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Tag: privacy

Facebook’s latest response to Google+

First thing I thought of when Google+ launched a few months ago was that they were making a big promotional mistake by making their USP (unique selling proposition) the fact that they allow users to create “circles”.

Why did I think it was a mistake?

One of the key things I remember that my strategic management prof would drill into our heads back in business school was to always differentiate between a “competitive advantage” and a “sustainable competitive advantage”. In Google’s case, the circle feature was clearly the former. In other words, a competitive advantage with a short lifespan; something that competitors could easily replicate.

Privacy? What’s that?

The largest shift I’ve seen over the course of the last year in the digital space has been regarding the concept of privacy.

As always, I like to start with a definition:

“Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively. The boundaries and content of what is considered private differ among cultures and individuals, but share basic common themes. Privacy is sometimes related to anonymity, the wish to remain unnoticed or unidentified in the public realm. When something is private to a person, it usually means there is something within them that is considered inherently special or personally sensitive. The degree to which private information is exposed therefore depends on how the public will receive this information, which differs between places and over time. Privacy is broader than security and includes the concepts of appropriate use and protection of information.” -Wikipedia