We are all critics now
5/16/2012
One of the best things about the Internet is our ability to read other people’s opinions on a product or a service that we are interested in buying. And I’m not just talking about professional critics. Sure, there are web sites like Consumer Reports and CNET that employ reviewers and testing labs to provide expert opinion on everything from automobiles to smartphones, but I am more interested in what my peers – my fellow users – have to say about something.
And in an age in which we are asked to Like, Tweet, +1, or e-mail everything we come across on the Internet, there is certainly no shortage of opinions. Look for virtually any popular consumer product on Amazon.com and you fill find lengthy reviews offering all the pros and cons of ownership. Want to know more about a particular restaurant or bar? Then head to Yelp, StumbleUpon or Patch. The latest movie? Rotten Tomatoes will tell you all your need to know.
But how much value do these user reviews have? Surely they are no match for the views of the professional critics? Well, perhaps surprisingly, a recently completed study by the Harvard Business Review would suggest otherwise. They looked at the admittedly narrow field of books and compared hundreds of book reviews from 40 different newspapers and magazines with customer reviews from Amazon.com to discover whether there was an obvious difference between the two in terms of objectivity and bias.
What they found was that while experts and consumers tended to agree about the overall quality of a book, the professional critics tended to react more favorably to established authors or to people who had previously written for their own publications. In contrast, the amateur reviewers were more favorable to new, undiscovered authors.
That’s not to say that online consumer reviews are infallible. Clearly there are a lot of fake reviews out there, and numerous blogs have fallen foul of FCC guidelines by publishing paid promotional pieces that masquerade as independent opinion. But there is something deeply satisfying about basing your purchase decisions on the opinion of other users, as opposed to professionals who have conflicting interests and may be less interested in the value-for-money equation.
As many companies have found out to their cost, the digital age has mobilized a veritable army of online critics. Armed with laptops, smartphones and other Internet-enabled devices, these savvy consumers are not afraid to speak their minds and, along with millions of others, I am more than happy to listen.
Should we expect online privacy at work?
4/19/2012
The recent uproar over job candidates being asked for their Facebook passwords has rekindled an oft-visited debate over how much online privacy workers are entitled to expect from their employers. Should our social networking activity and other online pursuits be off limits to supervisors and co-workers, or does the importance of a corporation’s reputation trump all other considerations?
At first glance, it seems a no-brainer. Just because we get a paycheck from a company doesn’t mean it has the right to scrutinize what we do in our own private time. After all, we don’t allow our bosses to monitor how we spend our evenings and weekends, so why should they monitor the time we spend online?
Unfortunately, for many companies and their employees, it has become harder to distinguish between work time and private time, a dividing line that becomes even more blurred when extended to the Internet. When we are checking and responding to work-based e-mails at all times of the day and night, we are still representing the company. When we go online at 10 pm at night to post a web site update or to tweet about the company’s latest product, we are presumably doing it as an employee and not as a concerned citizen.
And for many people, the blurring of work and digital play doesn’t stop there. A growing number of employees have significant power and influence over their employer’s online reputation, either by being an acknowledged spokesperson for the company or by having the means to cause irreparable harm, either accidentally or with malicious intent. Everyone has heard stories of how disgruntled employees have aired their grievances by posting something damaging online. And unlike a verbal outburst or an angry phone call, digital outpourings can be far harder to control and contain.
Of course, the attempted privacy limitations have much to do with the explosion in online social networking. Facebook, Twitter and the rest are built around sharing but that can work both ways. While your company’s Twitter account may bring it lots of followers, it also opens it up to far greater public scrutiny that ever before. And while an employee’s boorish behavior at a local bar may have previously gone unnoticed or drawn a mild rebuke, it’s a whole different matter when that same behavior is caught on HD video and instantly uploaded to Facebook.
In the case of prospective employers, many people claim that the weak employment numbers have allowed hirers to be more intrusive during the interview process, and that an improvement in the economy will help level the playing field. But there is no denying that more potential employees are being viewed as future online spokespersons and a thorough background screening is inevitable.
Whether you believe checking on a person’s digital footprint is an egregious invasion of privacy or merely common sense, it once again underlines the importance of jealously guarding your online reputation. Previously, we have all had the luxury of maintaining a real life and a virtual life. Those lives are starting to merge into one.
Do you believe employers should be able to scrutinize their employees’ online activities? Share your thoughts with The Online Mom!
Kids and social networking
4/18/2012
When I reluctantly gave in and allowed my 13-year-old daughter to have a Facebook account last Fall, I expected the worst: inappropriate posts and comments, a flood of friend requests from people I didn’t know, and yet more time spent online rather than doing homework and reading books.
The reality has been somewhat different and a pleasant surprise. Yes, there have been some awkward moments – and a lot more friends than I am comfortable with – but all in all the experience has been a positive one, a way for her to have fun with her immediate friends but also to stay in touch with camp buddies and far-off family.
One of the things we agreed on when we first set up her Facebook page was that all notifications would come through my e-mail address. My daughter wasn’t very happy with this arrangement but I made it a condition of her getting the account. This turned out to be one of the smartest things I ever did. Not only do I get to see all friend requests but I also see all the comments on her posts and anything else she is tagged in. Although I occasionally ask her about something I see, I am careful not to overdo it. It’s an arrangement I want to keep in place for as long as I can!
The other key to safe social networking is managing the mobile experience. When a lot of parents agree to a Facebook account, they have this vision of their child coming home from school, firing up the family computer, and spending 15 minutes catching up on the day’s gossip and posting more cute pictures of the family pet. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works. Instead, kids walk around with their own computer in their pocket, equipped with intelligent text, a high definition video camera, and instant upload capability to Facebook and a dozen other networking sites.
If mistakes are made on Facebook, they are often made from a smartphone. An inappropriate picture from a sleepover, a too hasty response to a provocative comment, or just taking the bait when a friend dares you to “post that to Facebook,” all these things are done in the heat of the moment but the effects can last a lifetime. If your child has a Facebook account and a smartphone, then make sure you spell out exactly what they can and can’t do. You can also do your bit by banning smartphones from parties and keeping them out of the bedroom.
The Facebook experience for young kids can be a lot of fun – just group texting with pictures, as my daughter likes to describe it – but it can also be perilous. Like everything else in their young lives, make sure you are there for them until you are completely confident they know how to safely get by on their own.
Does your child have a Facebook account? Has your experience been a positive one or negative one?
This article first appeared in Family Buzz, a
VerizonInsider blog
on the exciting and ever-expanding world of mobile technology.
Living in the Cloud
4/17/2012
While we have all been using cloud-based services for some time – think Gmail, Facebook, Twitter – it’s only recently that the cloud has worked its way into the everyday lexicon of our tech-driven lives. For this, we can probably thank Apple. Although Amazon and Google were just two of the many tech companies that were ahead of Apple in introducing consumer-based cloud services, it’s Apple’s iCloud – and the accompanying marketing onslaught – that will inevitably make cloud computing a household term.
Of course, Apple didn’t get where it is today solely on the strength of its marketing campaigns. Any hype it creates is invariably backed up by first-class products, and the iCloud service is no exception.
Like many long-term Apple devotees, I started out with one of the early iMacs and have steadily accumulated additional Apple hardware ever since. My current collection includes that still-functioning iMac, a MacBook Air, an iPad 2, and a newly-acquired iPhone 4S. The ability of all those devices to now sync with each other and display updated content is a huge leap forward in both enjoyment and productivity.
The iCloud service was introduced with iOS 5 when it was released in October of last year. Its primary function is to securely store your content, so it’s automatically available on any Apple device that you happen to be using. It not only stores your e-mail, contacts, and calendars but also gives you instant access to your latest music, movies, apps, photos and more. You never have to download or upload anything and iCloud handles all the behind-the-scenes file management.
On mobile devices, iCloud is activated and set up from the Settings page. On a Mac, the iCloud feature is accessed under System Preferences. iCloud can even be enabled on a Windows PC by installing the iCloud Control Panel for Windows (Windows 7 or Windows Vista Service Pack 2 required).
Once iCloud is installed, amazing things start to happen. Instead of logging on to iTunes to laboriously sync your music on each device, it’s already there waiting for you. The same with movies, TV shows, apps and anything else you buy – or have previously bought – from iTunes. And the iBookstore is just the same. Each book you buy is pushed to every Apple device you own, along with notes, highlights, bookmarks and even the exact page where you stopped reading three days ago!
But perhaps the greatest iCloud feature for me is the ability to sync documents using the iWork apps, including Pages, Keynote, and Numbers. Any document and any edit I make is automatically available on my MacBook Air and iPad 2 as soon as I log on.
Mobile computing and switching between devices has never been easier. The cloud finally means something for me on an everyday basis – and what a huge difference it has made!
Are you using the cloud to sync your devices? Share your experience with The Online Mom!
The e-book wars
4/12/2012
Yesterday’s news that the U.S. Department of Justice has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple and five major U.S book publishers set off a firestorm of debate in the publishing world and beyond. While the companies are accused of colluding to prevent Amazon and other retailers from setting lower prices for digital books, the DOJ action prompted a much wider discussion of how the public buys books and the future of the publishing industry as a whole.
And while Apple and the publishers have been accused of anti-competitive behavior, many believe that Amazon is the true villain in this story, and the move to dismantle the publishers’ current pricing arrangements will only concentrate even more power in the hands of the vast online retailer.
Without going into too much detail, the anti-trust suit stems from a deal the publishers made with Apple before it introduced the first iPad in 2010. Reacting to the way Amazon was selling e-books at a loss to promote the sale of its Kindle e-reader, the publishers saw Apple as a “white knight,” coming to their rescue by agreeing to a minimum pricing structure which was 30 percent or more above Amazon’s popular $9.99 model.
While there was nothing wrong with the publishers trying to cut a better deal with another online distributor, the arrangements with Apple went much further. According to the DOJ filing, Apple insisted on a “most favored nation” clause, which prohibited the publishers from allowing anyone to sell their e-books at below the Apple price. This had the inevitable result of pushing up Amazon’s prices and led to the accusations of collusion and price fixing.
Of course, Amazon spent yesterday heralding the DOJ action as a major victory over one of its deadliest rivals and wasted no time in announcing plans to drop prices back to pre-iPad levels. “This is a big win for Kindle owners, and we look forward to being allowed to lower prices on more Kindle books,” said Amazon spokesman Andrew Herdener in a statement.
So what could be wrong with dismantling an arrangement which has been estimated to have cost U.S. consumers up to $100 million in higher e-book prices? Well, quite a bit according to the publishers and many others in the publishing industry. They claim that one of consequences of Amazon selling e-books at heavily discounted prices is the rapid disappearance of the traditional main street bookstore. Here’s Scott Turow, President of the Authors Guild in a letter to his members:
“Our concern about bookstores isn’t rooted in sentiment: Bookstores are critical to modern bookselling,” wrote Turow. “Marketing studies consistently show that readers are far more adventurous in their choice of books when in a bookstore than when shopping online. In bookstores, readers are open to trying new genres and new authors: It’s by far the best way for new works to be discovered. Publishing shouldn’t have to choose between bricks and clicks.”
But isn’t this the same claim that music publishers made when online distributors – chief among them, Apple – first appeared on the scene, offering alternative formats at more affordable prices? While many aficionados may lament the disappearance of the local bricks and mortar music store, it can hardly be said to have negatively impacted consumer choice or pricing.
In fact, there are numerous parallels to be drawn between the current state of the book publishing industry and the music business circa 2004. Those that enjoyed the inefficiencies – and the profits – of the traditional music publishing model fought a determined battle to retain the status quo, but they were ultimately overrun by an unstoppable combination of technological innovation and public demand.
In seems unlikely that the outcome will be any different for the book publishing industry. Nobody is arguing that the content creators – in this case, the authors – should be fairly rewarded for their endeavors. What is harder to understand is why there are so many other layers of add-on cost before that content can be delivered unbound and unprinted to an e-reader, a computer screen, or a smartphone.
Although Amazon may be the early winner of the DOJ action, it is unlikely to become the monopolistic force in publishing and distribution that many in the industry fear. While enjoying an early lead in the e-reader stakes, the Kindle now faces stiff competition from the iPad, Barnes & Noble’s Nook, and any number of other tablets and electronic devices. And the more Amazon tries to hang on to its proprietary e-book format, the more consumers will continue to look elsewhere. The publishers may be blaming Amazon now, but the real enemy is their own antiquated infrastructure.
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