Facebook

I know this probably doesn't make sense, but ever since that thing went around Facebook saying; 

"Have you noticed that you only see updates in your feed from the same group of people and pages recently? Have you also noticed that when you post things like photos, status updates and links, then it's the same group of people that comments and likes your updates every time, while everyone else seems to be ignoring you?

Relax, they still love you, and no one has intentionally blocked you. The problem is that a large percentage of your friends can not see anything you post on Facebook! Here's why:

The "New Facebook" has a newsfeed setting that by default is automatically set to show ONLY posts from people who you've recently interacted with or interacted the most with (which would be limited to the couple of weeks just before people started switching to the new profile). So in other words, for both business and personal pages, unless your friends/fans commented on one of your posts within those few weeks or vice versa - you are now invisible to them and they are invisible to you!

HERE'S THE FIX: Click the little blue arrow right of "Latest news" in your newsfeed, or scroll down to the bottom of the newsfeed on the homepage and click on "Edit Options", click on "Show Posts From" and change the setting to "All Of Your Friends and Pages".

my News Feed is totally messed up. I didn't have to change anything as I had it set to 'all', but since this started popping up all over my feed, I don't get as much news as I used to. It's as if everything just slowed down. A lot. 

Am I the only one?

Fullrate; the Aftermath

Well who would have though 140 characters could have lead to such a flurry of tweets, articles, blog posts, and comments? Not I, that's for sure. Now that I have emerged - dignity intact - on the other side, I thought I might as well write a quick follow-up post (if you're wondering what I'm on about, read my last post 'Fullrate & Big Brother').

Not that there's that much to say in regards to the actual issue. I mean, most of the articles ultimately said the same thing. Some failed to mention that I was happy about this whole exchange, which was a little annoying, but most took this in to consideration. It's been interesting hearing all the varying views on the subject. All of which (bar one little very angry troll) all agree that Fullrate in no way violated my privacy, and that they had demonstrated good customer service. 

In hindsight, I do think that a more suitable way of contacting me would have been through Twitter (why-oh-why do they not have an active profile yet!) but as luck would have it; I don't care about the email. I wouldn't want every brand/company I tweet about emailing me of course, which is why a Tweet, or even a DM ('direct message' via Twitter) would have been better, and is of course, how most communication via Twitter is carried out. Not through search, database check, and email. I do wonder why my tweet was 'chosen'. I know that mine was not the only unhappy tweet (when I first encountered problems with my router, I had searched for '#Fullrate' on Twitter, only to find quite a few complaints). I presume it was because I was easier to find in their system, but who knows. 

It was nice to read that Forbrugerrådet (Danish Consumer Council) admitted that they spoke too soon regarding the matter. I hope anyone who believed that this was a breach of privacy took that into consideration (did anyone think it was a breach?!), and it was also nice to read all the comments on my blog and elsewhere that were positive, and reflected my beliefs. At the very least, I'm happy that my little tweet sparked some interest in Twitter.

It does surprise me that none of the articles ever picked up on the fact that the original journalist was inspired for her article after seeing a picture of Fullrate's original email on my Facebook profile.

As it happens, I've started noticing issues or articles relating to privacy and social media wherever I go. In this month's Wired there is an advert for next month's magazine, which will centre around the end of privacy. As the ad states; "Every day your emails, financial transactions and status updates are mined for data by corporate interests and government agencies. How the age of transparency is killing confidentiality - and why you need to get over it." Indeed. Of course I can understand why this might give some people sleepless nights, but there are ways by which you can secure your information. It might be in the small print, but it is there. People can't run around complaining that their information is being mined when it's right there, for all the world to see.

Did you ever hear about Tinkebell? She's a Dutch artist who once skinned her cat (after it was dead, I might add) and made it in to a purse. Sure, cat lovers might protest, but the difference between that and a leather purse? Who knows. Anywho, of course people flipped out, and soon enough she received death threats and all sorts of other hate mail. Then (and this is the bit I love), using the sender's email addresses, she Googled away, and soon had addresses, photos, status updates, videos, education details, work details - suffice to say, a huge amount of information about those who had emailed her. Then she published this all in a big book. Of course, it didn't last long - no permission was given to use the information - but the fact remains that all the information was just there, waiting for someone to find it. Wish I had that book...

Then of course, there's Meltwater Buzz. Meltwater Buzz is an "an innovative social media monitoring tool that enables comprehensive tracking and analysis of user-generated content on the web." It "enables users to monitor more than 200 million blogs, micro-blogs, social networks, forums, video and photo websites, product reviews and other social media sites to gain a better understanding about end-user sentiment on hot topics, new products, companies and the competition." The heads of those who thought Fullrate finding my tweet was a breach of privacy are probably exploding right about now.

What I can't find out if this includes private profiles. I presume it doesn't, but you never know. 

While I too find this rather extreme, I am not - and simply can not be - surprised. 

Employers Google potential employees and people Google (not to mention Facebook) their exs. There's no difference in a company wondering what their customers are saying about them. If you don't want to be another statistic, don't tweet/Facebook/blog about brands and companies. But hey, if you do, then something good might just come out of it. I'm proof!

If you're remotely interested then here are links to some of the articles about the whole saga.

Comon

Comon #2

Klean

Fullrate - yes!

BT

Avisen

Berlingske

Techtjek

Fullrate & Big Brother

I recently had an interesting experience with Twitter. I'm going to share it.

When we moved into our new flat, after some research (in to prices, I admit), we settled on Fullrate as our internet provider. All seemed well and fine, but after a while the connection kept cutting out and we had to re-enter our password on a daily basis. Needless to say, while not the biggest problem in the world, it was hardly what you'd expect or want. After a quick moan on Twitter, someone suggested I change the channel on my router, I did, and it seemed to get better. I'm not sure if it actually did really, but it doesn't matter as soon the problem returned, and after Christmas, we had a lot of trouble even logging on. 

Originally, I had put it down to our computers (she has a Mac, I have a Dell), but after I had changed the channel, could see that the power was on and that the router was working (to some extent!), and after making sure we could still log on to other networks, I had had enough. I tweeted;

 The next morning, I received this in my inbox;

Was I impressed? Yes. Very. I told them as much, and a brief email conversation followed, where they established the problem (remotely) and told me that it was a fault with the router, and a new one was being sent out to me (I'm picking it up today). The whole email conversation is at the end of this post, if you're curious.

Needless to say, I tweeted about this, and included a Twitpic link for the above email. The feedback I got from Twitter was all positive bar one, who thought it was 'creepy' and didn't like being being visible to the 'big corps' in that way (her tweets are not private). I also posted the picture on Facebook, where the feedback was mixed. Some thought it demonstrated great service, some thought it was a bit too 'big brother' like. 

It all came to a head when yesterday I received an email from a journalist friend of mine, saying she had been 'outraged' by it. She had asked 'Forbrugerrådet' (the Danish Consumer Council) about it, who had said it was a violation of my privacy, and therefore she would like to interview me to find out how I felt about it. 

I have to say I'm still slightly baffled by all this for a number of reasons.

First - the internet is not a private place. If you say something online - especially on social media! - you have no right to claim it as private. If you don't want others to read it - don't post it.  Simple as. If you want your tweets to be private - make them. Don't complain that others can seem them when your profile is public. Please!

Secondly - since when was Twitter some untouchable private sphere? How on earth can people be surprised or upset about Fullrate finding my tweet on Twitter, but they're OK with posting a complaint (for example) on a brand's Facebook page? I can't see the difference.

Thirdly (while I'm on Facebook) - the irony of people complaining about privacy on Twitter, via Facebook, is just overwhelming. 

Fourth - customer service. I wish I didn't have to say more, but apparently I do. This is brilliant! One of the things we tell clients at Vizeum (my place of work) is that this social media thing isn't just a flash in the pan, and they must scan Facebook (if they're not on there already) and Twitter for their brand (or what have you). It's an incredibly easy (you don't even need a profile), free, and effective way to get an idea of what's being said, and in this case, it turned one annoyed customer, into one who is currently defending them!

She asked if I felt weird that they had found me online and contacted me without my permission, which is, in my eyes, a good definition of great customer service. It just stuns me that in this day and age, where people demand that brands and companies be on Facebook, the fact that one company has taken the next step (and in Denmark, a rare one, I might add) of searching Twitter makes people feel uncomfortable. It leaves me speechless. Think about what personal data is available through Facebook, and then through Twitter. As I said in the interview, I feel far - far - more secure about my personal details on Twitter than I do on Facebook. 

I found out today that she won't be quoting me in the article,as I didn't fit the angle ('too positive'!), which is a shame. A big shame. I really hope that people don't read the article and are put off Twitter. I really, really hope that they too see how effective Fullrate have been, and how I am now eager to defend them (at least in their customer service). I hope that brands/companies read it, ignore the negative tone, take an interest in Twitter, and begin to search too. People talk, reputations are made or destroyed online, and it's about time this was realised.

I'll be totally gobsmacked if people agree with this article. If people who have their lives on Facebook for all the world to see are actually offended by the fact that someone effectively Googled their own name, found my tweet, and contacted me via my personal email asking me if they could help. 

Tell me how this is bad. I for one don't understand. 

I'll update this with the article when it comes out. 

Below is the email exchange (note that the first email is at the bottom. Sorry - I couldn't be bothered to swap them all around);

Update on 2011-01-10 13:04 by Lara Mulady

Here's the article - Selskaber Overvaager dit Brok på Facebook

Update on 2011-01-10 18:12 by Lara Mulady

Another, slightly less negative, article from Fyens.dk.