Applying the honeypot theory to Facebook. 

I think some of my friends are already doing this, but until now, I didn’t think there was method to their madness.  (There probably isn’t, most of them are narcissistic, and believe the world needs to know that they think “Domino’s is yummy.”)

In all seriousness, as I’m a big fan of privacy, there might be some merit to this idea.  What do you think?

Microsoft’s Bing is fixing to drink Facebook’s milkshake, and initially I’m not sure how to feel about it.

The premise of the relationship is that the Bing search engine will take into consideration whether any of your social contacts through Facebook ”Like” any of the top search results for the query you are looking for.  On its face, this seems to be a very powerful proposition.  Imagine you are looking for a cool flash game to play at work—if any of your Facebook friends have a predilection for Desktop Tower Defense, it will be bubbled up in your search results.  Let the challenge begin!  

If you aren’t into flash video games (and I think you are lying if you say you aren’t) you can be sure that your friends’ favorite movies, books, restaurants, and products will be at your fingertips.

The most controversial downside would probably be privacy concern, which is a hot-button issue for me and other members of the paranoid community.  Facebook profiles will also become part of Bing’s People Search.  The entire reason Facebook beat out Myspace and other competitors wasn’t because you could ‘poke’ your friends, or write on their walls.  The ability to keep your profile exclusive to people you approve was the killer app.  

Facebook will give users the option to opt-out of profile sharing, however, their privacy settings have become what appears to be a deliberate hedge-maze.  Many users will think their profiles are private until a co-worker asks about a frat-house profile picture, where they appear to be playing air-guitar on a woman’s behind.

I suppose another downside (if you believe there is value in knowing what your friends like when you search the web) is that you will have to use Bing to do it.  Now I don’t mean to be a hater on Bing, but Google has been getting it right for a long time.  

I’m also not sure that my Facebook friends and I share similar tastes.  Many of my ‘Friends’ are actually family members and ex-coworkers whose demographics, views, needs and tastes might vary anywhere from slightly to substantially from my own.

Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg says that Bing is the clear underdog in the search battle, and they are being strongly incentivized to innovate.  Clearly they have come up with something out of the box in the very short two months since the two companies announced a joint venture in search.  The innovation could quickly show dividends on the $240 million that Microsoft invested in Facebook in 2007.

Now as much as we at Five Nerds use and enjoy Facebook, it has been contended here several times, that as cool as it is, they still haven’t figured out a good way to monetize it.  Since Microsoft is already a part owner, and is not sharing back any data with Facebook, we are again scratching our heads, wondering what direction Zuckerberg is trying to take the company.

Do you have any thoughts or comments on the notion of you and your friends’ personal data being shared with each other for the purpose of web-search?

(Source: seattletimes.nwsource.com)

So we here at Five Nerds don’t think any true nerd is unaware of the long standing disputes Mark Zuckerberg has had concerning ownership of Facebook and its IP.  From his Wikipedia page:

Harvard students Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Nishita Narendra accused Zuckerberg of fraudulently letting them believe he would help them build a social network called HarvardConnection.com (later called ConnectU). They filed a lawsuit in 2004 but was dismissed without prejudice on March 28, 2007. It was refiled soon thereafter in U.S. District Court in Boston, and a preliminary hearing was scheduled for July 25, 2007. At the hearing the judge told ConnectU parts of their complaint were not sufficiently pled and gave them the ability to refile an amended complaint. On June 25, 2008, the case was settled and Facebook agreed to pay a $65 million settlement.

There’s so much drama associated with this that Hollywood is making a movie out of it.

What’s the news today?  A lawsuit filed in New York claiming that Mark Zuckerberg signed a contract to develop “The Face Book” for 50/50 ownership with Paul D Ceglia.  The contract went even further to say that each day the project was late would cost Zuckerberg 1% ownership, and that number reached 34 days; thus, Ceglia is asking for 84% ownership of Facebook.  Ceglia too has a dotted past, though:

The Journal also added some insight into Ceglia’s own history with the law. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo began an ongoing case against Ceglia in 2009, accusing him of defrauding customers out of approximately $200,000 on orders involving Ceglia’s wood-pellet fuel company.

Facebook’s assets have even been frozen.  That might be connected to Zuckerberg’s outstanding warrant in Pakistan, however, where Zuckerberg apparently faces the death sentence.