Facial Recognition: No one is safe...not even from Google

In a world were privacy has virtually become non-existant and no one can be trusted, Google has just further blurred the lines by adding "Facial Recognition Technology" to the mix. The way it works is that someone can take a picture of you with your mobile phone and the technology will run the photo through a database(including social media and data sites) and will send that PRIVATE information back to the person who ran the query. Scary isn't it? This type of technology has already been integrated into sites such as Flickr and Picasa where you are able to tag someone and then the site uses facial recognition to suggest other photos to tag your friends in. Now it may seem like a convenience to tag your friends with one click but you may want to think twice next time.

Of course, with breakthrough technology comes concerns of privacy and how it will be affected and with Google's Facial Recognition it has become a huge concern. The main one being that a complete stranger can track you just by a random photo taken of you another one being, who is this information being shared with? If it is so easy to pull up your information through a cell phone picture, then who knows who else has access to your private information and whereabouts. Such concerns have pushed back the release of the new technology and Google has tried to quell concerns by offering some ways to ensure security (but nothing is ever really safe):

1. To send only one of the "identifiers" to the person searching.
2. To possibly allow only the person identified to make the photo public. 3. To send a request after a person is positively identified, asking if the image can be a face search result for other people's visual queries from within their social network.

We have the right to be concerned, most of our lives are posted online for everyone to see and although we should know that is a risk we are taking when posting pictures and information we should also have some sense of privacy and know that others will not be using our privacy to their advantage. So next time you're out in public, be careful what you do and where you step, you might just upset someone and all it takes is s simple picture from a cell phone and all your information and whereabouts is in their hands.

Reviving MySpace...Is it really worth it???

Let's all face it...most of us can't get through a day without some sort of social media interaction. Whether it be through Facebook, Twitter and oh yea, MySpace. Some of you might be asking yourselves "Is that still around??" Yes, MySpace is still alive a breathing but just barely. Recently in the news, there have been talks about MySpace being sold but is that really going to revive the site? Several years back, 2006 B.F. (Before Facebook) Myspace was huge, it was the leading social networking site. But society as a whole is always moving forward and looking for the next bigger and better thing to come along and that's when the Facebook phenomenon ocurred. This left MySpace in the dust with barely a leg to stand on when it's users transferred over.

REVIVING MYSPACE

The sale of MySpace can be seen as an opportunity for the site to regain some ground in the social media market but with the Facbeook giant still in the game how much can MySpace really come back? One option could be to COMPLETELY REVAMP the site, new logo, new image, new site. Something completely void of what it once was. That way, users don't assimilate the two and remove the negativity that surrounds MySpace and how it has been left behind. In other words, make users feel like they are on a brand new site.

Another strategy could be to gear itself towards musicians. After all MySpace music is something that Facebook hasn't quite duplicated and MySpace helped launch the careers musicians and artists. Myspace allowed for musicians to post their music, show dates etc, giving fans easy access to their favorite musicians. In this case, look at local miami band, Nobody's Hero. Here you can see what they are up to. MySpace could enahnce the features of their site to facilitate more interaction between fans and artists. In reality, the only way for MySpace to have somewhat of a comeback would be to change itself completely but let's be honest how much good can that do? With over 500 million active users currently on Facebook and eusers filling up their profiles with their entire lives (pictures, thoughts, friends, videos etc) but will we be willing to go back? The drastic attempts to revive MySpace may not be worth and it just may be time to move on...most of us already have.