Comments on: The Age of Anonymity has Ended

By: Search Traffic and Community-Generated Content

Search Traffic and Community-Generated Content — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 17:54:34 +0000

[...] First thing to realize is how things have changed since the old days of Community-Generated Content, way back when our great-grandparents were using Wikipedia back in 2003. Wikipedia made the individual invisible, making it all about the community. And Wikipedia was ideologically opposed to any kind of self-interest. Everything had to be from a neutral point of view. In the age of social media, most sites have adopted different guidelines. As long as you serve the community’s needs, you can serve your own. See Enlightened Self-Interest and the Social Web and The Age of Anonymity has Ended. [...]

By: Best of 140: Twitter in Tel Aviv | Managing Greatness

Best of 140: Twitter in Tel Aviv | Managing Greatness — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 14:01:53 +0000

[...] Dror Ceder: We’re moving from the anonymous web to the identity web (hey, I said that: The Age of Anonymity has Ended) [...]

By: Get People to Put Your Message on Their Site | Managing Greatness

Get People to Put Your Message on Their Site | Managing Greatness — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 13:26:28 +0000

[...] sites it’s important to note that the rules have changed over the last few years. We had this era of anonymity, where you were encouraged to live your second life on the internet and choose some strange [...]

By: Gil Reich

Gil Reich — Mon, 03 May 2010 00:54:47 +0000

I agree that privacy isn't dead, but I think people are more open that they've ever been before. And I think the “On the internet nobody knows you're a dog” days were an anomaly that won't return. It's an interesting piece by Boyd, thanks for linking, but I think some of his examples make the opposite point. 65% of the people chose to change their Facebook privacy settings to allow more of their information to be public. I suspect he's right that most people didn't realize what they were doing, but that only strengthens the point that most people don't care enough about privacy (even if they should) enough to let a big “We're changing your privacy settings, OK?” question slow them down. People who care deeply about privacy would have given a moment's thought to that question, but 65% of users clicked to share with everybody, either because they made a decision or because they didn't care enough to slow down. That said, I accept that there will always be some importance to people having some privacy, and sites like Google and Facebook may sometimes be too cavalier about it.

By: Yuval

Yuval — Sun, 02 May 2010 13:11:27 +0000

I beg to differ. Danah Boyd, at SXSW 2010, said:
"Privacy Is Not Dead. People of all ages care deeply about privacy. And they care just as much about privacy online as they do offline. But what privacy means may not be what you think."

http://www.danah.org/papers/talks/2010/SXSW2010...

By: Jacob Shwirtz

Jacob Shwirtz — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 01:08:32 +0000

What's really hard to grasp is that certain Internet users see no value in doing, believing or experiencing something UNLESS they can promote it, share it, show it off and broadcast it — and not just to their friends but to as many people as possible! Why say “happy birthday” on someone's wall instead of sending them a private message? Think about it! When about to do almost ANYTHING, certain people – either consciously or not – choose to do it in the most public way, even if that action has nothing to do with anyone and is of no interest to anyone.

By: Gil Reich

Gil Reich — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 01:03:10 +0000

Thanks Jacob. I remember when we were working together that you expressed this attitude, it was one of the things that made me suspect that a generation was growing up with a completely different attitude towards anonymity.

By: Jacob Shwirtz

Jacob Shwirtz — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 00:58:48 +0000

I agree with you completely. If nothing else, the success of certain websites have shown us that people are far less interested in privacy than you might expect. Its hard to overestimate how little people seem to care about privacy. We used to make sure of the silly blogs being kept by teenagers and then we moved to make fun of the silly details being micro-blogged on twitter and now we're astonished that people are willing to say where they are every moment of the day (and all for virtual badges!). Social networking is not a blip. I want targeted ads and I have no problem with the amount of info Google knows about me – it provides enough value to me so I don't care. And I now look strangely upon anyone that is trying to remain private or hidden online. What do they have to hide? I don't get it…

By: Gil Reich

Gil Reich — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 00:27:32 +0000

Of course you trust the government more Gab, you're Canadian :-)

I hear you, but I disagree. Just realized that people have been using the 1984 metaphor as a reason to petition the government to protect us from totalitarians, but in the book the totalitarians were the government. (Not that that proves anything).

Truth is, I do think this is something that more Americans feel than Canadians (or anybody else). No other government was so designed on the principle that government is the biggest threat to our liberty and happiness.

By: Gab

Gab — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 23:48:49 +0000

I'm more afraid of corporations like Google than of the government, who I generally trust. Google has shown it's apt to do all sorts of sketchy things and claim the high road. Gov't is apt to claim they're morons but then u get in close and there's lots of helping hands, in my experience (eg Interior Ministry). Hope u know who this is from, Gil.