Scott Rosenberg discusses the digital records we leave of our day-to-day existence, and wonders why anyone would entrust them to Facebook. It's a good question. Many of us don't have the zeal of a Gordon Bell when it comes to monitoring and recording our lives. But we're recording big sections all the same, with our conversations, updates and photos. If that trove occurs on Facebook, how do we get our hands on it 10, 20 or 30 years from now?
You could ask the same question about many Web-based services, including e-mail accounts and photo services on Google, Yahoo and Microsoft. But I find my stuff lodged with those companies easier to search and retrieve. (The key, as Bell will tell you, is being able to search it, because the bits of data we're dying to find will be buried under mountains of stored junk.)
Facebook, though, will likely have a richer stream of data describing our lives, especially if its new ...quot;places...quot; app takes off. It would seem to me that Facebook could build a niche business offering to archive personal datastreams for premium customers.
Why trust Facebook with our history?
Other Posts by Stephen Baker
Healthcare's Only Hope: Surveillance - September 20, 2011
Getting Ready for the Post-Season: Numerati Baseball - September 17, 2011
The Statistics of Counter-Terrorism - September 12, 2011
You Will Be Monitored, Step by Step - September 9, 2011
Post Steve Jobs: 'Hard to Imagine' Game-Changing Technology - August 29, 2011
The moderated business community for business intelligence, predictive analyics, and data professionals.
The Predictive Analytics in the Cloud Study is complete!
Register here to access the full results of this exclsuive study on Predictive Analytics and Cloud Technology including a whitepaper, 2 webinars, multiple podcasts and more!
Stephen Baker is the author of The Numerati & a journalist with 20 years of experience at BusinessWeek. More »
Paul Barsch directs professional services marketing programs for Teradata and has more than fifteen years of information... More »
Gary Cokins is an internationally recognized expert, speaker, and author. More »
Jill Dyché is an internationally recognized author, speaker, and business consultant. More »
Themos Kalafatis has worked as a consultant for Data Mining, Text Mining, Information Extraction and Data Quality for over a decade. More »
James Taylor is CEO and Principal Consultant at Decision Management Solutions and a leading expert in decision management. More »
SmartData Collective
- YOU
- Dean Abbott
- Teradata AusNZ
- Paul Barsch
- Meta S. Brown
- Jason Burke
- Gary Cokins
- Ted Cuzzillo
- Barry Devlin
- Chris Dixon
- Jill Dyché
- Timo Elliott
- Teradata EMEA
- Teradata Experts
- Michael Fauscette
- Bill Franks
- Bob Gourley
- Julie Hunt
- Doug Lautzenheiser
- Jack Mason
- Darryl McDonald
- Alex Olesker
- David Smith
- James Taylor
- Daniel Tunkelang
HR & Workforce Analytics Innovation Summit
When: Thu, 2012-05-24 08:00
Business Analytics Innovation Summit
When: Thu, 2012-05-24 08:00
Salford Analytics and Data Mining Conference
When: Thu, 2012-05-24 12:09
Information management and governance for the public services
When: Fri, 2012-05-25 08:00
Disruptive Technologies & Innovation Minds 2012
When: Mon, 2012-06-18 09:00
Advanced Analytics for Retail
When: Thu, 2012-06-21 08:00
Advanced Analytics for Consumer Goods
When: Thu, 2012-06-21 08:00
CIMI.Con Evolution 2012
When: Mon, 2012-06-25 08:00
Predictive Analytics World, June 25-26, 2012 in Chicago
When: Mon, 2012-06-25 09:00
Big Data for Enterprise USA 2012
When: Wed, 2012-06-27 08:00

About Social Media Today


