I came across this article published last month in the Financial Times. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bc5487dc-f129-11dc-a91a-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1
Amazon are jumping on the social networking bandwagon by introducing Facebook applications. “The Grapevine application will automatically update a participating Facebook users’ online friends if he or she adds items to their own Amazon wish list, or writes a product review on the Amazon site…A Facebook user who adds the “Giver” application to his or her online profile can then view other users’ Amazon wish lists, and link through them to make a purchase at Amazon’s site.”
Facebook have been blasted in the past (anyone remember the Beacon debacle?!) for sharing its users consumer habits without permission. On reading this article I was instantly on guard – was the same thing about to happen again? Would these sites never learn to respect our privacy? However an interview with Chris Kelly, chief privacy officer of Facebook was brought to my attention by The Social Librarian. It would seem that Facebook are becoming more clued up on this issue. http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3680649.ece
As The Social Librarian points out in her latest blog, education really is the key here. People who add this application must be aware that their information is being used in this way. It remains to be seen how this will pan out. Personally I would exercise caution.
However the article also made me think about how this could potentially be used by public libraries – couldn’t public libraries with Facebook pages have a similar application? I have noticed that you can be a ‘fan’ of some public libraries, or join a ‘group’, but from my experience people tend to just join and then forget about it – it’s not terribly interactive. If there was some way of linking ‘fans’ or ‘group members’ together with updates etc to create more of a localised community, or to enhance the ’social’ aspect of the online public library it might be beneficial. Just a thought…
As yet I’m undecided on the role Amazon has within Facebook – I can’t imagine wanting to add it as I don’t sign into Facebook to be relentlessly bombarded with advertisements – but I might change my mind coming up to Christmas when I’m scraping the barrel for pressie ideas!
