Mark Z - Person of the Year

This week Mark Zuckerberg was named Person of the Year by Time Magazine. I am both excited and disappointed by this choice. On one level I am happy to see the mainstream media embrace the tech world, I think it help validates the industry and helps lift it from fun website to a global brand.

On the other side I wish Time would choose a better ambassador instead of Mark. I find his company to be unscrupulous with the way they sell user data to third parties, praying the the users who think they are contributing their content to a walled garden. If you are among the foolish that think what you write on Facebook is protected, then you need to visit Your Open Book.org. Just type something generic like, "I hate my boss" and you'll have a long list of people who write nasty things about their boss on Facebook.

Here is a short list of influencial tech people I would choose over Mark Z:

1) Steve Jobs - The iPad was one of the top products of the year. As CEO of Apple Steve's legacy is more secure than ever.

2) Eric Schmidt - Google's CEO is controversial, but their stand-off with China and other significant tech creations are changing the world in a positive way.

3) Jeff Bezos - I'm a huge Amazon fan and I think they're just getting better. The Kindle is a big hit that looks to change book publishing forever.

TONYZERRER@facebook.com

Image via CrunchBase

I read today that Facebook is working on an email service for their users. I think this is a fantastic idea and welcome the innovation. I can't say I'll participate with the service, but I know many of my friends and family will.

The Good:

1) Everyone already has a Facebook account and uses it regularly, this new email feature will help consolidate the user's time  by making Facebook a one-stop shop for most of their Internet uses.

2) I'm sure Facebook will be able to integrate their email service with all the other services seamlessly. Surely the mobile app will continue to be a streamlined version of the popular desktop version, which will make reading and writing emails from Facebook even easier.

The Bad:

1) Trust is an issue for Facebook users. Many are familiar with Facebook's unscrupulous actions by selling user data to third parties, integrating email will become another avenue for advertisers to target users on a deeper level than before.

2) Alone the lines of private data becoming compromised, I could see email messages being searchable via Facebook or oven Google. Have you ever heard of myopenbook.org? Imagine if they could add email addresses and messages to their search engine.

The unfortunate part of all this are the scores of people that think Facebook is the Internet. I'm afraid that adding email services will only help complete the brainwashing. On the other side I see Facebook having a lot at stake. If they don't execute this service properly they could risk a major downfall and alienate many users prior to their big IPO. On the other hand if Facebook is able to build email as a popular service, they could possibly become the largest email provider in the world.

Related articles

• Why You'll Give Up Gmail for Facebook Mail [Facebook] (gizmodo.com)
• Here's How Facebook Email Is Going To Kick Gmail's Butt (businessinsider.com)

Facebook Privacy

Have you ever tried Youropenbook.org? The site serves as a search engine for Facebook posts. Try searching for "I hate my boss" and you'll see a long string of people that openly degrade their boss and company while thinking what they are typing is somehow private. 

The problem originates with Facebook's attempt to complicate the privacy settings because the information is too valuable for advertisers. To help with this problem, I'm sharing a wonderful document that will show you how to avoid showing up on places like Youropenbook.org along with Google searches. In the end you should realize everything you post to the Internet should be considered public, so don't say anything that could get you in trouble.

Facebook Privacy

Posted via email from Geek Dad Lab