money by betting on bad things to happen? You can hedge your bets too, and consider using your personal Facebook profile in whole or in part as a public relations platform. Not only can this help you market yourself, but it also serves to pre-empt social networks who may or may not use your information in a public manner. (This sentiment was echoed by Peter Shankman a day ago).
People frequently ask me why I allow lots of people to “friend” me on Facebook (which I’ve used since 2005). The simple answer is that as my personal profile has risen over the years, an increasing number of people want to follow what’s going on in my life. I have a choice: deny almost everyone, or let almost everyone in. I’ve chosen the latter, and my Facebook stream tells interested people things about my life that other popular services like Twitter can’t.
Professional online exhibitionism isn’t for everyone. And sometimes it can get you blackballed if you “do it too fast”. But for individuals building personal brands and Internet startups, you might consider sharing more of your personal life with the world.
