Facebook’s Ethan Beard’s topic was interesting enough: how thanks to Facebook Connect (and Twitter) people’s web identity is represented by a series of connections. I’ve been to a number of conferences in 2009 and the big difference with 2008 was: if the speaker didn’t have an active Twitter account, it was very hard to talk about him/her.
Twitter’s Ryan Sarver announced a depreciation of basic Auth in June 2010 (“not enough security”) in favour of OAuth. I’m really curious how “Twitter is your online identity” will evolve.
But back to Facebook: Beard’s story was about how in the short future we’ll experience the world around us through the lens of your friends. It’s what Nicolas Negroponte has been saying for years: the web is about people, not technology. And I’m glad the web is no longer about algorithms, code and anonymous users – this allows us to shape it to human needs instead of technical possibilities.
Michael Arrington asked an interesting question during one of the panels he was moderating: LinkedIn, Myspace, Netlog, Yahoo and Ning were all founding members of Google’s OpenSocial but all you hear about these days is Facebook Connect (and by June 2010, I’m guessing OAuth). The “identity by connections” is an interesting thought. Chris Brogan even took it a step further, by talking about Twitter as “the serendipity engine” and its users as “trust agents” (which is also the title of a book I’ve just added to my wishlist).
There is, of course, a big difference between your identity towards the world outside you, and your inner identity. I heard Danah Boyd (@zephoria) say – well I couldn’t help it, since Danah Boyd systematically mistakes any listening ear for a town square – but she explained how you’re not defined by the people who follow you: it’s the people YOU follow that dictate your norms. And since what people are seeing and experiencing is different, the result is often unexpected. Another thing I learnt: Boyd regularly searches e.g. Twitter Search for random words like “the” to see what pop up. She “wants to get to know a world that’s different from her own”. I like the idea: it beats Google’s “I feel lucky” because it allows you to eavesdrop on total strangers in real time. Fascinating.
Her concept of “privacy vs visibility” is also interesting. She talked about three cases of young people who had been documented how they’d been abused, without anyone really taking action. Boyd: “We use privacy to justify why we’re not looking.” Come to think of it: technologies like Google Search and the realtime web make visible what used to be hidden (or, at least: too taboo to talk about it openly): bullying, domestic violence, sexual abuse. Boyd ended with a plea to “think about the power of visibility. Embrace it.”
Which reminds me of Queen Rania. She’s beautiful, elegant and friendly as royal wives are expected to be, but she really impressed me with her professionalism. I’ve never seen anyone so comfortable in front of big crowds and lots of cameras. She delivered a speech in which she tried to “get everybody’s butts out of their computer chairs” to bring change to the real world. She’s probably compared to Princess Diana all the time but this Queen Rania takes it a step further: she uses her own Twitter account to collect ideas and examples of effective online activism. Why Twitter? Because as a royalty, it’s really hard for her to connect with people in real life. But on Twitter, there are no intimidating bodyguards surrounding her and people feel more free to speak their minds. Queen Rania’s call to action was to contact her (through Twitter, of course) to apply to become, during one day, one of the charities or projects that stands in the spotlight at www.join1goal.com .

Read the original by Clo Willaerts | http://www.blogger.com/profile/09028563779712426312
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