Facebook Privacy Settings

I think Facebook is doing a good job of making information available about how they collect and use information about their users within their privacy policy page. When we agree to use a service like Facebook we agree to whatever terms they have set up and we maintain that agreement by continuing use of the service. Facebook isn't holding any secrets about the fact that they are compiling huge amounts of information for each and every one of its users and selling it to – well, they don’t tell you who exactly they’re selling it to, but more than likely it’s: product development, advertising, lending institutions, etc.  Facebook is collecting data about what its users are doing when we're not even actively using the Facebook website. They’re logging information the websites we use, the people we associate with, where we get our news, our political interests, the things we like to buy, etc.

I think it kinda sucks that companies are collecting information about my comments/photos/browsing/buying habits because I value privacy and I wonder if my browsing habits could somehow have a negative effect on me. On the bright side, if whoever is reading the information they've been logging about me is actually paying attention, they might learn that I'm 100% resistant to advertising and might just give up on me completely. Data-mining individual information isn't really a new thing, but is definitely cropping up in the news more often now - probably because the ever increasing popularity of social media sites in conjunction with the technology to more effectively build profiles for everyone using the Internet. 

It’s seems pretty obvious to me that Facebook, like Google/Google+/Youtube/Gmail and their new privacy policy, is making their new policies really obvious to their users because they would like to avoid any potential backlash. If consumers suddenly became aware of what these companies are doing in regards to collecting and selling our info they might freak out. If, on the other hand, social media sites are open about what they are doing they can basically just tell us that the “new” privacy settings are really just there to improve the service and to improve our user experience within consumer culture.

*Edit

After reading the additional articles I'm really starting to get the bigger picture of how deep the issue of privacy really is. We can start by thinking about privacy on a "ground level" where we have utilities on sites like Facebook that allow us to limit the amount of information that we share with other Facebook users (ie: public versus private accounts, comments that only some users can see, etc.). Next we consider privacy on the level of what we think companies like Google and Facebook know about us (interests, online shopping habits, gender, religion, household income).
Most Facebook users would probably agree that we have a fair amount of control over what we want other users to see, but it's still really difficult to determine what our "behind the scenes" online profile looks like. Most of us would like to know how much an advertising firm knows about us. We'd also like to know how much information can be hacked from these profiles by predators or scam artists. One of the articles mentioned the Obama administration making efforts to regulate the amount and types of information that companies like Google should be allowed to document. I feel like this is a necessary step because Internet users seem to be increasingly vulnerable in terms of real privacy.

Following Dunkin' Donuts on Twitter - Best Experience EVER

Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter are becoming increasingly important tools for marketing groups within companies both large and small. Many companies are starting to utilize these sorts of websites because of the high frequency of user traffic that social network sites generate. These websites have become a valuable marketplace for companies to advertise to their fans as well as to build stronger customer relationships.

            Over the past week or two I’ve been following Dunkin’ Donuts on Twitter, and I’ve also been paying attention to the way Dunkin’ Donuts uses Facebook. In this essay I’ll explore some of the strategies that I’ve noticed Dunkin’ Donuts has been using and how I perceive these strategies as they affect the public perception of the company.

            Unlike many of the other companies that I casually browsed on Twitter, Dunkin’ Donuts seldom creates unique posts about new products, images, or casual fun tweets. The greater majority of their tweets are simple, positive responses to other users’ posts (i.e., “@marybethphotoss great picture”! – response to:  “Love my @dunkindonuts on this beautiful day (link to picture of product”). When DD responds to a user post, they typically use words like “we” or “our” to indicate to the user that the Dunkin’ Donuts Twitter representative is an ambassador for the entire company instead of a single employee. This is important because the company needs to maintain a company image rather than a company that just has friendly employees.

I think that this type of engagement with the user is, at a minimum, doing two things for DD’s image and customer relationship: they are creating a more personal relationship with individual fans of the company by maintaining a friendly dialog with people who are trying to communicate with them, and they are also dropping their business name in as many places as possible. This second aspect of DD’s Twitter and Facebook use is probably the most important because fans of DD already like their brand – it’s when the fan tells their friends about their positive experience that promotes the growth of their fan base as well as the growth of their customer base.

            The Dunkin’ Donuts Facebook page is a bit different that the Twitter page because there are more posts that include daily deals and images of products. It doesn’t look like whoever is running the Facebook page is actively responding to fans. This is probably because Twitter is a platform that makes responding to users that use the “@user” feature much simpler. The Facebook page does allow for a collection of images, as well as a “profile pic” that shows up on the front page. The current profile pic is an image of the “Dunkin’ Donuts Fan of the Week”. This is a weekly competition of sorts that encourages fans to submit images of themselves enjoying DD products. It’s pretty obvious that this competition not only encourages people to go out and buy more, but it also encourages people to invest personal time into trying to win a chance to be featured on the DD Facebook page (and what an honor that would be).

            In his article 7 Ways to Create a Memorable Customer Experience With Social Media, Dave Toliver describes some important elements of social media use that businesses should acknowledge. Toliver points out that by creating a place for customers or fans to talk about the company they’ve opened the door to user compliments as well as complaints (Toliver). This is OK, according to Toliver, because the bottom line is that people are talking about your business. In the cases where people are making positive comments about DD, the DD Twitter team retweets and responds to the user post in order to highlight and showcase a positive customer experience. When users post complaints about service the DD Twitter team has an opportunity to respond to the user in order to rectify the experience or to “make things right” so that they don’t lose a customer.

            Recently, a story broke out where a New York DD branch refused service to members of the US armed forces. Navy Seals ORG tweeted the story (which has since been debunked by local news and an internal DD investigation) and many of their fans retweeted the message ("We heard about the US Military members being denied service by @dunkindonuts in Elmira NY owned by Middle Eastern people. Reverse Racism!"). Because of the handy “@” feature, DD was able to respond to each user post individually with a simple message that included a link to the story (We take matters like this seriously & immediately looked into the matter. More info: http://dun.kn/GGLBge ^JG). If Dunkin’ Donuts wasn’t making use of social media this rumor could have spread all over Twitter without any chance for Dunkin’ Donuts to defend itself. They would have had to depend on other users to debunk the rumor – which would likely not happen on the same scale that DD was able to respond.

            Alice Marwick and Danah Boyd discuss imagined audience in their article I Tweet Honestly, I Tweet Passionately. In this article the authors talk about how Twitter users imagine their audience when making posts. I think that a strong understanding of ones audience is important for individuals when making comments because we sometimes forget who is actually reading what we have to say. This is even more important for businesses because their image is something that can be easily tarnished by a few bad posts. Dunkin’ Donuts seems to be adhering to a strict method of responding to positive comments with appreciative responses and acknowledging complaints when they arise with suggestions or by making an effort to rectify the problem. Whoever DD imagines their audience to be, they can probably rest assured knowing that anyone who is reading their comments and posts are likely to think that the DD Twitter team is respectful, appreciative, and acts as an ambassador for the DD company.

            It’s difficult to gauge how much of an effect Dunkin’ Donuts’ use of social media has improved its relationship with its customers. It seems likely, however, that by using social media sites like Twitter, DD has improved its relationship at least with those people who are willing to follow them on Twitter or become fans on Facebook. I think people like to feel that their business with a company is appreciated, and social media sites make individual communications like this possible.

            In addition to making connections with individual fans, social media is also a great way for companies to drop their name over and over again. For advertisers, having the brand’s name pop up in as many places is incredibly important. The frequency in which people talk about your company is also paramount to increasing customer base. If DD responds to a positive comment that a user has made about the service they got with an appreciative comment, the original user may retweet or show their friends the personalized response that they received. This improves Dunkin’ Donuts’ image for the original customer as well as their image for the friends of that customer. The bottom line is that social media provides a new avenue for communication on a personal level and new means of advertising to people. Clearly, social media is an important element for advertisers and marketing groups of any business.

Boyd, Danah and Alice E. Marwick. “I Tweet Honestly, I Tweet Passionately: Twitter

Users, Context Collapse, and the Imagined Audience”. New Media Society 2011 13:114 Web. 7 July 2010.

“Dunkin’ Donuts” Twitter. n.p. Web. 22 March 2012.

Toliver, David. “7 Ways to Create a Memorable Customer Experience With Social Media” Mashable. n.p. Web. 22 March 2012.