Colin's Blog My thoughts on everything.

18Mar/08Off

The Commute – 18 March 08


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I chat about Facebook's launch of new profile privacy features.

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18Mar/08Off

Granular Facebook Privacy Settings – FINALLY!

Anyone who's chatted with me about Facebook in the last several months or so knows that my biggest pet peeve about the social network is that you've only been able put your friends into one of two buckets of profile privacy settings - "Limited Profile" or, well, not limited profile.

Nick O'Neill (allfacebook.com) and Justin Smith (insidefacebook.com) are reporting today that Facebook is FINALLY rolling out customizable profile privacy settings.

I had assumed that when this feature appeared, that it would be tied to the "Friend List" feature rolled out a few months ago. Apparently, though, you will be able to set specific privacy settings for each friend and will be prompted to do so during the friend confirmation process. I guess that means I have to all of my existing friends one-by-one and make sure the privacy settings appropriate. Sigh.

Go read Nick and Justin's reports for all the details.

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25Aug/07Off

Facebook vs. LinkedIn (again)

On Friday, Nick over at AllFacebook.com posted about the one killer Facebook feature that would make LinkedIn irrelevant. I think he's only half right... extending the privacy functionality to allow the creation of multiple privacy profiles would be huge.

LinkedIn's killer feature, though, would have to be replicated in Facebook for it to really cause LinkedIn any pain. LinkedIn's 'degrees of separation' feature that permeates the UI is what makes the app so powerful. Leveraging my existing network is actually easier in Facebook than in LinkedIn, but it's that latent, hidden network that LinkeIn unlocks. If I need to get in touch with someone at, say, Facebook Inc., I simply plug it the search bar and LinkedIn can tell me how to get there through my network.

Facebook, on the other hand, doesn't give me any access at all to the outer ring of my network - my friends' friends. Let's say I'm going to be spending a week in Calgary and I'd like to know where to eat near my hotel. None of my friends live in Calgary, but I'm sure some of them have friends or family there. What better way to get the local scoop on a city?

Already several times I've written notes or status messages saying "Anyone know anyone who lives/has/works/knows X?" Being able to search the extended network in a controlled way would allow me to message a single person and say "Hi, I'm friends with your nephew -- I'm coming to Calgary next month and wondered if you could recommend a good restaurant downtown."

That would be cool.

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Colin Who?

face I'm a digital communications executive specializing in community engagement, social marketing, and online identity management currently serving asthe Associate Secretary, Communications, at the national offices of The Presbyterian Church in Canada. I can be found on LinkedIn and Twitter and Facebook.

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