1. The document discusses how social networking sites like Facebook are incentivized to promote the open sharing of personal information in order to maximize profits. 2. It notes that providing users with robust privacy controls would go against this business model, so Facebook only implements them when necessary and positions them as inconvenient sacrifices. 3. The document advocates for increased regulation, technology, and literacy to help balance corporate interests with user privacy in social media.

1. Michael Zimmer,
PhD
The Laws of
Social
Networking
Or, How Facebook
Feigns Privacy
Oct 21, 2010The Laws of Social Networking, or, How Facebook Feigns Privacy :: IR.11

2. Michael Zimmer,
PhD
Oct 21, 2010The Laws of Social Networking, or, How Facebook Feigns Privacy :: IR.11

3. Michael Zimmer,
PhD
Oct 21, 2010The Laws of Social Networking, or, How Facebook Feigns Privacy :: IR.11

4. Michael Zimmer,
PhD
Laws of Social Networking
1. Social networking sites are incentivized to
promote the open and unfettered flow of
personal information
2. Providing users robust and easy-to-use tools
to control their personal information flows is
counter to this profit maximization motive
3. Provide privacy controls only when you
must, positioning them as both a great a
sacrifice, as well as something users
probably shouldn’t bother with
 make privacy hard
Oct 21, 2010The Laws of Social Networking, or, How Facebook Feigns Privacy :: IR.11

5. Michael Zimmer,
PhD
Laws of Social Networking
1. Social networking sites are incentivized to
promote the open and unfettered flow of
personal information
2. Providing users robust and easy-to-use tools
to control their personal information flows is
counter to this profit maximization motive
3. Provide privacy controls only when you
must, positioning them as both a great a
sacrifice, as well as something users
probably shouldn’t bother with
 make privacy hard
Oct 21, 2010The Laws of Social Networking, or, How Facebook Feigns Privacy :: IR.11

6. Michael Zimmer,
PhD
Oct 21, 2010The Laws of Social Networking, or, How Facebook Feigns Privacy :: IR.11

7. Michael Zimmer,
PhD
Four years ago, when Facebook was just
getting started, most people didn’t want to
put information about themselves on the
Internet. So, we got people through this
really big hurdle of getting people to want
to put up their full name, a real picture,
mobile phone number…
Oct 21, 2010The Laws of Social Networking, or, How Facebook Feigns Privacy :: IR.11
“

8. Michael Zimmer,
PhD
I would expect that next year, people will
share twice as much information as they share
this year, and next year, they will be sharing
twice as much as they did the year before…
…as long as the stream of information is
constantly increasing, and as long as we’re
doing our job…our role of pushing that
forward, I think that’s….the best strategy for us
Oct 21, 2010The Laws of Social Networking, or, How Facebook Feigns Privacy :: IR.11
“

9. Michael Zimmer,
PhD
Laws of Social Networking
1. Social networking sites are incentivized to
promote the open and unfettered flow of
personal information
2. Providing users robust and easy-to-use tools
to control their personal information flows is
counter to this profit maximization motive
3. Provide privacy controls only when you
must, positioning them as both a great a
sacrifice, as well as something users
probably shouldn’t bother with
 make privacy hard
Oct 21, 2010The Laws of Social Networking, or, How Facebook Feigns Privacy :: IR.11

10. Michael Zimmer,
PhD
Oct 21, 2010The Laws of Social Networking, or, How Facebook Feigns Privacy :: IR.11

11. Michael Zimmer,
PhD
Oct 21, 2010The Laws of Social Networking, or, How Facebook Feigns Privacy :: IR.11

12. Michael Zimmer,
PhD
Oct 21, 2010The Laws of Social Networking, or, How Facebook Feigns Privacy :: IR.11
http://mattmckeon.com/facebook-privacy/

13. Michael Zimmer,
PhD
Oct 21, 2010The Laws of Social Networking, or, How Facebook Feigns Privacy :: IR.11
http://mattmckeon.com/facebook-privacy/

14. Michael Zimmer,
PhD
Oct 21, 2010The Laws of Social Networking, or, How Facebook Feigns Privacy :: IR.11
http://mattmckeon.com/facebook-privacy/

15. Michael Zimmer,
PhD
Oct 21, 2010The Laws of Social Networking, or, How Facebook Feigns Privacy :: IR.11
http://mattmckeon.com/facebook-privacy/

16. Michael Zimmer,
PhD
Oct 21, 2010The Laws of Social Networking, or, How Facebook Feigns Privacy :: IR.11
http://mattmckeon.com/facebook-privacy/

17. Michael Zimmer,
PhD
Oct 21, 2010The Laws of Social Networking, or, How Facebook Feigns Privacy :: IR.11
http://mattmckeon.com/facebook-privacy/

18. Michael Zimmer,
PhD
Laws of Social Networking
1. Social networking sites are incentivized to
promote the open and unfettered flow of
personal information
2. Providing users robust and easy-to-use tools
to control their personal information flows is
counter to this profit maximization motive
3. Provide privacy controls only when you
must, positioning them as both a great a
sacrifice, as well as something users
probably shouldn’t bother with
 make privacy hard
Oct 21, 2010The Laws of Social Networking, or, How Facebook Feigns Privacy :: IR.11

19. Michael Zimmer,
PhD
Oct 21, 2010The Laws of Social Networking, or, How Facebook Feigns Privacy :: IR.11
50 settings with more than 170 options

20. Michael Zimmer,
PhD
Oct 21, 2010The Laws of Social Networking, or, How Facebook Feigns Privacy :: IR.11
Facebook provides a less satisfying
experience for people who choose not to
post a photo or make connections with
friends or interests…
If you’re not comfortable sharing, don’t
“
“

21. Michael Zimmer,
PhD
Oct 21, 2010The Laws of Social Networking, or, How Facebook Feigns Privacy :: IR.11

22. Michael Zimmer,
PhD
Oct 21, 2010The Laws of Social Networking, or, How Facebook Feigns Privacy :: IR.11

23. Michael Zimmer,
PhD
Oct 21, 2010The Laws of Social Networking, or, How Facebook Feigns Privacy :: IR.11

24. Michael Zimmer,
PhD
Laws of Social Networking
1. Social networking sites are incentivized to
promote the open and unfettered flow of
personal information
2. Providing users robust and easy-to-use tools
to control their personal information flows is
counter to this profit maximization motive
3. Provide privacy controls only when you
must, positioning them as both a great a
sacrifice, as well as something users
probably shouldn’t bother with
 make privacy hard
Oct 21, 2010The Laws of Social Networking, or, How Facebook Feigns Privacy :: IR.11

25. Michael Zimmer,
PhD
 Regulation
 Technology
 Literacy
Oct 21, 2010The Laws of Social Networking, or, How Facebook Feigns Privacy :: IR.11

26. Michael Zimmer,
PhD
Oct 21, 2010The Laws of Social Networking, or, How Facebook Feigns Privacy :: IR.11
The privacy aware, personally
controlled, do-it-all, open
source social network.

27. Michael Zimmer,
PhD
Currently, the predominant business model for
commercial search engines is advertising. The
goals of the advertising business model do not
always correspond to providing quality search
to users.
…we expect that advertising funded search
engines will be inherently biased towards the
advertisers and away from the needs of the
consumers.
… advertising causes enough mixed incentives
that it is crucial to have a competitive search
engine that is transparent and in the
academic realm.
Oct 21, 2010The Laws of Social Networking, or, How Facebook Feigns Privacy :: IR.11
“

28. Michael Zimmer,
PhD
 Regulation
 Technology
 Literacy
Oct 21, 2010The Laws of Social Networking, or, How Facebook Feigns Privacy :: IR.11

29. Michael Zimmer,
PhD
The Laws of
Social
Networking
Or, How Facebook
Feigns Privacy
Oct 21, 2010The Laws of Social Networking, or, How Facebook Feigns Privacy :: IR.11