Social and Online Media Need Privacy Plan Now

Privacy isn't just Facebook's problem. In fact, the whole consumer Internet and media industry had better get its collective act together on the privacy front or get ready to face serious consumer backlash and, perhaps worse, government regulation.

Regardless of their behavior as consumers, many people say they care about privacy. Social media companies should be wary of potential government regulation. If legislators were to impose strict rules on information sharing or opt-in practices, the usefulness for consumers and companies of social graphs could be drastically reduced.

The online media industry needs to rev up its lobbyists (Google spent $1.2 million on lobbying this quarter; Facebook $120,000), explain what's going on to legislators and to the public, and seriously consider self-regulation.

Additionally, social media companies should:

• Explain what they're already doing with consumer information, and not on developer blogs. These stories need to be on home pages and in ad campaigns.
• Go after real bad guys publicly. Facebook, for instance, is suing spammers.
• Use the publicized information outlined in the first two points to create a set of best practices and an audited seal of approval.
• Use an organization like the Online Publisher's Association — rather than the Internet Advertising Bureau or the Direct Marketing Association — as a hub for public campaigns. It would be better PR coming from the publishers, who shouldn't be afraid to play the "democracy needs a viable press, and the press needs viable advertising" card.