Last week I delivered a presentation at the Conference Board of Canada’s Public Sector Social Media event in Ottawa where I deviated from my usual focus on overarching digital trends and strategy. I decided to provide an update to a practical deck I had developed a while back and add some new tools. I called it 30 Tools and Tips to Speed Up Your Day-to-Day Digital Workflow as Government Communicators.
As a consultant involved in the digital space for quite some time now, I have carefully observed the evolution of Facebook since its first year of operation. Since that time Mark Zuckerberg has taken the heat on numerous occasions for a variety of privacy-related issues. Remember Facebook Beacon and Facebook Lexicon? What usually follows is a hopeless attempt by some people to start a “delete Facebook” movement instead of taking some time to do a little introspection.
The news surrounding Facebook and Cambridge Analytica over the past few months has caused quite an uproar. So much so that Zuckerberg himself was summoned to two US congressional hearings and just yesterday, to the much better prepared European Parliament lawmakers to explain what exactly had happened along with the steps Facebook was taking to prevent it from happening again.
Here are some of my general thoughts in no particular order.
As I write this post, I’m waiting for a flight at Pearson International Airport reading through the incoming notifications on my mobile regarding the tragic Berlin Christmas Market lorry incident. At this point, a few deaths have already been confirmed, however judging by the verified images and videos coming from the location, there will surely be many more. There are no words that can bring these people back or console those affected, however there are concrete steps readers/viewers like myself can take to stop the spread of false information during a time of crisis such as this, where we are all prone to react emotionally.