When the same piece also revealed that Facebook employees could access all that information with a special passkey-style access code, it seems we should have been shocked. I have to admit, however, that while I found the news interesting, I was not at all incredulous. Facebook seems to have issued some kind of denial (although which part is being denied is not clear), but I really wonder why they bothered.
Social media sites make their money in a number of ways, and some of those probably include collecting information on subscribers’ actions in order to more effectively market products to those subscribers. In fact, at one point Facebook tried to tell us that they, in fact, own all the information we put on their servers—until outrage from subscribers made them do a hasty 180. At this point in history, though, no one is really sure how the whole social media thing will shake out in terms of subscriber privacy or lack thereof. One thing we can accurately forecast, however, is that the sites will do all they can to maximize their revenues—and that will inevitably mean “creative” use of the data on their servers.
Facebook users (and users of Twitter, MySpace and other sites) seem to want to have their cake and eat it, too. It amazes me how much personal information subscribers are willing to share online, only to be shocked that people seem to me accessing and using that information. It’s akin to telling your deepest secrets to the biggest blabbermouth you know, who also happens to be a reporter for a national news network. The bottom line is that if you are putting your information out there, there is always the risk that someone will see it and do something with it, whether or not they have your permission. This is a fact of Internet life for all of us. Get used to it.
When insurers, brokers and other entities seek to leverage such sites for business purposes, however, the same facts of life are in operation. Insurance buyers may well assume that they can securely transmit information to the insurance company via the insurer’s Facebook link, but that assumption is dubious at best. So when some form of breach occurs, it really isn’t clear whether the insurer or the social media site will bear the legal responsibility. And insurance, which often involves personal and sensitive information, is only the tip of the iceberg.
The social media milieu represents an exciting new channel for commerce, and none of us can be blamed for being interested in more business and a fatter bottom line. At the same time, however, the legal, moral and ethical boundaries for this milieu are still being formed. We all know that some eggs must be broken to make that beautiful omelet, but we need to take care that the eggs don’t come from our own baskets.
To put it another way, the world of social media is more like the wild American West of the 1870s than most of us realize. Eventually, rules and regulations may make this environment safer, but at this moment, jumping blindly into deep waters could prove costly. Web 2.0 looks very enticing, and insurers should be looking into it and even testing the waters, but I’m inclined to save my larger investments for a more mature environment that has been shaped in part by the mistakes of others.
This article can also be found at InsuranceNetworking.com.
Ara C. Trembly is the founder of Ara Trembly, The Tech Consultant, and a noted speaker on and longtime observer of technology in insurance and financial services. He can be reached at ara@aratremblytechnology.com.
Be the first to comment on this post using the section below.