Your eMail Address as Currency

In advance of its much anticipated Initial Public Offering, Facebook entered into a settlement agreement with the Federal Trade Commission that bars the company from being deceptive about how it uses customers’ personal information, and Facebook is now required to get permission from customers before changing how personal information is shared.


Some estimates indicate the IPO value of the company will approach $100 billion.

By any standards, that’s a whole lot of money.


It was all made possible by the 800 million Facebook users who unwittingly shared their personal information without their explicit consent—all of whom have played a crucial role to make this marvelous payday for Mark Zuckerberg, his investors and his employees.

So, where’s your cut?

As the New York Times reported, even younger users are abandoning Facebook amid concerns over privacy and information overload. Does this evidence the beginnings of a Wall of Resistance to data mining? Or is an entrepreneurial play developing for those with the vision to skate for the open ice.

Monetizing the Value of Your Personal Data

Upward of $2 billion a year is spent on third-party data about individuals in the U.S., according to a Forrester report. Erosion of personal privacy ranks second only to fear over the financial crisis deepening, according to a McCann Worldgroup global study on consumer concerns.

And, while the vast majority of those surveyed indicated they perceived major benefits associated with sharing data with businesses online, many consumers appear to be beginning to realize just how much value to businesses is associated with their personal data.

A slew of new internet startups including (DC-based) Personal and Singly (Locker Project), are betting that personal "data lockers" designed to be the digital equivalent of a bank with security infrastructure in place can offer consumers considerably more leverage in realizing fair value for agreeing to share. The market convergence of cconsumer demand and government regulation could ultimately even compel existing data vendors, like Experian, to adopt the data locker model in order to remain competitive.

 
 
 
 
Best wishes to you and yours for a peaceful, festive and healthy holiday.
 
Paul

Darwin's Digital EcoSystem

Strap on your skates! 
What exactly is that unique quality that separates brands that fall to digital evolution from those that excel?  The ability of visionary leaders to recognize the need for change who then blaze a path toward renewed relevance among a new generation of consumers?

Survival of the Fittest?

Charles Darwin "adapted" this phrase (actually coined by British philosopher and sociologist Herbert Spencer) for use in later editions of The Origin of Species to refer to his Theory of Evolution..

"Fittest" is often misunderstood to refer to the physical sense - as in indomitable. 

Survival of the Most Adaptable would be a more accurate rendering of Darwin's theory.

Digital Darwinism

The demise of once formidable brands like Circuit City, Borders Books, Wherehouse, Tower Records, Pontiac, Saturn, and Palm serve as painful examples of companies that fail to accurately read technological tea leaves.

A Thanksgiving Day Washington Post article defined Digital Darwinism as the evolution of consumer behavior when society and technology evolve faster than some companies’ ability to adapt.

The brands that survive this latest era of cyclical and secular disruption will be those that are best able to evolve through Adaptive Innovation, making for the open ice before the competition is any wiser.

Ketchup on their Face?

And you thought you had post-Thanksgiving ajita?

That pre-TDay Heinz FaceBook only line extension launch hit a few speeds bumps early in the game. But the consumer packaged goods (CPG) giant managed to make lemonade anyway, according to Clickz.

Anybody try this stuff yet?
 
 
In Memorium
 

Outside the world of high-finance, Ted Forstmann was perhaps best known for dating Diana Spencer for a time, and more recently reality show hostess Padma Lakshmi.


Forrstmann was regarded as a philanthropist and a pioneer of the leveraged buyout through Forstmann Little & Co , the private equity firm he co-founded.. Dr. Pepper, Gulfstream Aerospace and Citadel Broadcasting are notable in this respect. He was also chairman and CEO of global sports and entertainment company IMG.

Forstmann passed away on Sunday November 21st at the age of 71.

Condolences to family and friends.