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SoCiAL MeDiA: PRoTeCTiNG You FRoM ReaLiTY...

Submitted by williambanzai7 on 12/28/2012 11:21 -0400

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WB7: Several items of interest surfaced over the Christmas Holiday with regard to Social Media Strip Mining and data cloud euphoria:

1. Facebook's privacy settings are evidently too complicated for Zuckerberg's sister to navigate. Not surporising, they are not designed for anyone to successfully navigate. If you succeed in mastering Facebook's privacy settings, you are in line for Krugman's Nobel.

2. Our Congress, which always has our best interests at heart do they not, managed to expunge the provision of the NDAA which would have required a warrant for government access to our email accounts. Surprised?

3. Instagram, shifted into hyper-back-pedaling mode. Of course they want to convert user images to advertisements. Isn't that what Facebook wants to do? Stripmining user privacy.

4. "Facebook's New Motto: If it's free, it's not the First Amendment."

I don't mind that so many others use these services for seemingly inane purposes. Photo sharing is actually more engaging than sitting around watching TV when you get right down to it. It is two way communication.

What concerns me is the way these giant social media players are displacing other traditional channels of content sharing and distribution, yet they obviously consider themselves exempt from well worn principles of free speech, privacy, open access and fair use.

They cannot just say if you don't like it go somewhere else. That's not good enough.

You can't deny access to so called "fringe groups" and allow mainstream political groups to remain ensconced.

That is not the level playing field of ideas envisioned by the First Amendment.

At some point, Facebook becomes a quasi-public space like Zucotti Park and they cannot just arbitrarily deny access to users without some form of due process.

Their perfect commercial world is a world bereft of unpopular ideas or political controversy.

A happy sheepful place.

5. It was revealed that plain old fashioned email marketing provides a higher retail ROI than social media advertising, which also came behind display ads and web search...

And I received this on Boxing Day...