Resist The Dark Side

Thanks to Chinwag and everyone who showed up at their event - The Dark Side of Social Media - last night where I was on an excellently diverse panel discussing the issues that arise as people splurge their life stories onto a web which never forgets.  It's complex stuff so we were never going to get that far in an hour but Sam Michel did a good job of keeping the audience questions coming.  For my part, I tried to offer the briefest analysis of the Kathy Sierra controversy and the insights it offered about the times we live in.  The most astounding aspect was that three days after seeing the post that started it all I watched Jeremy Paxman interview Tessa Jowell about it on Newsnight.  I think what happened was the bottom-up kerfuffle caused by the strange idea of a bloggers code of conduct (lesson: don't ask technologists to deal with social issues - they'll just try and codify them) met with the top-down paranoia about the planet web and its evil nature. This provided Jowell a PR opportunity that ticked almost every box including women's rights, money-laundering, child abuse, scary-future-tech and, of course, the moral high ground.  Meanwhile, Paxman got the chance to jump on multiple bandwagons with the introduction: 'Minister Calls For Bloggers Code of Conduct'. All, undoubtedly, a taste of things to come.  Equally interesting was that last night in a room of about 80 people only a few had heard of Sierra's tale.  The lesson being for those of us that live in what we think of as the blogopshere - get out more.

Comments

[Sam Michel]

And thanks for being on the panel James, it was great to have your insight. I thought it was illuminating how few people in the room were aware of the Kathy Sierra incident despite the high-profile coverage. There's definitely scope for a bunch more panels looking into the issues raised around this topic. I'd love to ge into the issues of identity and reputation for brands and marketers. Seems like the rules are changing, again, especially as masquearding as someone else looks like it's legally off-limits http://mbites.com/2007/06/20/its_all_over_for_the_astroturfers , at least in the UK.

[James Cherkoff]

Thanks Sam, it was a good evening. Mike's post about the legal change certainly feels like a change in the tides.

[eaon pritchard]

As a footnote to the Kathy Sierra saga - yes, it was surprising that so few were aware of the incident,
but more so because the vast majority of the audience held up there hands as participants in one or more of the popular social media and 'in' the conversations - rather than the fact that it broke over traditional media. Enjoyed the evening,
cheers.