AllFacebook - Latest Comments in User Data Can Provide A Competitive Advantage

Re: User Data Can Provide A Competitive Advantage

Deva Hazarika — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 20:28:32 -0000

I actually went and read a ton of privacy policies and terms of use statements at sites I use. Across a number of major sites, there’s a pretty wide-ranging set of policies. Results posted here: http://www.emaildashboard.com/2007/11/how-priva...

Re: User Data Can Provide A Competitive Advantage

Elijahbue — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 15:46:28 -0000

Eventually, users will become sophisticated enough to understand that their personal usage data/clickstreams have value and they'll want compensation for it. Facebook, like Google, is simply taking advantage of the fact that people are all gaga about getting the service 'free' (which of course, they aren't- they're paying with their personal data). Once people really think about it and realize that companies like facebook and google are making massive amounts of money off of their aggregated personal data, the game changes. Some people won't care, some will. It'll be an interesting thing to watch evolve.

Just give it time.

Personally, I think someone's going to create a service that enables people to own their personal data/clickstreams. Several have tried and failed, but eventually, someone's going to figure out the formula that works.

THEN... the advertising world changes. In a big big way.

Re: User Data Can Provide A Competitive Advantage

Hashim Warren — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 13:59:54 -0000

"Suggesting that Facebook let a user export all of their data in XML or CSV format as Jason Calacanis suggests, is slightly ridiculous."

It's not ridiculous at all.

I remember using Blogspot in the early days and when I moved to Typepad i was able to export all of my posts off the service. This was 5 years ago!

So, the precedent for a user owning their data is ingrained in Web 2.0 culture.

Re: User Data Can Provide A Competitive Advantage

theharmonyguy — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 23:56:42 -0000

"Do you think Facebook should give users ownership of their data?"

In many discussions about Facebook, I've seen people talk about everything on their Facebook, such as the News Feed, as "their data." But with a social graph, one has to remember that much of what you see is your friends' data. So while the above question is a good one, I think the reality of what many people have in mind is a bit more complicated.

Re: User Data Can Provide A Competitive Advantage

Nick O'Neill — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 23:18:54 -0000

Thats a great point Alexandre. I guess I should have included community in there.

Re: User Data Can Provide A Competitive Advantage

Alexandre — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 20:55:55 -0000

So, is last.fm doing it the wrong way (the data about almost everything is published under a CC licence, except for your own, which you can do whatever you want with it, and everything under an XML format) ?