Murdoch Befriender Beware!

Here at the Social Network Company our team are constantly bombarded with questions about online privacy – or not as is normally the case. Especially with regards to social media sites such as Facebook…

All too often what seems like an innocuous request to ‘friend’ or ‘accept app’ can turn into a full land-grab of personal details… It’s like ‘Buyer Beware’ only different – Befriender Beware.

Take for example – Rupert Murdoch’s Social List….

Mark Twain is quoted as saying “Don’t pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel” suggesting that those who control methods of broadcast, have great influence.

We have recently seen an illustration of just how true that statement is, as Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation is revealed to have infiltrated, influenced and affected the lives of the Police, Politicians, and ordinary people.

It was interesting to watch a documentary recently where one of Murdoch’s assistants retold a story of a meeting between Rupert Murdoch and Arthur C Clarke. Murdoch’s eyes apparently lit up when Clarke explained the potential of the then new technology of satellite broadcasting to bypass terrestrial control.

People who can broadcast have huge influence. But now we have the emergence of “social networks” which have been credited with handing back power to the individuals – enabling them to organise, galvanise and mobilise. Facebook and Twitter have underpinned successful campaigns to keep the X-Factor winner off the top of the charts and topple a government or two.

Social networks are not doing anything new. Good ideas have always thrived, as they were shared by word of mouth. Now they are shared instantly and widely by word of mouse.

Social networks reduce friction in sharing an idea to the point it threatens broadcast as a method of dissemination of information. Arguably it’s more influential as each message is accompanied by a certain amount of trust between the sender and receiver.

In this new digitally connected world, commanding a large social network gives you great influence. Not only to propagate ideas, but also as the field of social media evolves, it is having far reaching implications. Right now, who you connect with on Facebook and Twitter is starting to influence your search results on Google.

Connection facilitates influence. Social Networks facilitate connection.

With all this in mind, I have to hand it to News Corporation. They have some super smart people working for them who are thinking ahead of the curve.

The main reason we love using social networks is because we are hard wired to status seek – to compare ourselves against others. A Facebook post is even called a “Status update.”

So if you were a power hungry organisation seeing your influence being undermined by a new social trend called social networking, you’d want to control that too. You’d want to create your own huge social network, so you can broadcast to them, influence what they see when they search, and leverage each connection’s social network.

You might in fact, create an innocuous service like “The Social List,” a Sunday Times initiative similar to their “Rich List” that allows you to “see your worth not based on money but on your social network activity” cunningly appealing to our innate desire for social comparison.

We suggest that this is simply a social media “land grab” which encourages you to give News Corporation significant rights to your information and your social network.

For example if I connect with the Social List using Facebook, (one of four supported networks) I give News Corporation rights to:
Access my name, profile picture, gender, networks, user ID, list of friends and any other information I’ve shared with everyone,Email me.
Post status messages, notes, photos and videos to my Wall. That’s showing them to all my friends.

Also access posts in my News Feed – That includes comments and content from any of my connections. Access my profile information including my likes, music, TV, books, quotes, activities and events – A marketing smorgasbord of information. Finally -access my photos and videos. Photos uploaded by me, videos uploaded by me and photos and videos of me.

That’s a lot to give up in exchange for an ego boost.

So I’d suggest that you don’t connect to “The Social List” and be careful who you do connect to. If you have already done so, you can remove your connection using the Privacy settings of the relevant network. In Facebook, go to:facebook.com/settings/?tab=applications

Don’t get me wrong – I’m a digital marketing advocate, to help clients use social networks. I just think that people should consider carefully who they connect with, and the reasons behind the connection.

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