wired

According to Simon Dumenco over at Wired, Facebook is too creepy to offer business value. I certainly agree that there are aspects of Facebook that might be creepy, but I do not think that alone is the main reason to not use Facebook in a business environment.

A couple of his comments are good, though:

"The ease with which Facebook can be used to broadcast your whereabouts adds a particularly disturbing dimension for executives who would surround themselves with security in real life but are lulled into complacency by Facebook's tidy veneer. Last year, the British military sent a directive to its army units to avoid revealing their service connections online—"Be particularly careful if you are on Facebook, MySpace, or Friends Reunited"—fearing that, yes, Al Qaeda could use them to track prey. Your business competitors might not be terrorists per se, but Facebook can be useful for anyone trying to poach your M.V.P.’s."

I think this point is valuable to Twitter, Plaxo and LinkedIn too - they all love the Status update these days.

Another point, made by David Weinberger is particularly interesting:

"Younger people violate older people's idea of proper behavior when it comes to privacy,"

Now, is this a challenge for the younger people, or for the older ones? Who needs to adopt? The Young? The Old? The Wise? Or heaven forbid - me?

----

More on Facebook:

• Facebook open to ID-theft
• Howto use Facebook to gather Intelligence, Part 1
• Howto use Facebook to gather intelligence, part 2
• Facebook exploited

Imagine you are a well know, global brand. Your brand includes several high value products with brands that are recognized by anyone. 

Would you protect your brands? Like trademarking them? Patenting the technology? Building public awareness? Promote and market them?

Sure you would.

What if someone then contacts you and tell you that your computers are spewing out spam. Covering your own products, your competitors products as well as any other kind of products we all receive in our inboxes. 

What would you do now?

I bet you would not dig your big, fat head into the sandbox and pretend that the spamming is not happening. I am sure you would instantly recognize the problem, and start investigating, and then clean out your closet. 

There is no way you would do as Pfizer does.

You see, many of the Viagra, Cialis and penis enlargment pill spams you get in your mailbox originate from within the Pfizer network, and Pfizer does nothing about it.  

Pfizer, it is time to realize you need to clean out your closet. if you are not sure how to do it yourself, I know of many who would love to offer a helping hand!