Comments on: To Save Its Bacon, Facebook Weakens Beacon

By: Why Facebook Connect Will Win - GigaOM

Why Facebook Connect Will Win - GigaOM — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 06:02:23 +0000

[...] comparison with the Beacon system this is almost benign. Beacon drew scorn & spit and my personal disdain, mostly because it sought to make commercial gains by compromising [...]

By: What I want for Xmas 2008 « Jay by Jay Fresh

What I want for Xmas 2008 « Jay by Jay Fresh — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:49:27 +0000

[...] If the networks feel they own the people they will make money at the expense of the people (see Facebook Beacon furor), and then that will push people will leave. It happened to Friendster, it’s happening to [...]

By: Sebastian

Sebastian — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 13:11:42 +0000

Well, as long as Facebook has to make money out of the user data, you won’t be able to solve this problem. Fortunately, there is now a social network called Kaioo (http://www.kaioo.com/), which is funded by donations. All incomes are donated as well. The network has no interest in selling user data, because it doesn’t has to earn money. Maybe you should check this out as an alternative to Facebook & Friends…

By: Looking Back: The Year in Web 2.0 - GigaOM

Looking Back: The Year in Web 2.0 - GigaOM — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 15:45:21 +0000

[...] Facebook launched Beacon, its social advertising system, then weakened it after widespread criticism of how it compromised users’ [...]

By: Why is transparency important? Does anyone really care? | Social Media | Jon Ray on being a young marketing consultant/media/video producer and creating compelling content, marketing and social media campaigns.

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 10:01:25 +0000

[...] WoldCom scandal “questionable,” Then you’d think we’d hold everyone to that standard and I don’t see any pointing of fingers at other companies that are participating in [...]

By: BeaconGate: The Send-Receive Question Almost Answered - GigaOM

BeaconGate: The Send-Receive Question Almost Answered - GigaOM — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 16:42:04 +0000

[...] by Om Malik Sunday, December 2, 2007 at 8:41 AM PT Comments (0) After I questioned if Facebook was continuing to receive information transmitted from partner sites (even if it wasn’t published), a researcher at Computer Associates came up [...]

By: Beacon Techonology of Facebook is still a privacy nightmare! | Silence

Beacon Techonology of Facebook is still a privacy nightmare! | Silence — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 18:47:37 +0000

[...] Om Malik still feels concerned and asks the users to completely opt-out of this program otherwise Facebook will still collect data from partner sites. To Anne Zelenka, this struggle to protect online privacy does not end here, she [...]

By: bhc3

bhc3 — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 06:49:28 +0000

So they're using cookies + Beacon to collect my shopping history? To tell the truth, I think it's damn bold. Other companies out there are collecting the clickstream wisdom of crowds. FB will be able to collect the actual purchases + reviews of the crowds. With the user-provided demographics, this purchase information will be pure gold for Facebook. FB can use it for better targeting of ads on FB, as the best behavioral targeting ad network ever built or as market data for marketers.

My only concern is that they keep this information anonymous and/or aggregated. No personally identifying info exposed outside of FB.

By: Facebook: What Beacon Backlash? « Changing Way

Facebook: What Beacon Backlash? « Changing Way — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 05:25:10 +0000

[...] was one of the bigger stories of the last week or so. My favorite post title is Om Malik’s To Save Its Bacon, Facebook Weakens Beacon. Fred Wilson is more favorable to Facebook than Om is, and than I am for that matter. My [...]

By: FuZuckerburg

FuZuckerburg — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 20:12:15 +0000

To be fair they did put in the limitations on the news feed that everyone wanted, I.E. you could tell Facebook what to publish and what not to. that qwelled the tide, because it was enough to appease privacy concerns (the site was still handeling data internally)

This is the same issue over again for most people, a a few of us are also sketched out that we know that facebook is collecting information even if we opt out of the postings on the wall.

By: Rocky Agrawal

Rocky Agrawal — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 19:52:14 +0000

Great headline and analysis, Om.

I agree that the fact that this move does nothing about the collection of the data is problematic. It essentially brushes the real privacy issues under the rug.

Beacon CAN be really powerful, in a way that's meaningful for both me and my social network. But the way it was done made it look like purely a data grub for marketers, with little direct benefit to consumers.

I was using other applications to pull in my reviews from Yelp, shared items from Google Reader, etc. on to Facebook before Beacon existed. That worked great because it was my choice.

More here: http://blog.agrawals.org/2007/11/29/facebook-finds-a-new-course-for-beacon/

By: Facebook finds a new course for Beacon « reDesign

Facebook finds a new course for Beacon « reDesign — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 19:44:08 +0000

[...] To Save Its Bacon, Facebook Weakens Beacon (GigaOm) [...]

By: The Tech 10: Google’s Wireless Bid, Facebook’s Cash Flow and Motorola’s Mojo | Digital Daily | John Paczkowski | AllThingsD

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 19:01:17 +0000

[...] under siege from Move.On and its own members, has announced changes to its new Beacon ad system. Observes Om Malik: “Facebook finally backed down, more or less acquiescing to the demands of those concerned [...]

By: Facebook rethinks. at Beanstalk Talk

Facebook rethinks. at Beanstalk Talk — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 15:42:49 +0000

[...] Gigaom has some nice analysis and speculation that the move had something to do with a potential big investment in Facebook from deep pockets worn by a guy named Li Ka-Shing. Yes, like the cash register sound, well old-school cash registers. [...]

By: TAR ART RAT

TAR ART RAT — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 15:27:36 +0000

congrats, officially best title for an article. ever.

By: Aswath

Aswath — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 13:22:46 +0000

Technology is available for users to realize a distributed social network and own their data. There is no need to depend on an external party.