Happy Presidents Day! We’re talking Google Buzz and cyberbullying in today’s Reputation Management, Internet Privacy, and Social Media Quick Hits.
Google Admits Privacy Mistakes on Google Buzz
According to the New York Times, Google is still backtracking over privacy problems with Google Buzz. In a statement at the Official Google Blog [http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/new-buzz-start-up-experience-based-on.html], Google Buzz Product Manager, Todd Jackson said Google is changing Buzz’s much-reviled auto-follow function to an “auto-suggest” funtion. This will be effective immediately for new buzz users and, in the next few weeks, will be introduced to current users as a way to start over.
The question now is, when these users are given the chance to start over, how many of them will embrace the service whole-heartedly?
Creepy Contextual Advertising in Gmail
Can contextual Gmail ads be too intimate? At his Technically Incorrect blog for CNET, Chris Matyszczyk talks about some of the more unusual recommended ads Google provides to Gmail users and tests out an experiment to see just how useful Gmail ads can be.
Google Wants to Have it Both Ways on China
Could Google’s heroic march out of the Chinese market have been nothing more than a show? As reported in the New York Times, Google co-founder Sergey Brin told an audience at last week’s TED Conference that he wants “to find a way to work within the Chinese system to bring information to the people. Perhaps we won’t succeed immediately, but maybe in a year or two.” Wasn’t that Google’s philosophy before they threatened to leave China too?
It seems like Google wants to be viewed as hero for threatening to leave China but also for deciding to stay. Could Google’s wishy-washy stance on China hurt the company in the public eye?
Charging Cyberbullies with Identity Theft?
Since few states have specific cyberbullying legislation on the books, law enforcement officials are getting creative about how they interpret existing laws to punish cyberbullies. For example, three teenage boys in Newburyport, Massachusetts have been charged with identity theft after setting up a fake Facebook profile in another student’s name and using it for cyberbullying. Is that a stretch? Maybe, but a columnist for the Boston Globe thinks that it’s the right move to show that cyberbullying is a serious problem and that cyberbullies should face serious consequences.
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