Voluntary personal information sharing comes naturally to most of us. When given an opportunity, a few tools, and a community in which we can share our most intimate details, many people don’t hesitate to document their every movement and mood. We readily identify our friends and our preferences, and even document our vices.
Facebook is the place right now where a great many people share the most detailed information about themselves. Are you on Facebook? If so, you might be interested in a new site called I Shared What?!? that will open a window for you into what Facebook sees–and lets others see.
Coaching moment: Did you know you were sharing this much information? Do you know who has access to it, for how long, and for what purposes? Does this make you uncomfortable? Why?
Now and then I run into someone’s thinking and notice that I’m nodding and laughing while I’m reading it. So it goes with Maureen Johnson’s Manifesto: I Am Not a Brand. I find that her message of being yourself, not being there to sell yourself, is what’s uncommon in many “social media” conversations. It’s not about turning the whole connected world into one huge commercial interruption. Read the whole post. It’s much more than this little bit:
I think the divide is pretty basic. I think there are people out there who see the Internet as a way of employing the same old techniques of SHILL, SHILL, SHILL. A hundred years ago, they would have rolled up to you in a wagon, shouting about their tonic. Fifty years ago, they would have rolled their vacuum cleaners up to your door.
The other side, the side I am on, is the one that sees an organic Internet full of people. Sure, when I have a book come out, I will often say, “Please, could you buy a copy? I need to buy food and Post-it notes and hamsters.” But in reality, I wouldn’t suggest it if I didn’t think you would like it. I have a lot of fun writing my books, and hey, if you can buy one, great! I think it’s just as great if you take it out of the library. I write because I actually like doing it, and through some miracle of science, I get paid, so wayhay!
Coaching moment: It’s important to take a minute and think about what great things computers, networks, social media, and other interactions with technology bring to you. Is it about being more of who you are? Well, yes it is. It’s also about who your friends, family, and colleagues are. It’s a shared environment. Not very many people will stand for others who don’t listen or hear, where the conversation is only one way. How long would you put up with it?
Creative commons photo credit: [puamelia] on Flickr. Thanks!
Yesterday I convened a workshop for the purpose of examining the ideas behind–and controls around–sharing of information. What’s information sharing? When we sign up for an online account, or when we purchase anything with a credit card, or when we introduce ourselves and offer our business card, we are sharing information with someone. What happens to that information next, and how people or companies benefit by or control it, was the subject of this workshop.
Scenario planning is a way of looking at a complex world and future decisions. Normally the practice of scenario planning takes considerable time (easily weeks to months), research, expertise and analysis to do properly. I was trained to do scenarios by Global Business Network (GBN), a company that first popularized this as a consulting practice. You may be interested in a scenarios paper I wrote back in 2002 for a more general audience, about the balance of power between restrictive/open network access providers and restrictive/open content providers: Our Stake in Cyberspace: The Future of the Internet and Communication As We Know It.
For our workshop purposes, we compressed the scenario planning process down to one day, brainstormed about our decisions and concerns, simplified the research, used the group’s expertise, and came away with simplified, shared insights. I’m still sorting through the notes and will post more about it shortly. One of the bottom lines from this event is this (thanks Joe): if I want to support user-driven access and control of information sharing, I need to be part of the VRM conversation, and help build and support the businesses involved in this work. (So far every VRM-oriented business appears to be in development.) Many of us are part of the conversation (mailing lists, social networking groups, face to face conversations, et al). I invite you to join the mailing list or read and comment on the blogs in the Blogroll (right column).
Coaching moment: What are the most important decisions that you or your business need to make in the next 3-7 years? Your questions might be yes/no or a choice among several. Now look to see what kind of forces affect your decisions. What kind of situations or characteristics or business/environmental forces will impact your decisions the most? Which ones can you do something about?
The process of writing down, then sorting through your mountains of details will often help you see your decision picture more clearly. Your considerations should include things you can do something about, things that affect you directly and need to be addressed. It’s generally not helpful in resolving your individual decisions to spend much time on global concerns that are not relevant to your decisions and out of your control right now, or are otherwise just plain unobtainable.
Basic brainstorming, sorting and planning is something you can do on your own or with friends. It’s not too hard, doesn’t require fancy tools (pencil and paper works well), and there are rewards (possibly great rewards!) for having tried. Don’t quickly push ideas away because they’re silly: sometimes those are the most valuable in the right context. You just need to write everything down, then sort and think about it; maybe re-sort and re-think. Ok, ready?
What happens when someone learns you’re a blogger and then offers you something to write about? What if that thing they offer has commercial value? What if they’re offering it to you for free, asking you (express or implied) for a favorable review on your blog? Would you do it? Does that act change you?
The revised Guides specify that while decisions will be reached on a case-by-case basis, the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement. Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service. Likewise, if a company refers in an advertisement to the findings of a research organization that conducted research sponsored by the company, the advertisement must disclose the connection between the advertiser and the research organization. And a paid endorsement – like any other advertisement – is deceptive if it makes false or misleading claims.
How does this work (or not) in real life?
There are two people I know who rarely blog or tweet about anything they haven’t benefited by (directly or indirectly). Their disclosures are hidden if included at all. Does that make them sneaky or dishonest? Not necessarily, but probably (according to the FTC statement above).
Compare: Someone who is very good at promotion, and who loves helping people and companies understand how to use different “social media” tools to help with their commercial outreach efforts. This is clear to everyone who meets her. She discloses her connections and endorsements, and is hired by companies wishing to learn how to be more social.
Current communication tools–including those referred to as “social media”–allow us to blur the lines between our opinions and reviews. When someone does something nice for us, we might spontaneously and publicly say thanks (via a wall post on Facebook or a tweet on Twitter). If someone gives us something with a shared expectation that we’ll say something nice about them, that’s covered under FTC guidelines. “Oh, you’re blogging about our restaurant? The manager says the dessert is on the house.” Who will know? Maybe nobody, but it’s more than your reputation that you’re risking.
Coaching moment: Do you become a different person, all bubbly and joy, when someone does something nice for you? I bet; most of us do. What about when someone does something nice but then advises you how much it’s going to cost? (“Nothing is really free,” and all that.) Not so bubbly and joy, this more manipulative and generally undesirable.
So where’s the trade-off? What goods and services would you happily engage in a social conversation about–because you love the company or their stuff, with our without getting anything free in return? What goods, services, or companies would you feel like you’d be selling your soul to promote? How much are you willing to “leave out” of a review because of free stuff? Where is your bottom line?
We have many ways to view our identity. One way that we are known is by our reputation. Our friends and colleagues know who we are. They know us from our acts and activities. They know generally what kind of person we are. For example, we might be known as a kind or loving person, or maybe a jerk, a know-it-all, or a scoundrel.
For a business, the employees are the first line of the company’s reputation. Sometimes employees are not the most diplomatic representatives. In one recently publicized case, a video posted to YouTube by two playful employees caused a public relations nightmare for the company (and later regrets by the ex-employees).
It’s worth noting that while one event can do damage, it’s not the entire picture. Our real reputation is made up of what we do and say over time, what we are consistent about.
These days, if you want to know more about someone, the first thing most of us do is Google them. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, then, that monitoring your online reputation is extraordinarily important.
Go ahead and Google and Yahoo yourself, see what’s out there. Note how much is about someone whose name you share. What picture does this paint? Are you happy with it?
You can’t change the past, but you can change your future reputation. What will you do to paint a better picture of yourself?
Voluntary personal information sharing comes naturally to most of us. When given an opportunity, a few tools, and a community in which we can share our most intimate details, many people don’t hesitate to document their every movement and mood. We readily identify our friends and our preferences, and even document our vices.![[del.icio.us]](http://digitalidcoach.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
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For a business, the employees are the first line of the company’s reputation. Sometimes employees are not the most diplomatic representatives. In one recently publicized case, a video posted to YouTube by two playful employees caused a public relations nightmare for the company (and later regrets by the ex-employees).