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Written by Brandon Prebynski

Tuesday, 29 July 2008

MySpace has been making strides lately to remain a leader in the social networking field. First they opened up parts of their platform to third-party developers with the use of Google’s OpenSocial platform. Then they redesigned their site with Web 2.0 styles. Now Myspace is joining Blogger, WordPress, Vox, and LiveJournal with the ability to share log-ins.

The OpenID initiative allows people to use the same accounts and passwords across the Web. By utilizing this service, site users do not have to keep track of as many username/password combinations.

Because social network integration is on the rise, and will continue to grow, the OpenID service will gain speed in the near future. Included in OpenID’s momentum are Flixster and Eventful. With market penetration of social networks increasing daily, the OpenID service will grow in importance. Niche networks are popping up in nearly every industry. For ease of use, these niche networks must embrace a service like OpenID.

Marshall Kirkpatrick outlines OpenID in his post at ReadWriteWeb.com. According to Kirkpatrick, OpenID's value to users are as follows:

You can remember one username/password and log in to many different accounts.
In some cases you don't have to do anything but provide an OpenID in order to start a new account.
That means you can start personalizing a new service really fast.
You don't have to trust random new sites with your info, your OpenID authenticator will hold and confirm everything for you.
In theory, you should be able to choose how much of your full profile to expose to different sites you log into.

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Targeted Ads vs. User Privacy

Written by Brandon Prebynski

Monday, 21 July 2008

In order to provide web users with relevant ads, targeting must be achieved. The degree of ad targeting will determine ad relevancy.

But how targeted can ads be without infringing on our privacy? How much information should organizations be able to utilize?

Information that we provide voluntary is one type of information that can be used to target ads. For example: Name, age, date of birth, interests, etc.

Information that we provide involuntary is another. For example: Tracking users’ web surfing habits.

NebuAd wants to copy the contents of an ISP’s traffic streams, analyze usage and serve up ads to individual users based on traffic patterns.

On a side note, NebuAd packages their services in a completely different manner. As stated on the NebuAd web site:

“NebuAd, an online media company that provides state-of-the-art online privacy protection for consumers, today announced it is introducing new industry-leading online privacy protections, offering alternatives for robust, direct consumer notification and unprecedented innovations in opt-out technology. This move further empowers Internet service provider (ISP) subscribers to control their web experience. In addition, it reinforces NebuAd's commitment to delivering world-class innovation in Internet advertising by setting unparalleled standards in online consumer privacy protection.”

What information should we be comfortable with providing to companies online? What information should remain undisclosed? Is it really possible to keep information secluded online?

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