Hodge-podge of things I am pondering….

1-

Ever noticed that socially we often divide by race/lifestyle/income?  Well, it appears that this tendency is making the leap to the new online social networking.  While the decline of MySpace has been the topic of many a report/comment/blog, it may more accurately be called the divide.  While there are many reasons that this is interesting, one is that marketers may be completely overlooking MySpace as an advertising venue as their own social circles are not on MySpace.  Listen to the story.

2-

Did you know that those quizzes that you take on Facebook could be snagging your private information?  That Private setting on Facebook seems to make people feel safe.  Yet, the Facebook quiz is actually a program.  This program can be designed to scrape your profile while you are filling out the quiz.  Sneaky huh?  Well, Facebook does act to prevent and then undo damage done.  The article that informed me of this also debates whether or not this information is used for good or evil…..but I am suspicious of anything that needs to be done so surreptitiously. 

3-

So, on the topic of information floating out there…..have you heard of a site called nextmark.com?  You can buy pretty darn specific information there about oh-things-like-medical-problems-of-specific-people-and-their-e-mail-addresses.  Granted this wasn’t provided by doctors or hospitals.  It is information that people were either comfortable sharing or misguided into sharing through other sources.  But there it is for sale.  It makes me ponder my own leniencies in info sharing.  If you would like to listen to someone else ponder those tendencies, check this out.