Facebook, Pandora and the Future of Social

I must admit, as a Data and Social Analyst, I’m consistently thinking about insights and opportunities to help clients connect with their audience in a more relevant way.  But as a user and consumer myself, I’m a little antsy about how all these profiles and social networks can invade some personal privacy and give profile information to third parties.

Facebook launched the Open Graph Application Programming Interface to replace Facebook Connect on websites during the F8 Conference. By default, the user is opted to Facebook’s new social sharing services including a combination what Facebook knows about users to make their experience on a non-social website more personable.  This may be the future of social utilizing the information plugged into profiles and accounts that other websites can tap into to give the user a more personable experience. Facebook launched the Open Graph protocol with 30 partners.

One of the 30 partners is Pandora Music, a personalized internet radio service that helps users find new music based on their favorites. Pandora is able to link songs and artists to your Facebook friends. For example, when I have John Mayer station on Pandora, I am able to see one of my Facebook friends that also set up a John Mayer station on Pandora. At first, I didn’t think it would have any impact, but then I caught myself listening to an unknown song a little longer than usual because my friend enjoyed that song too. Pandora, along with a couple of other sites is the first of many utilizing the Open Graph to make your online experience more customizable.

This change may seem scary at first, but Facebook security is as strong as what the user wants it to be. It is possible for the user to limit their account so nothing is shared with outside site, but it is also possible to make anything or everything public to the world. Whatever the user decides to disclose as public information will be public and whatever is private, the user can make private. The user has total control.

For more information on setting your privacy settings in Facebook follow this link.

For a guide to block sites from using your information to give you a more personable experience follow this link.