Canada Helps to Make Global Facebook Change

Back in July of 2009 the Canadian Office of the Privacy Commissioner made headlines when they released a report that indicated Facebook, one of the leading social networking tools in the world, had been violating a number of Canadian privacy issues. These concerns were heard by the California-based company, and the solutions will mean global changes to all 200 million users.

The report's biggest concern was with the amount of personal information it shared with third-party developers who built applications (online games, quizzes, applications, etc.) for Facebook. Too much personal information was being exchanged without users' knowledge (see Sneaky Facebook). And this didn't make the Canadian Privacy Commisioner too happy.

The result? Facebook recognized the concerns and realized that implementing the changes would have a positive effect on its users. Facebook said it would retrofit its website with new controls that would limit the personal information that developers could access. Facebook will also make it clearer to users that there is a difference between deleting an account and making it inactive.

"We're satisfied that with these changes, Facebook is on the way to meeting the requirements of Canada's privacy laws," said Canada's federal privacy commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart at a news conference in Ottawa.

The effects of these changes will definitely mix things up in the Facebook applications world, as developers will be required to change the way they do things. But ultimately it will mean safer, more private social networking for users all around the world.

Canada is pleased. Facebook is pleased. And now the whole world can be pleased knowing that their personal information is a little more private.

For the full story, read the article on Bloomberg.com.

Annoying Facebook Users

Every now and then I'll stumble upon a post or article online that will really speak to me. Considering I use Facebook every day for work, I can completely agree with Brandon Griggs' "The 12 most annoying types of Facebookers". Here are some excerpts:

The Let-Me-Tell-You-Every-Detail-of-My-Day Bore. "I'm waking up." "I had Wheaties for breakfast." "I'm bored at work." "I'm stuck in traffic." You're kidding! How fascinating! No moment is too mundane for some people to broadcast unsolicited to the world. Just because you have 432 Facebook friends doesn't mean we all want to know when you're waiting for the bus.

The Friend-Padder. The average Facebook user has 120 friends on the site. Schmoozers and social butterflies -- you know, the ones who make lifelong pals on the subway -- might reasonably have 300 or 400. But 1,000 "friends?" Unless you're George Clooney or just won the lottery, no one has that many. That's just showing off.

The Sympathy-Baiter. "Barbara is feeling sad today." "Man, am I glad that's over." "Jim could really use some good news about now." Like anglers hunting for fish, these sad sacks cast out their hooks -- baited with vague tales of woe -- in the hopes of landing concerned responses. Genuine bad news is one thing, but these manipulative posts are just pleas for attention.

To read these and nine other accurate statements about Facebook users and the increasing annoyance of some of your online "friends", read the article at CNN.com, ""The 12 most annoying types of Facebookers".

Time to Test your "Brand IQ" Ottawa

The MB Design Studio has been generating a lot of new brands in these past few months. We've been re-branding, brand-polishing, and brand-enhancing dozens of top-notch companies from all across Canada. Each initiative requires research and development of the competition.

Sometimes even the simplest brands require the most extensive, painstaking, and thorough processes to get to the best final result.

Our process at Marketing Breakthroughs involves researching competitive brands locally, nationally, and internationally in order to assess the positive and negative aspects of each brand's competition. It also helps us avoid repetitive and generic creative solutions. We then begin the process of piecing together a solution that avoids errors and challenges the front-running designs of our client's main competition.

Competitive research doesn't begin at 9 a.m. Monday morning when you sit down at your desk. Rather, it starts the moment you wake up. The average person is exposed to hundreds of brands in a single morning. From the toothpaste logo, to the many pages of advertisements in your morning Ottawa Citizen, you are unconsciously absorbing and critiquing brand logos. I encourage you to challenge your 'Brand IQ' and make yourself more aware of brands you like and dislike around you. It will help you develop an appreciation for great design and make you aware to mediocre solutions. And hey, being a self-proclaimed design critic can always be fun!

How well do you know your 'Brand alphabet'?
Click on the image below to see the answers:

What kind of Search Engine will Twitter become?

As Twitter's popularity continues to grow and acquire new users, it being discussed online that Twitter is becoming a major player in the search engine world. You see, when you're logged into Twitter you can always search for topics in the query bar.

For example, if you search for "Ottawa Event" using Twitter, every time someone has tweeted about an Ottawa event, posted a link about an Ottawa event, posted a picture of an Ottawa event, then it will appear in the search results. Therefore, the Internet is at your finger tips with Twitter...just in a different way than how Google presents it. Well, this could really change the way we search online, right?

"If something big is going on in the world, you can get information about it from Twitter". See the TechCrunch article about Twitter as a Search Engine.

But there is a flaw with this idea. All of these search results come from the Tweeters themselves; all the content is user-generated. Why is that a flaw? Because Twitter users are of a certain demographic.

According to the most recent statistics from Neilsen, the majority of Tweeters are between the ages of 25-54 years old. Therefore, if you don't fall into that demographic, you may not be finding all the possible results you'd want because "your kind" are not talking on Twitter.

So, will Twitter become a valuable search engine tool, or will Google remain the dominant search engine?

Let us know your thoughts.