Our attitudes to privacy: on Google and Jaiku

Over at Loose Wire Blog, Jeremy Wagstaff lists all the possible private information that Google may know about us as a result of their acquisition of Jaiku, the micro-blogging platform. It's a significant list and one that gives us pause for concern. However it may say much about attitudinal shifts in values that users of online services of all kinds, are giving away information that was previously considered private.

Privacy is all about self-disclosure and the control of access of others to our inner-self. It's very possible that many of us no longer consider our mobile phone number, address, or the suburb in which we live, private information. After all these pieces of information are relatively easy to find out. Maybe we've made the assessment and believe that the rewards outweigh the risks. Or perhaps the Internet has seduced us into believing that we are far safer and far more protected than we really are. I suspect that the answer is a combination of both.

It never ceases to amaze me to see how much private information people are willing to give away on social networking sites such as Facebook. With Google's purchase of Jaiku, they have all the ingredients of a powerful social network, much more powerful in my opinion than the others. The combination of search, gmail, maps, and now Jaiku provide Google with a unique and incredibly deep, understanding of who we are, what we're doing, what interests us, and what we're planning. And if Google complete the DoubleClick deal, who knows, perhaps the machine will tell us that we need a new pair of sneakers before we had a chance to give it a thought.

Speaking of which, mine are getting a bit old.

Ways to use Twitter

Love it or hate it, Twitter is getting the buzz, and as usual, there are any number of ways to use the service as a marketing tool.

MediaShift . Point of Presence::Your Guide to Micro-Blogging and Twitter | PBS: "Media companies such as the BBC, The New York Times and Al Jazeera are trying out Twitter as a way to send headlines and links to stories. The campaigns for presidential candidates John Edwards and Barack Obama also have Twitter profiles, with thousands of “friends” and “followers” who check out updates."

Despite that I'm doing Internet studies, there are very few of my friends and associates on Twitter or Jaiku. I wonder if it's a cultural thing or will Australia catch on to this technology in time.

Announcement from Jaiku

"Wonderful Jaiku users,

Exciting news, Jaiku is joining Google!

While its too soon to comment on specific plans, we look forward to working with our new friends at Google over the coming months to expand in ways we hope you'll find interesting and useful. Our engineers are excited to be working together and enthusiastic developers lead to great innovation. We look forward to accomplishing great things together.

In order to focus on innovation instead of scaling, we have decided to close new user sign-ups for now. But fear not! All our Jaiku services will stay running the way you are used to and you will continue to be able to invite your friends to Jaiku.

We have put together a quick Q&A about the acquisition at http://jaiku.com/help/google

Jyri Engestrom and Petteri Koponen, Jaiku Founders"

I wonder if the boys at Twitter will be pissed off it wasn't them that was bought, or happy they didn't fall into the clutches of the do-no-evil empire

Twitter is experiential

If you, like me, have visited the Twitter home page and read the dozens of seemingly meaningless messages about the fragments of peoples lives, you're probably thinking that it's a load of rubbish. Why would anyone want to be so self-obsessed to write "gone to lunch with John. Will probably have sushi" and think that someone, anyone would care? Well, as it turns out there's lots of good reasons, but it's a bit like sky-diving or sex - you won't understand it until you do it. As
Clive Thompson points out, Twitter is an experiential thing. Far from being something that's self-obsession creating, it can become a way for people to have a much fuller and richer understanding of their world; and this comes about through a more granular view of the people around us. Give it a go (or try Jaiku)and see if what I'm saying has any truth.

Scoble on Twitter

When tech guru Robert Scoble says something's hot, you can bet that it is. And guess what? He's as hot as hell on Twitter. On this video, Scoble explains in detail how businesses can hit home runs galore through the use of this micro-blogging service. Scoble also discusses Jaiku and Pownce, the big competitors for Twitter. He claims that Pownce has the better user interface and some cool features, and points out that these services enable threaded discussions. In answer to the question about Twitter's lead, Scoble suggests that Pownce is pulling in big numbers of users - and fast. He suggests that these platforms won't be mainstream for another couple of years and all of the platforms struggle for the attention of consumers. He suggests that companies such as Twitter are cheap to build and run and are not as exposed to the problems of the tech bubble that we saw in 2000.

Have you set up a Twitter account yet? Visit mine here or my Jaiku profile here .

Interview with Scoble here.

Twitter and Jaiku - The next email?

I may be a twit because I don't get Twitter. Here's something I found that made a tiny bit of sense.

The Next Email - Twitter - Jaiku - Pownce

Twitter

I don't get Twitter or Jaiku. Do you?

What's it all about? Why should I use them?