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A lot of buzz about this today: it was just announced that Facebook will be allowing sites to start using its comments system instead of their own. What does this mean?

Well…

1) If you’re logged into Facebook, you can comment on any site that’s implemented Facebook comments without having to sign in again. Ok, that’s kind of cool.

2) Your comments on said site can be quickly posted to your Facebook wall, if you so choose. This is already available now, of course. But…

3) Because all this is tied together, your real identity will show on the website next to your comment. This includes your name, profile photo, and a link to your Facebook page. Hm. And…

4) Anyone who replies to your comment, whether on the public site or your Facebook page, will have their reply cross-posted automatically to the other medium. So if a friend replies on your Facebook wall, their comment will automatically show on the site you originally posted the comment to, and vice versa.

I don’t like this idea very much, and I’m not alone. Sure, this will cut down on spam and potentially insensitive/inappropriate comments from internet trolls, but that kind of stuff comes with the territory. If you want to be open, you need to be ready to moderate as needed. While this whole cross-posting/multi-channel/single-sign-in identity thing may sound cool, it’s really just good for Facebook and the sites they’re working with. More potential “likes”, shares, and distribution for content these sites are trying to push, and in turn Facebook gets to obtain even more information about you and target you based on sites you’re visiting.

Some sites including TechCrunch implemented Facebook comments as a test last week, and noted a reduction in spam/nasty comments, but also a reduction in the number of comments overall (see related reading below).

A lot of people are already skeptical about Facebook’s privacy and what they’re sharing with third parties. So I find it a little disturbing that I could comment on a friend’s wall post and have my words, profile information, photo, and the direct link to my page all displayed publicly without my knowledge. Presently when you’re commenting on Facebook, you’re ok with it because you know it’s a comment on Facebook. If this opens up, it has the potential to completely change the way people interact on social and public sites.

Steve Cheney (again, see related reading below), says it very plainly, and quite well: “Face it, authenticity goes way down when people know their 700 friends, grandma, and five ex-girlfriends are tuning in each time they post something on the Web.”

I can’t agree more. If you don’t know who’s going to see what you’re saying, or likewise, if you know that your true identity is going to be displayed in a public place next to what you’re saying and it’s going to be seen by a bunch of people you don’t know all over the world, you’re less likely to be open and say what you really want to.

Some people could say: “Well Yasean, if all this Facebook stuff bugs you so much, why keep using it? Just get rid of it.” I could do that, but I think the point many are trying to make is that we signed up for Facebook when it was a social network. You know, connect with friends, family, old acquaintances, etc. I love that part about Facebook and after so many years of being on it, extracting myself from that online network would be erasing a huge part of my everyday life (whoa). But it’s kind of scary because I see the company moving towards trying to monopolize the social web, which would create a paradox – as Steve says, “Facebook’s insistence that you have one identity across the Web is both short-sighted and asinine, and people I talk to are starting to realize this. Fact is, one social network will not rule the Web... People are simply way too social to allow that.”

Thoughts?

PS – some people aren’t aware of this, but Facebook doesn’t have you browsing securely by default. If you’re on Facebook and the URL shows “http” instead of “https”, you should switch your account preferences to browse securely by following the directions here. This was just rolled out in January 2011.

Related reading:

Steven Cheney/BusinessInsider -- How Facebook is Killing Your Authenticity

Geoff Spick/CMSWire – Facebook Offers Its Comment System to Any Website

Get it? Ok I tried...

So hot on the heels of our very successful CSF Charlene Li event, and in partnership with our new friends at Eastwick Communications, is our upcoming session with LEGO, scheduled for Wednesday, September 29. You probably saw our press release from earlier this week detailing the event, but here are some highlights:

-- Our speaker will be Tormod Askilsen, head of community development at LEGO
-- The event will take place at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA
-- THERE WILL BE MONSTER CHESS:

There are a lot of reasons why this event is going to be relevant. First, we're continuing our CSF speaker series with something bigger and better for everyone involved -- especially you, our audience. Second, LEGO and Tormod are well-recognized for their innovation when it comes to online communities.

And of course, LEGO is awesome. The venue is awesome, the event is going to be awesome, and we want to fill it with awesome people. We really appreciate everyone's support in helping us make these programs successful...so you're all invited to come join us for an engaging presentation and discussion at the museum.

There isn't all that much time left -- the event is just a few weeks away! Our goal is to take what we did with the Charlene event and magnify that immensely. So we really encourage everyone who can make it to sign up today.

To do so, please visit our new CSF site, and invite others to do the same!

Did I mention there will be MONSTER CHESS????

I just came across an article on Mashable today titled "Experts Agree: Gen Y Will Not Grow Out of Social Networking".

In summary, Pew conducted a survey of Internet experts as part of its "Future of the Internet" study, and 67% of those experts agreed with the below statement stating that social networking isn't just a fad for today's digital generation.

“By 2020, members of Generation Y (today’s ‘digital natives’) will continue to be ambient broadcasters who disclose a great deal of personal information in order to stay connected and take advantage of social, economic, and political opportunities. Even as they mature, have families, and take on more significant responsibilities, their enthusiasm for widespread information sharing will carry forward.”

29% agreed with the opposite:

“By 2020, members of Generation Y (today’s “digital natives”) will have “grown out” of much of their use of social networks, multiplayer online games and other time-consuming, transparency-engendering online tools. As they age and find new interests and commitments, their enthusiasm for widespread information sharing will abate.”
You can check out the overview on Pew's website here. There's even a cool graph illustrating the results.

I myself am more inclined to agree with the first statement. I really don't think the current generation's immersion in social media is going to go anywhere -- it's an integral part of how the internet, and our everyday lives, work for us. Sure, things will change and new platforms will arise, providing people with new tools, functions, features...and as the tools become more advanced, we'll run into new privacy issues and have lots of debates. But that's just how it is.

People want to be connected, and as long as there are services allowing them to remain so, they'll accept the risks associated with having online identities. I think individuals may change the type of information -- and how much of it -- they choose to share, but sharing itself will remain a key component even ten years from now. The open, engaging, desire-to-stay-networked state of mind will be passed to the next generation, and we'll see where it goes from there.

Part of the argument for the second statement is that as the current generation gets older, they won't have as much time available to dedicate to social networking; in addition, fears about how oversharing personal information may affect one's professional life and other behavioral changes will also play a role in the movement away from the medium. I can see the validity here, but I don't feel that people will shy away completely. As I stated above, the type and amount of information shared may change, but social engagement will continue. Even today, there are plenty of mothers, fathers and professionals on sites such as Facebook who aren't afraid to maintain their identities in a social space -- they simply do it in a more controlled manner.

What do you think?

So many of you know that we were at the E2 Conference in Boston a couple of weeks ago. Our attendance there coincided with a couple of big announcements -- the launch of Clearvale SecondFloor (CSF), a new global community of consultants, and the debut of Clearvale Nations, our new customer im-migration program.

In addition to Boston being a beautiful city (I'd never been there before), it was pretty great to be at the show promoting Clearvale in the wake of all the exciting things that've been happening here lately. The big Clearvale announcement and media launch/coverage we had back in May, along with the two announcements I mentioned above, have got people talking about us, with us, and we're excited to talk with them too. For all those that I met at the conference last week: thanks for stopping by, and I look forward to connecting with you all again in the near future.

But there's something else I'm excited about -- just this past week, we announced the Clearvale SecondFloor Speaker Series, which is a brand new live event series where we'll hold presentations, Q&A and discussion with thought leaders in the business technology and social media space. Our first session is currently scheduled for Wednesday, August 18, and will feature Charlene Li (yes, THE Charlene Li), founder of the Altimeter Group. The event will take place at BroadVision's corporate headquarters -- on the second floor, of course -- so for those who are in the Silicon Valley/Bay Area, please come join us! Everybody's welcome.

For more info about CSF, the Speaker Series, and to RSVP for the August 18 session, visit our official Meetup group page.

Hope to see everyone there!

I came across the newest edition of Mashable’s Web Faceoff series earlier today. This time, they’re asking readers how they get their news…Twitter or the newspaper? This is very much a tie-in to one of their posts from a few months ago, titled “Social Networks Play a Major Part in How We Get News.” If you read that, you would know the following about American news consumption:

-- The biggest source of news is television
-- Internet is the second biggest source
-- Not very many people read newspapers anymore

I myself get almost all of my news from the internet (although I’m a fan of Anderson Cooper). I’m also pretty guilty of the third bullet. It’s not that I don’t like newspapers…on the contrary, I love them. It’s just that online news is insanely accessible and easy. News – and tabloids, which should not qualify as news but for some reason seems be just as if not more popular – spread like wildfire on the web.

I used to read a lot. Print, I mean. Books, comics, magazines, newspapers… it was a hobby of mine. These days, hardly ever. There aren’t too many friends of mine who read print either, and that makes me sad. There’s something about holding paper pages between the palms of your hands that makes reading printed material cooler than just skimming through material online.

You’d think that this wouldn’t really bother me, and it doesn’t. It makes me sad, but it doesn’t bother me. Does that make sense? I view the decline of print as a natural, technological progression – one that is bittersweet yet acceptable. In the eyes of most people today, progress is defined by speed, efficiency, ease, and cost reduction. What’s the quickest way to get from A to B? Then to C and D? And how cheaply can it all be done?

I understand that this is the way the world works, especially when it comes to business. It’s always full speed ahead, and that’s just how it’s always been. But I think what I’m trying to get at is that I don’t believe everyone was really prepared for just how quickly the business world has been changing and is continuing to change. And in today’s world, the speed at which transformation occurs is amplified more than ever before.

Take a look at the question again: Twitter or newspaper? Aside from both being means to deliver messages, they are radically different. Yet, they're being compared. It’s hard to guess what type of platform will come next.

On a related topic, Giovanni just wrote a great blog post on the subject of CEO’s doubting their ability to manage the complexities of changing business. Check it out.

Hi everybody.

Not to put a damper on my first post, but I suffered quite the tragedy this past weekend. My beloved San Jose Sharks (the Bay Area’s ice hockey team, for those who don’t follow the sport) were swept by the Chicago Blackhawks in game four of the NHL Western Conference Finals.

To plenty of people, this probably doesn’t mean much. But to me, it was devastating. As soon as the game ended I hopped on my mobile phone and updated the status on my Facebook page…something about wanting to cry, I think. Not surprisingly, a lot of my friends who are fellow fans had posted similar updates, all within mere minutes of each other. I commented on a few pages, a few commented on mine, and we all sulked collectively online.

My awesome grandpa (who is going on 91 this year, bless him) still writes letters to his friends overseas. He’s never used a computer and doesn’t know what email is. I’ve tried to explain it all to him before, and he understands the concepts, but he’ll never be able to wrap his head around the idea of “online space”. It's just too much information and too overwhelming for him to process.

I never really thought too much about how amazing communication via the internet really is, because I grew up sitting in front of a computer screen sending emails and instant messages to my friends. To be honest, I can’t remember much about how I interacted with my friends before the internet gave new meaning to the word conversation, and CHANGED THE WORLD FOREVER. Whoa. (Disclaimer: that link is a bit dated, but it's nice perspective into the immense progression that took place over the last two decades or so).

We live in a world that’s so incredibly connected. It’s pretty crazy, actually. But for the most part, the most advanced connectivity has been on personal levels. Now, over just the past couple of years, the tools and technology that transformed the social lives of people all over the world have made their way into the enterprise. It’s a relatively new take on how to conduct business – it’s more open, refreshing, rather exciting, and has made the adaptation to corporate culture easier and more comfortable for both myself and my peers. Merging our work with these tools that are so familiar to us really opens the door to how we can conduct and shape our businesses.

What I’d like to do with this blog is share what it’s like to be part of an emerging workforce that’s been completely shaped by the advent of social media. I hope you’ll find reading about my personal thoughts and experiences useful…and entertaining, of course.

Welcome to Generation 2.0. I’m looking forward to our conversations.