Social content access control

After reading about Lindsey Stone's story about losing her job and getting her life ruined over mischievous photo posted on her personal Facebook page, it took me a while to register what had really happened.  Granted that she took and uploaded a bad-taste photo, it's clear that she did not intend to release the photo to the world.  She posted it on her personal page, and when negative reactions piled on she followed up with a comment explaining her bad judgement.

But it did not matter.  The photo got leaked outside her private circle of friends.  Someone got a hold of the copy without her approval and posted back on public Facebook page "Fire Lindsey Stone."  It took a life of its own, and many people who just heard the one side of story got piled on by even larger number.  They demanded her getting fired from her job, and it actually happened.  I heard that She has been let go.

We need to stop this nonsense.

Why future is bright for content creators

WSJ ran an article about management's dilemma of employees on social media.  Because anyone with email address can open free social media accounts and start writing, management teams are concerned that there will be inappropriate content that reflects poorly on their corporate image.  Even worse, employee's writing may unwittingly leak information to anyone who care to search on Internet.  We've all seen how fast bad publicity can travel on social media.

Source: WSJ

But these risks are small when compared to benefits that content creating employees bring.  Benefits are of many folds.  

YouTube: create an ecosystem for content

One genius creation by Steve Jobs for iPhone is to create its developer ecosystem.  By recognizing that wealth of applications can be developed on iPhone platform, Apple executed fantastically to create App Store and developer ecosystem.  I see the similar pattern developing with YouTube.  YouTube is becoming 24/7 American Idol platform for anyone who wants to create content, and it's leveling the playing field for vlog amateurs.

YouTube is a broadcasting network.  It's only as good as content that runs on it.  More interesting original content YouTube can attract, more valuable YouTube will become.

It's Not About Content; It's All About Communication

Google is all about content; Facebook is all about communication.

- Kailash Ambwani CEO of FaceTime Communications

Today I want to share a few articles that I found over last month or so. All these articles talk about non-intuitive observation. They all point to importance of communication, and how enabling communication is really the key to harness the explosive network effect of social network. Contrary to popular belief, they all talk about content, as we know them, is not the king.