Charging for Trust? The Perils of Information Investment on an Unstable (Free) Platform

Is ”too free to be trustworthy” today’s web-wise version of the old adage “too good to be true”?

MediaShift’s Mark Glaser had a great cautionary post last week about the dangers of professional and/or personal overreliance on any one sharing-is-caring 2.0 platform, such as Facebook or Twitter. [I'll refer to these types of sites here as 'SN/UGC' for Social Networking/User-Generated Content.]

In today’s unpredictable climate of spend-venture-capital-cash-now, find-revenue-later SN/UGCs, Glaser advises, it’s folly to put all your information eggs in one basket.Better to spread your (virtual) self across a number of platforms, so if “your” SN/UGC tanks or becomes a capricious master, you won’t feel like your (real) self is lost at sea, too. more »

Facebook: Parental Edition

Yes, that's him.

Here’s the scene: a dingy church basement. Stale coffee in styrofoam cups. Florescent lights humming overhead. I shuffle up to the folding table that faces the audience and clear my throat.

My name is Emily, and I am Facebook friends with my father. This is my story.

This particular on-the-Book “friendship” didn’t start as all my others had—that is, it wasn’t one of those reflexive “Accept Friend Request” split-click decisions. My dad “friended” me about a month ago, and it took me until exactly yesterday to say yes.

Why the hesitation? more »