Archive for Social Networking

Twitter: Can they innovate their way out of information overload?

// October 15th, 2010 // Comments Off // Information Overload, Social Networking

I am a big fan of Clay Shirky’s famous Web 2.0 talk on filter failure, particularly where he acknowldges the role of social norms that we have allowed to arise in the way we use communications technology. But it seems that the world now focuses its efforts exclusively on addressing filter failure rather than some of the behavioural issues that Shirky highlights.

There is a very striking example in this week’s Bloomberg Businessweek in which Twitter’s new CEO, Dick Costolo, is interviewed (thanks to Marty Bariff of the Information Overload Research Group for bringing this to my attention). Costolo says:

“One of the things that we’re seeing is that there’s more and more information coming at people on Twitter. And so we’ve got to do a better job of filtering that information.”

I’m struck by the mindset of Twitter feeling that the answer to being overwhelmed by Tweets lies in their technology. Costolo goes on:

“People have devices in their homes now that tweet. You know, weight scales that tweet, tennis shoes that tweet how fast you ran your 5k, an armband that tweets how long you slept last night. One of the things that we’ll have to do a much better job of is providing filters for that information, both human-curated filters and algorithmic filters.”

Algorithmic filters? Surely, if you are overwhelmed by tweets perhaps the first thing to do is follow fewer people. You might want to stop following your own tennis shoes as a starting point…

Social networking connections are just that – connections

// January 26th, 2010 // Comments Off // Social Networking

Over the weekend, the Sunday Times trailed the latest piece of research by Robin Dunbar, the evolutionary anthropologist of Oxford University.

Dunbar some time ago established an upper limit of 150 friends that the human brain can accommodate – he arrived at this by researching neoloithic societies and contemporary hunter-gatherer communities. You may recognise this from Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point in which the Rule of 150 is applied to the effective size of organisations.

Dunbar has now followed this up by looking at traffic on Facebook and found that, beyond 150, we do not actively keep connections up. This is interesting as it strikes me that a lot of digital contact is about just that - contact – rather than about a meaningful communication or friendship. Some people may be comforted by having a vast number of “friends”, “connections” or “followers” but these are likely to be outside the 150 that we can accommodate.

In defence of social networking, many people recommend the ability to get instant answers on just about any question from Twitter. My only foray into social networking in LinkedIn of which I am an advocate (see lozenge on the right of this entry) and I certainly see the value of being able to ask questions of my network.

That reminds me – must update my LinkedIn status with this post….

“How to hack a corporate network with Facebook”

// January 13th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Social Networking

This blog from e-fraud expert Robert Siciliano on Finextra, the man that bought an ATM on eBay. It links to a blog by ethical hacker Steve Stasiukonis who got 24/7 access to a client company’s building in order to highlight an area of vulnerability. He did this by creating an “Employees of…” Facebook site for the company and “friended” employees who discussed their work there on their Facebook pages. Armed with a fake business card and company shirt, they had someone fake the ID of a head office employee turn up at a satellite office asking to be given access in order to check emails, use the toilet etc. He was given a 24/7 access key to the building and internet access and was able to return later that night to hack into the network.

With the exception of Linked In, I am personally sceptical about the merits of social networks and, while I admit there is a role for Twitter and Facebook in corporate marketing and customer service, I see risks for broader use by employees. The main issue that I had thought of until now had been productivity with employees distracted by constant “pokes” and “tweets” but the security concern is also a legitimate one.

I am increasingly coming meeting social network advocates who urge clients to embrace Facebook and Twitter in spite of the productivity issues. My instinct is to bar access in the office apart from those with a clear business need in say, marketing or customer service. On the basis of the security risks, perhaps employees should also be discouraged from discussing their work on social networking sites?