There is a service you can now retain to help you with your anonymous social network stalking. The company, once contracted, will assume a cover identity; friend, follow, or otherwise connect with your desired target; and then publish a daily report regarding your mark and his or her Internet-enabled comings and goings.
Now, obviously this concept was first conceived, and quickly used, by a jilted adolescent lothario stalking his ex-girlfriend.
Friday, 1pm: Subject tweeted regarding her alleged kanoodling in cafeteria with varsity quarterback.
But business is a dog-eat-dog affair, and I imagine it took mere seconds for this service to transcend the realm of high school romance and get its MBA from Wharton.
I am personally acquainted with at least one executive (now former-executive) who somehow missed the memo stating that the Internet: a) can be seen by everyone; and b) never ever forgets. And this gentleman -- we’ll call him Larry -- singlehandedly eviscerated his career at a certain telecom giant via a careless and ill-advised bout of Facebooking after cocktails one evening.
Larry forgot the cardinal rule of social media: Just because you’re wearing a t-shirt and jeans, are three sheets to the wind, and hidden in the back of some dive bar while on business in Chicago, does not mean you can throw off the yoke of your three-piece pinstripe and loafers to embark on a tell-all, pictorial, autobiographical extravaganza via Facebook and expect to have a career in the morning.
I’ll say it again: The Internet never forgets. And no matter how you configure those all-but-useless privacy controls, someone will see you. And someone will be angry.
I consider social media to be a great and powerful tool. But as the face of Rain Computers, I understand all too well that a simple, innocent, alcohol-induced slip of the tongue could affect countless people in my organization, including staff, investors, partners, and even customers. Listen, I can party with the best of 'em. I just make sure that, if I'm going to lose a bit of self-control one evening, it’s lost in the presence of trusted friends -- friends who don’t let friends drink and tweet.
There is a price to pay for the ease with which we can, in this time of 24/7 publicity, become a household name overnight. And that price is one of ever-vigilant decorum.
So by all means, go out, have a few cocktails, sample the local culture. Just remember that posting pictures on Facebook of your debauchery might just have a deleterious effect on the meeting you have the next morning to discuss billions in distribution with Walmart. And act accordingly.
— Kevin Jacoby is CEO of Rain Computers, which specializes in high-performance solutions for audio and visual production.
Absolutely right, Kevin. The Internet is the greatest device ever invented for copying and distributing content. Unless you set a post or image as visible only to yourself, you might as well assume it can be copied and shared with the world.
The further problem is that, when you're in "off duty" mode, your photo can be taken by someone else -- even a complete stranger -- and end up on Facebook, tagged with your identity. We are constantly in public these days.
One would think people have learned by now that sharing personal information on the Internet regardless of the media is not private. As you mentioned, social media is a powerful tool but it's a powerful tool that can have positive impact when used appropriately as well as negative sometimes detrimental impact when used without common sense.
Yeah Kim, it's a choice we all have to make. You don't get to sit at the top of a popular organization AND retain your anonymity anymore. It's an interesting new dimension to the business of today.
True, used to be that unless you were a music, movie, or TV star, for the most part your private life remained that way. Today, it doesn't really matter who you are or what you do: Your image, name, and reputation could make headlines for all the wrong reasons, based on something you posted online.
What I want is the reverse service...as someone who has had one or more Internet stalkers tailing him, presumably because I don't seem to belong to the Muted Group on many technological and social issues (or so they think...half the problem of Internet flame wars seems to be low reading comprehension and the inability to recognize sarcasm or subtlely in prose).
So I would like a service that rips the lid off of abusive anonymous posters, and tracks them back to their hideouts and perhaps even helps with prosecution!
Given that you've had a hard time with some anonymous posters, are you glad that more sites insist that commenters use their Facebook, or at least their Twitter, log-ons to post a message, @jabailo?
My problem with Facebook log-ins is that it means letting the Website access your Facebook for all kinds of purposes. I have to remember to go to my privacy settings and clear them out afterwards.
I think that this is one of the principal advances of Facebook, as a privatized version of the web -- Identity services!
At some point, I can see people abandoning the Old Anonymous Web for one that promises the safety of a gated community.
For example, I love the ease with which I can complain about comments that are off-color or spammy.
The old web may end up being like an abandoned neighborhood, full of grafitti and rusty tin cans, one day to be plowed under for more Facebook servers.
Yes, I am reminded of how Windows, including Server, originally was installed with all the ports wide open, and then afterward, almost all the ports and backdoors were shut tight. Works better, but sure makes it harder to get an ASP.NET app running! So maybe Facebook will turn the corner and go for less rather than more access to accomodate privacy needs of its users.
@Kim I do the same. I avoid opting into such things in the first place, but when I have to in order to understand an app I am writing about, for example, I do have to remind myself to clear it out afterwards.
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