Take a look at your latest updates on Facebook or maybe Twitter. Do they seem innocent enough? I’m pretty sure they are. But what happens when someone is given a tool that sniffs out all your activity on over 40 social networks, video, image and music sharing web sites, blogs and shopping web sites like Amazon Wish lists? What do you think they will find?
If your first instinct is to cringe, don’t feel bad, I did too.
Now, that doesn’t mean I feel there is anything damaging out there on me. I’ve been through several FBI checks (long story) so that’s not the kind of stuff you will find about me – ever. What made me queasy is the nagging thought of what an accumulation of this innocent information can be used for.
There are several tools and more popping up all over the Internet that can do this. Some call it social search, others call it people search. Spokeo is one of them and it’s kinda spooky. A quick import was all it took for me to find wish lists, favorite songs, pictures of family of people whom I barely know.
People search is nothing new. Back in 1998, I used the Internet to find out more about this guy I was talking to, to see if he’s the ‘real deal’. Side note, I ended up marrying him ;). But now, with the power of publishing in the masses’ hands, things change dramatically.
When you look at just your Twitter stream or your Facebook stream or your Flickr image. They don’t really say that much. But when you pool them into one spot, it says a ton about you. What dismayed me most is not the fact that you will find any ‘juicy’ bit of information about me. But, some sites are actually selling this information to businesses in order to ‘better understand’ their market.
This actually cuts me both ways. On one hand, I am the “Tech Based Marketer”. I am supposed to show and lead you to technology that can help you better market your business. So any tool that helps you along in that sense is, well, interesting. I would be so lying to you if I said it is not intrigriguing. It is. But on the other hand, I feel as businesses, we have a responsibility to our customers.
I don’t know, this is all very sticky because it could be compared to watching Twitter for trends or keywords which I absolutely do. On the other hand, that information is not in depth information about people. It’s collective data.
What say you?
