social media

Subscribe to social media via RSS
Fried egg on the sidewalk
“This is your information, ungoverned.”

2017 was rife with data dangers.  Nary a day passed without headlines of massive data breaches and ransomware attacks; Russian election-meddling through WikiLeaks and social media; fake news; and presidential tweet-storms.  Disruptive information-driven technologies continued to emerge, from block-chain to biometrics, IoT, AI, and robotics.  Meanwhile, the sheer volume of our personal and business data inexorably grew.

What better way to start 2018 than with a renewed commitment to Information Governance?  So, here are a dozen reasons why your organization should govern its information, in 2018 and beyond: 
Continue Reading 12 reasons to govern your information in 2018

Zuzu's PetalsFacebook this week announced its new social media application targeted at children,  Messenger Kids.  Designed to be COPPA-compliant, the text, video chat and photo-sharing app combines parental controls with all of the quirky features that tweens and younger folks will simply love, thereby ensuring Facebook will enjoy a next generation of engaged customers … and also their data.

The new app drops smack into the ongoing cultural debate over the wisdom of young children being exposed to regular internet and social media use.  Detractors of the new Facebook app note concerns about data collection and use.  The Wait until 8th campaign advocates for no smart phone use until eighth grade.  Notably, both Bill Gates and Steve Jobs limited their children’s access to technology.  And studies regularly link social media use with increased rates of depression among youth.

The notion is that young people should be protected from unfettered exposure to social media and the Internet until they are old enough to use these tools with responsibility and moderation.  Fair point, but a flawed premise: when it comes to responsible and moderate use of technology, we adults still have a lot of work to do.
Continue Reading Forget petals – Zuzu wants a smartphone for Christmas

Viral Shares and Likes.I put off writing this post for months, because I found the April news item so profoundly disturbing.  But as I reflect on the past year, now that 2016 has finally come to a close, it strikes me that one detail of this news story metaphorically captures a deep and troubling problem in our technology-fueled, dysfunctional relationship with information.

On February 27, in Columbus, Ohio, 18 year-old Marina Lonina used Twitter’s Periscope app on her phone to live-stream the rape of a 17 year-old high school friend.  The live video lasted at least 10 minutes, with no sign of Lonina doing anything of consequence to help her friend.  It took someone viewing live in another state to notify the authorities.

This is not a post about how crimes are increasingly captured through live streaming apps like Periscope.  Instead, what makes this story so chilling is the explanation for why Lonina didn’t try to stop the rape, while her friend was heard repeatedly saying “Please stop,” and “Please no.”

As reported by the New York Times, “Mr. O’Brien, the prosecutor, said Ms. Lonina had apparently hoped that live-streaming the attack would help to stop it, but that she became enthralled by positive feedback online.”  According to the prosecutor, “She got caught up in the likes.”
Continue Reading 2016: Blinded by the Likes

KindergartenSometimes we make things way too complicated – especially our relationship with business data. Allow me to “kidnap” Robert Fulghum’s classic poem – wisdom in effectively governing information compliance, cost, risk, and value is not found exclusively at the top of the data science mountain, but there in the sandpile at kindergarten.  Here are the things we learned there:
Continue Reading All we really need to know about Information Governance we learned in kindergarten