Are you Influential - Check your Google Number - another thought...

http://georgerapalje.blogspot.com/2008/09/are-you-influential-check-your-google.html

George brings up an interesting point about the Google Number - although I don't have the same concerns about privacy that he does. I think that it is a given that there is little to no privacy on the internet - you can clear your search history, but companies can still track your web usage, and through tracking cookies websites can identify who has visited or passed through. I think the Google number is an interesting way of identifying connectors and mavens - to steel terminology from "The Tipping Point" - people who bring others together and disseminate information about the market. Through targeted marketing advertisers would be able to more efficiently focus their efforts on people with large spheres of influence. It would be interesting to see how these targeted approached play out in a controlled environment such as Facebook - where it is easy to track linkages among friends and peer groups. Could this viral marketing be the future of on-line advertising?

On another note, I see how this could apply to Facebook, where you essentially sign an agreement when logging into the site, but I do wonder about the legality of it outside of the highly trafficked social networking sites. Does google own your internet "cookies" if you use their browser? their search engine? Where do they draw the line - and how do they establish rules about what kind of data to share - and with whom???

Free TV? Too good to be true!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122213209024665825.html?mod=rss_E-Commerce/Media

Recently Netflix signed an agreement with CBS and Disney to allow Netflix users to stream television shows from the networks as part of their Netflix packages. While some may view this as positive, I am disappointed to see what has been a free service move in the direction of pay-per-view. I may be the lone hold-out but I still frequent my neighborhood video store and when I forget to tivo my favorite show I like being able to go online the next day and catch up on what I missed. I am spoiled by websites such as ABC and NBC that still post their content for free, and don’t like the idea of paying once for cable and then paying again through Netflix to watch popular shows (and yes, I know I could give up cable and watch everything on Netflix – but until all the major networks sign on board, it doesn’t make sense to do so.)

I guess it was only a matter of time until the major networks stopped streaming their popular shows for free, however I didn’t expect it to come so soon. Netflix is smart to move in at this juncture – especially as more and more of its business becomes web-based.With the competition in this market, I wonder if companies like Apple and Amazon will move to strike exclusivity agreements with the major networks and movie distributors (if they haven't already). If that happens, will I need to have an iPod, an X-Box and a computer just to see my "must see TV" each week?

(On a related note, I spoke with my grandfather this past weekend and asked him about his plans. He was planning on staying in and watching the two Netflix movies that had just arrived in the mail. If NetFlix can get my 86 year old grandfather on board, it might convert me as well (especially now if I want to get my Disney fix)!

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Facebook for Spies

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/09/05/facebook.spies/index.html

A recent article on CNN mentions that the CIA will soon use a face-book like application for sharing up to date super-secret spy information. This new technology, entitle “A-Space” (aka ‘Facebook for Spies) is supposed to serve as a social networking site for analysts working at one of 16 different Intelligence Agencies across the United States. My first thought upon reading this was the level of security that will be required to protect the data. Apparently analysts are going to be limited by their security clearances, but still, while good in theory it sounds like access would be highly sought after by people looking to infiltrate the U.S. intelligence agencies. This seems to lead to an entirely different set of concerns about passwords, and accessing the network from a non-secure location.

On another note, for this type of tool to be successful, US agencies are going to have to share highly sensitive data with a large community – which seems counter to the existing culture. The website is only as good as the information it contains, and will only be effective if people are truly collaborating and posting information to the central clearinghouse. I believe that one reason Facebook is so successful is because people are willing to post personal information in an easy to read format, which is updated on a frequent basis. If security gets in the way of usability, users may decide that they would rather spend their time on MySpace than A-space.

It will be interesting to see if the application is adopted by a majority of people within the US Intelligence Community, and if it can be effective in solving difficult problems across various units and agencies (i.e. crowdsourcing). Given its super-secret status, we may never know…