Entries Tagged 'Research' ↓

In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about the “Anti-Facebook,” how Google is ready to monetize real-time search, and Apple’s creepy predictions for future iPhone technology.

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Diaspora to Launch on September 15th

The founders of Diaspora, or the so-called “Anti-Facebook,” have set September 15th as the launch date for their new social networking website. Diaspora was started by four New York University students in response to anger and unrest over Facebook perceived privacy problems. According to Wired, the Diaspora project aims to “create a social network that puts users in charge of their own data” The founders themselves describe Diaspora as a “privacy-aware, personally controlled, do-it-all, open source social network.” Whether or not Diaspora can make any kind of dent into Facebook’s massive userbase remains to be seen, but it certainly demonstrates that privacy is not an afterthought when it comes to social media.

Google Expands Real-Time Search

Google has expanded its real-time search capabilities yet again. According to the Wall Street Journal, Google has developed a new service called Google Realtime Search, which “can be used separately from the company’s main search engine to help people find the latest Web conversations on regional and global hot topics.” Google, along with rival search engine Microsoft Bing, has been investing heavily into real-time search throughout the past year, striking search deals with both Twitter and Facebook. Google Realtime Search will make it easier for Google to place ads in real-time search content.

Major Increase in 50 and Up Social Media Users

According to new research from the Pew Research Center, “between April 2009 and May, the percentage of internet users 50 and up who said they use social-networking sites has risen from 22 percent to 42 percent.” This increase is significantly higher than the comparable increase for the 18-29 year old demographic (a mere 13%). With an increased influx in older users, including parents and grandparents, many younger social media users have had to learn how to manage their digital identities more scrupulously.

Apple’s Disturbingly Orwellian Patent Applications

Apple is known for pushing the boundaries when it comes to consumer technologies, but are their latest patent applications predicting a far too Orwellian future? This column from Evan Schuman at CBS News discusses Apple’s recent patent applications, which discuss, among other things, the iPhone’s ability to “use a consumer’s heart rhythms to not only confirm that person’s identity but analyze vibrations to determine the kind of transportation that person is likely using.”

Another patent application talks about automatically using the camera to “take a plurality of photographs of the surroundings of the electronic device” in order to “identify distinguishing landmarks in the photographs and determine the location of each photograph based on the identified distinguishing landmarks.” Even creepier, “The photograph can be taken without a flash, any noise or any indication that a picture is being taken to prevent the current user from knowing he is being photographed.” Hopefully, by the time Apple’s technology actually evolves to this complexity, consumer privacy laws will be strong enough to protect users.

In today’s Quick Hits, we share multiple views on data privacy and behavioral advertising, discuss Twitter’s latest milestone, and consider how Americans spend more time on social media than anything else online.

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U.S. Internet Users Spend Almost a Quarter of Online Time on Social Media

According to a recent Nielsen report, American Internet users spend 22.7% of their time on social networking websites, an increase from 15.8% in 2009. The report also indicates that as social media usage has increased, e-mail has become less popular. The overall increase in social media usage is most closely tied to an increase in the number of people who use Facebook.

Twitter Surpasses 20 Billion Tweets

Five months after reaching 10 billion updates, and two months after reaching 15 billion updates, Twitter has achieved a new milestone: 20 billion tweets. Twitter’s remarkable growth since its inception in 2006 has made the company a popular subject in the media. Seeing how Twitter handles the security risks that come with its growth will make for a more interesting story.

Op-Ed: Online Industry Needs to be More Open About Data Tracking

In an op-ed for AdAge, Omar Tawakol, a technology executive with experience in behavioral tracking, discusses how doing away with tracking cookies all together would be a mistake and would hurt consumers. Tawakol argues instead that websites should clearly explain how and why they are tracking consumer data, and offer an easy way to opt out of that tracking. Tawakol explains his position further in a straight-forward four-step proposal for Internet companies.

The Wall Street Journal’s Julia Angwin Explains Data Monitoring

In an interview with CNN, Wall Street Journal technology editor Julia Angwin talks about data privacy, behavioral advertising, and her newspaper’s recent efforts to develop an “exposure index” that shows consumers just how much they are being monitored on the 50 most popular websites. Here is a link to the “exposure index” at the Wall Street Journal.

WordStream.com recently put out an interesting infographic on Internet privacy. Check it out below and see how much of your information is out there on the web.

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Infographic by WordStream Internet Marketing Software

In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about Facebook’s continued mobile growth, why a celebrity’s angry tweets are worth paying attention to, and thoughts from the National Association of Realtors on possible data privacy legislation.

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Facebook Adds 50 Million Mobile Users

Since April, Facebook has added 50 million mobile users for a total of 150 million. Facebook hopes to further increase this number with the introduction of 0.facebook.com, “a mobile site that includes all the key features of Facebook but is optimized for speed.” With the rise in smartphone use, a growth in mobile social networking was to be expected. With increased mobile social networking, however, comes an increase in data security threats.

Actress Kristen Chenoweth’s Twitter Complaint Gets a Starbucks Barista in Trouble

A lesson to all baristas out there, be nice to everyone you serve. Broadway and television actress Kristen Chenoweth took to Twitter recently to complain about a rude Starbucks barista. The celebrity complaint caught the attention of a Starbucks manager who informed her “I’m taking care of it.” Chenoweth doesn’t know whether she got the young woman fired, but, showing a lack of regard for the plight of the common worker, told David Letterman “People don’t have jobs so you better be grateful!”

Five Useful Firefox Privacy Extensions

The web makes life undeniably more convenient, but that convenience comes with a price. If you want to get information online, you also have to give some up in the form of personal browsing data. CNET’s Dennis O’Reilly highlights five extensions for the Firefox browser that can help web users limit the data that they are sharing online and better protect their privacy.

Do Gen Y Attitudes About Privacy Affect Security?

Sue Marquette Poremba of IT Business Edge discusses a recent Pew Research Center poll that predicts current members of Gen Y (individuals born during the 1980s and early 1990s) will continue to broadcast large amounts of personal information via social networking websites in 10 years. Poremba discusses this prediction in terms of how current Gen Y professionals may pose security problems for companies.

National Association of Realtors Opposes Boucher-Stearns Legislation

The Boucher-Stearns data privacy legislation that is currently making the rounds in Washington D.C. has raised the ire of numerous groups. One group that has voiced their opposition to the legislation is the National Association of Realtors, who claim that if the law were enacted, “impose a difficult and costly compliance burden on our industry especially impacting independent contractors and small businesses,” and would have “serious unintended consequences both for Realtors and for homebuying consumers.”

In today’s Quick Hits, Facebook meets another milestone and researchers expose some privacy problems in Chatroulette.

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Facebook Hits New Traffic Record

Facebook set a new traffic record last month, earning 141 million unique visitors. Facebook’s continued growth puts it close to Google’s numbers. The search giant tallied 179 million unique visitors in May. Since last year, Facebook has doubled its traffic.

Researchers Uncover Chatroulette Privacy Loopholes

The anonymous video chat service Chatroulette burst onto the national scene several months ago, earning praise from tech pundits for its innovation as well as criticism from safety advocated for its rampant nudity. Now, thanks to researchers from the University of Colorado at Boulder and McGill University, it may also draw criticism for not being all that anonymous.

According to a PC World article, the researchers were able to determine the identity of several Chatroulette users by combining public Facebook data with IP information. “Because Chatroulette’s back-end system shares user IP addresses, researchers were able to use IP-mapping services to get a general idea of user’s location (a public Web site, called Chatroulettemap.com already does this). Then by searching Facebook using information obtained in chats and comparing pictures, researchers were able to identify chatters.”

Location-Based Social Networking Users Worried About Privacy

You might think that Foursquare and Gowalla users are comfortable with sharing their location (why would they use location-based social networking, if they didn’t?), but a recent survey of 1,500 location-based website users revealed that over half (55%) are worried about loss of privacy. In general, women were more likely to worry about their privacy than men.

Dan Schawbel Offers Job Hunting Advice in the Wall Street Journal

In a column for the Wall Street Journal’s Hire Education blog, personal branding expert Dan Schawbel shares five tips to help job seekers find work, or, as he puts it, help work find them. One of Schawbel’s recommendations is to “clean up and promote your online presence” demonstrating again that proactive online reputation management is key for job seekers.