Dude, where's my Privacy-The Privacy Conundrum in Social Networks

I will be speaking next week at the Informa Mobile Location Services 09 Conference in London and one of the key subjects I was asked to present on was privacy.

One of the key issues has to do with semantics:what do we mean by privacy exactly? How private is private? My argument is that the privacy sphere, like it or not, is getting smaller and smaller for most people. Over time, the level of intrusion that each person is willing to accept in their 'private' sphere is also increasing.

I like to point to the example of Google Street View, as this is a full on example of a significant intrusion into everyone's private sphere which was accepted and ultimately embraced (I recommend you see also the example of the Japanese mashup of a Virtual Jog using Street View).

The other key issue is that legislation is dictating the approach that mobile social networks that use location should use. This is the key concept of 'opt-in', such that it is always down to consumer choice whether or not anyone has access to the location of a mobile subscriber.

This is fine as a preventive measure to assuage the public's fear of location based services in the interim period during which the key players (like Google) educate and inform about the benefits of location based services.

But ultimately, it is not the way in which 'push' services, somewhat of a marketing mecca in terms of delivering the right marketing message to the right customer in the right place, will be achieved.

Mobile World Congress 2008 -10 Days to Go

BARCELONA -Slowly but surely, Barcelona is coming alive with the buzz of mobilists from across the globe as anticipation for the Mobile World Congress heightens.

This year promises to be bigger and better than prior events, with around 70,000 participants expected to crowd the local scene and several billion of dollars worth of deals to be sealed during intense activity from the 11-14th February.

Plenty of great companies, personalities and seminars are expected, and I'll be casting my eye over the packed agenda to highlight some key events.

A couple of seminars have so far grabbed my attention :

On Tuesday 12th Feb, 16.15-17.45 in Hall 5 there is the Moving from Search to Discovery Seminar, with Dan Olschwang from JumpTap and Steve Boom from Yahoo, looking at " What's the Business Case for Mobile Search?" and "Taking Internet Search Mobile".

On Wednesday 13th Feb, 16.30-18.00 in Hall 5 there is the Social Networking Seminar, with Jed Stremel from Facebook, where they will be addressing juicy questions like:"What Will Be the Killer Mobile Social Networking Application" and "How Mobile Can Change the Social Networking Phenomena".

Next, I'll be taking a look at some of the innovative companies that will be at MWC so that you can add them to your watchlist...watch this space...

Seesmic -one to watch #2

Loic Le Meur is no stranger to web enterprise -San Francisco-based Seesmic is the fifth such start-up he has embarked upon. Only that this time, there is a special touch, in that in a one-of-a-kind initiative, he is keeping a daily video diary of how the whole adventure unfolds.

So what is Seesmic? Loic describes it a community-driven video social software. Others have billed it a video-based twitter. The basic idea is for it to become a very open online video service with a high degree of interaction by part of its users. The company has not actually officially launched (this is expected to happen in February 2008 -aha, the month of the Mobile World Congress!) so only testers can access the beta version.

However, development of the site has achieved a crescendo of activity and it promises to deliver integrated social networking by linking in to facebook, skype, twitter et al. Channels will be created according to specific themes, like technology, hobbies, sports etc.

But what is the business model, I hear you asking? A high degree of user partcipation and critical mass within the channels is intended to act as a strong pull for sponsors and advertisers. Seesmic members posting some of the more popular videos to these channels will in turn receive a percentage of revenues from them.

Loic has a large following in Europe and is somewhat of a web evangelist, allowing word to spread fast about the seesmic initiative.5,000 testers are already helping Loic make his vision a reality and giving a welcome 'open' flavour to the whole project -in today's community-bound web, a sure-fire key to success.Loic has strong support from Niklas Zennstrom of skype fame- "Seesmic rocks -it is Web 3.0".

I will ask Loic what his plans are for seesmic on the mobile web and keep readers updated.Meantime, take a look at Loic's seesmic video-diary -you'll find it to be dangerously addictive!