Video: The Social Network of the Future

Privacy? What's privacy?

We definitely agree that we will need to master setting boundaries. Social media is kind of like a new parent that will learn by trial and error how to condition appropriate behavior. It seems as though American users are not too concerned about it, though other countries definitely appreciate the gravity of the matter. A friend of ours in Spain is 27 and a lawyer specializing in digital privacy law. It's a big market over there.

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Thanks Brian – you're dead right that “we” are the last generation to hold traditional cultural values around the notion of privacy. We value privacy traditionally because it gives us a way to take control of our immediate and distanced social spaces.

This value can be seen as a currency, metaphorically – and the new values of privacy should also have a economic/social currency which would provide a way of measuring our investment in social networks. I think Google has already negotiated a part of this through its personal search, which is a new domain where we agree to give up a part of our private (online) lives in return for information that is more relevant, timely and useful.

Some thoughtful people in this space have already raised the idea of a very basic monetary value – we will be rewarded financially by giving up more of our private lives, thoughts and beliefs. I'm not so sure that will work in the long term as all “commodities” are drained of commercial value over time.

The idea of multiple online selves similarly does not have long-term benefit, whereas the idea of a less individual, separate and often disconnected self that now exists online through sharing openly, surely has great benefits.

Two things would help this: “sharing convergence” of all the social network platforms, which is happening, and a redefinition of the ethics of personality. By that I mean we have to be more accepting, less judgemental of behaviours. A crude example might that I, as a potential employer, would miss the chance of a lifetime to hire a person who would add enormous value to my company, because I saw their Facebook page that had images and thoughts I consider “professionally unacceptable”.