Media Bullseye

I'm delighted to welcome John Cass back to the program this week, as he joined Jen Zingsheim and myself for our weekly Radio Roundtable discussion. This week, I wanted to talk to John about his series of posts discussing the "unniversary" of the Cluetrain Manifesto, as well as some other interesting issues that have copped up in the social media world this week.

Popular social networking site Facebook has reached an agreement with attorneys general in 49 states to work together to make the site safer for younger users, including efforts to stymie online predators.

What do you get when you cross Google maps, a mobile-based GPS for your friends and Twitter? FireBall! Leonard Lin, one of the founders of Upcoming.org, is releasing his latest project at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco this week, where conference goers can test out the new tool in beta. We are sure to hear more about this as buzz radiates through the blogosphere.

Blogger, social media guru and all-around nice guy Chris Brogan joined the program this morning, in part to discuss the upcoming Podcamp Boston 3 but also to share some thoughts on some of the other stories coming out of the social media space this week. He joins CustomScoop CEO Chip Griffin and VP Jennifer Zingsheim on the show this week.

Following the recent lawsuit filed against Blockbuster Video in the aftermath of the Facebook Beacon debacle late last year, online privacy is a hot button issue. Jonathan Trenn promotes a service at MyDataIsMyData.org that allows users to download a plug-in that helps them determine how much information they'd like to disclose online. Also: Customer service tips, and more on privacy and reputation management.

Blockbuster has become the first victim (and perhaps not the last) of a lawsuit in response to the Facebook Beacon program, which caused controversy and concern among privacy advocates after launching last fall.

A Pittsburgh couple, offended by Google's use of images of their home in it's street-level view in Google Maps, is suing the search giant for $25,000 in damages.

Facebook recently upgraded its security features with much fanfare and some excellent reviews from bloggers. Naturally, they almost immediately experienced a security glitch caused by a hacker. But anyone who thinks that what they put online is 100% secure may be a bit naive, at least according to Sarah Wurrey.

A flaw in Facebook's image sharing feature briefly exposed private user photos and created tremors in the blogosphere. The flaw was reportedly discovered by a Canadian technician who was not convinced by last week's announcement that Facebook had significantly increased the power of its privacy tools.

Facebook ran into trouble late last year with the debut of advertising software that some felt violated users' privacy, known as The Beacon. This year, the popular social networking site is beefing up their privacy policies to set users' minds at ease.