The most common clash I see between the social network user and the hosting company is that users want functionality and free connectivity, while companies are looking to pleasure investors by generating revenue. The reason why MySpace won’t exist in five years is because they chose advertising over the user experience, whereas Facebook did the opposite. MySpace made quick money (more of a get rich quick model), while Facebook took the long-term approach, which has proven to be successful. This post is not meant to say that social networks are evil or that you shouldn’t register for accounts and be active on them. I preach about social networking every day, so I’m not going against my core message, but I do believe you have to be aware of the issues that are going to affect your life on the net now and for time to come.
Facebook has triumphed over Google when it comes to traffic, and now they have 6.8% of all business internet traffic, so there’s no doubt they have a financial future. Below are five reasons why you shouldn’t trust social networks that you’re probably already active on and how to manage the networks more effectively, and without fear.
1. If you don’t pay Ning, you lose your community.
This is perhaps the most bold move this year by a social network. Ning’s new CEO will be forcing people who have free (advertising-based) social networks on the platform to either pay or lose their platform/community. There are 2.3 million networks on Ning, a website that allows everyone to establish their own social network. Users will have to pay or export their network to another platform, which I’m sure will be complicated. The reason why this is such a significant play is that people have invested a lot of time with their Ning communities, including recruiting new members, building profiles, sharing content, and the promotion of their Ning communities, which helps the owner and Ning, as a company looking to build their brand. Other social networks might take the same route at some point, which means we might have to pay to play on these networks and if we lose a percentage of people who won’t pay, it could really hurt our personal and professional relationships. I’m concerned, but relieved that I didn’t build a Ning community, because a lot of people I know are either going to make the investment or be stuck with almost nothing in return for their evangelism and time.
What you should do: Use social networks to market your brand, but don’t invest your soul in them because “the devil” might take it from you, without your consent. Spend less time social networking and more time developing your blog as your main content source and as the website you control. The CEO of Ning can’t shut your blog down, nor can anyone else. I would rather have ten thousand blog subscribers than twenty thousand Facebook friends because those could wash away next week depending on Facebook’s policies.
2. Facebook doesn’t care about your privacy.
Facebook changes their privacy policy every other week. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, even commented that “the age of privacy is over,” in a TechCrunch interview, talking about how our culture is public now and that social norms have changed. Their last privacy change really scared a lot of people, especially those who live private lives (I accept all friends and don’t discriminate between family and strangers). Facebook automatically shares personal information with some pre-approved sites and you’ll have to spend time opting out of if you so choose. The information that is captured is your name, profile picture, gender, friends and connections, and user ID, basically everything that is important on your profile. A report by Sophos shows that 95% of people are against Facebook’s changes, which is a clear indication that the world is not ready for complete transparency.
What you should do: Be smart about the information you publish online. Would your grandma approve of it? I would think about all of your content as public and not private so when Facebook or another social network makes it public in the future, you won’t be as upset. Zuckerberg’s comments show a glimpse at Facebook future, so prepare yourself now for “armageddon.”
3. Twitter sells your tweets to the Library of Congress.
Without your approval, Twitter’s founders made an agreement with the Library of Congress, allowing them to store all of your tweets forever. Overall, this is several billion tweets that have been publicly posted, regardless if the tweet says that you just brushed your teeth or that you just came back from your trip to Russia. They believe it’s an amazing thing and it shows that people care about your personal life now, but I think that it’s a major cover up (possibly a conspiracy). Basically, the government wants to have more control over online communication – including Twitter – so this move will allow them to spy on us. What you tweet today could hurt your career in five years. Everything is on record, so if you’re drunk and tweet something you shouldn’t have, the Library of Congress will have it. If you commit a crime in ten years, the judge might use a tweet against you.
What you should do: Just like with Facebook, you’ll want to be extra careful with your tweets now because they are part of your permanent record. They are also viewable in search engines, including Google, Yahoo!, and Bing.
4. You will receive spam and viruses.
Spam and viruses are commonplace on social networks. There is even some virus going around on Gmail right now, so it’s not just social networks. In a recent study by JanRain of 170,000 websites, 39% of people trusted Google with their login credentials, 23% trusted Facebook, and only 6% trusted Twitter. As you can see, people are paranoid with social networking and I believe it’s because of past issues. I bet you’ve received Facebook spam from your friend. It made them look bad, even if it wasn’t their fault because their name and face was attached to it, and it was just plain annoying for you to deal with. I remember viewing a survey where it showed that 1% of Twitter profiles were spam accounts. Sophos identified that 57% of social networking users have reported spam, which is a 70.6% increase compared to last year.
What you should do: Be conscious of who you are friend’ing and whose following you, so that you can block spam before you become a spam bot yourself. I doubt social networks will ever completely block spam because spammers will experiment with new methods again and again.
5. They are restricted in the workplace.
A lot of companies, especially financial institutions, block social networking sites out of fear that data could leak. A new report out shows that 38% of chief information officers (CIOs) have now implemented stricter social networking policies. If social networks didn’t have issues, then they might not be blocked by as many companies. Of course, you can use your mobile phone at work to tap into your social profiles, but companies are getting wiser and can tap into your activities if it’s a corporate phone. I predict that there will be more formal policies in the future, but it will take companies time to adjust to the new media landscape and to how connected their employees are to the outside world, not just the inside.
What you should do: Ask your manager or email IT to find out what your corporate policy is concerning social networking at work. The more you know what not to do, the more you can use your network to support your professional career, as well as your company, without any hassles.
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I like the post Dan. I know you are a great advocate for social networking, and this post re-affirms that by pointing out what makes the good, and the bad. Most importantly ways to protect yourself as a user for you and/or an organization.
I agree with your suggestion in point #1 to build up your own blog and make it your main content source. That is a key element of inbound marketing. If you create your website / blog as a central hub to all your main content you are driving traffic to your site, still engaging on social networks, and increasing conversions.
Some comments on the point #2 about Facebook. Maybe a wee bit on an exaggeration on them changing their privacy policy every other week?
And in the suggestions; I agree you should make sure to be aware of what you are posting, and what’s funny is that you likely *can* have your Grandma approve of it, or not, because its likely she is a “friend” on Facebook now! 
Keep up the great work buddy!
It was meant as an exaggeration!
That is what I figured. It was a good one.
Dan, I really liked this post, because it was a much more honest and level appraisal of social media than we normally see – especially on blogs about personal branding!
I think the most salient takeaway point here for younger people trying to establish expertise and a “brand” in their field is in item #1 – focus on your blog as a primary source of content, because it’s a website you control. You know what you pay for it (and can in fact switch registrars or hosts to save money or negotiate better terms), and the content belongs to you. That’s a critical feature of blogging for branding purposes and one of the reasons I always recommend it to clients. Facebook, Twitter, etc. – their business models are apt to change, not just in structure, privacy or cost, but also in usefulness. Building your own empire will not!
Thanks!
Don’t want to always come off as “rah rah.” There are pros and cons to being active online. Thankfully, there are more pros.
[...] 5 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Trust Social Networks Published: April 19, 2010 Source: Personal Branding Blog – Dan Schawbel The most common clash I see between the social network user and the hosting company is that users want functionality and free connectivity, while companies are looking to pleasure investors by… [...]
Here’s a resource for those whose companies are blocking or threatening to block employee access to social media apps. It’s a helpful whitepaper called “To Block or Not. Is that the question?”
http://bit.ly/9f8WOT
It has lots of insightful and useful information about identifying and controlling Enterprise 2.0 apps (Facebook, Twitter, Skype, SharePoint, etc.)
Blocking shouldn’t have to be an “all or nothing” proposition.
OMG Dan,
“Why you shouldn’t trust social networks” I never thought I’d hear these words come out of your mouth, lol. But yes it’s good to hear your not totally bias.
Ozzie Saunds
ResumeWritingEdge.com
The future IT (Social Media) policy will be per user. The future will have your complete online history and based on that, we will build a policy
> Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, even commented that “the age of
> privacy is over,” in a TechCrunch interview, talking about how our culture is
> public now and that social norms have changed.
I think we need to just get over it… Society has to stop being so judgmental, we are all human and we all make mistakes. We insist on privacy only so we can conceal things that we feel others will judge us harshly on.
I am not proud of everything I have done in my life, but I have leaned something from all of it. I think I remembering reading this somewhere “he without guilt may cast the first stone”.
I think we all should live our lives like we are on candid camera, accept that all information is in the public domain and is search-able on Google, and the search engine is only getting and more accurate. Imagine what Google will look like in 5, 10 or even 20ty years.
[...] with or without proper email address or phone numbers. In this debate I quoted a related post by Dan Schawbel on his Personal Branding Blog that discusses among other things the lack of privacy over personal data on [...]
[...] a previous post, I gave you some reason why you can’t trust social networks. I was very serious when I wrote that piece. There is no free lunch. We’ve traded our data [...]