Google+ ??

[JoyfulC 132299]

I've had a couple people (clients and some who've written to request info) add me to their Google+. Admittedly, I'm slow-out-the-gate on all this social media stuff,... but ????

 

I have considered adding them back and I realize I can set up a circle just for people I know this way, but then wouldn't everyone in that circle be able to see everyone else? How does that impact privacy? Bear in mind that these are sometimes these people's regular email addresses that they use for everything (which, if I haven't already mentioned it, that's _really_ not a great idea guys; if you're gonna hobby, get a dedicated address just for that) and sometimes they even have their real names on them. I'm not at all concerned about my own privacy, but I always thought that defending the privacy of my customers was essential.

 

Am I misunderstanding this somehow? I feel downright paralyzed.

 

Comments? Suggestions? Scary anecdotes???

[backrubman 64800]

Well that was Google+'s big attempted selling point is to be able to keep different circles of friends different and have more control over privacy than you can have with FarceBook and they have done it.

 

That said, when you have that many knobs, switches and dials to manage mistakes can happen. While it sounds great in theory, human error (or just simple lack of understanding) can lead to disaster.

 

As the good folks of this industry pride themselves on discretion, I wouldn't be willing to mix my personal contacts and business contacts on the same social networking account and when you have multiple Google accounts I find things get messy (e.g. I have a business Google Apps hosted domain but if I try to use a simple Gmail account it seems stuff bleeds over so I just stick with my real email and it makes it simpler for me as I never try to hide my identity anyways).

 

Maybe the best approach is two accounts and open the second one in a private browsing mode (Chrome Incognito) but every browser seems to have this feature these days which keep history, cache and cookies separate and in effect makes it like you are using a separate computer in that window only.

[JoyfulC 132299]

Thank you, BackRubMan, but that wasn't exactly what I was asking.

 

I'm not so much concerned about my personal and business contacts seeing each other. I understand that I can keep business contacts contained within a circle (... I think...).

 

But wouldn't everyone in that circle be able to see who else is a member of the circle? I'm not sure if the people adding me just don't care about that, or if maybe they aren't aware of it.

[backrubman 64800]

Well then it would seem that people with a circle (even a private one) are always going to be able to see each other which is exactly what you don't want.

 

 

Or so says the pleasant lady right at the start of this video tutorial on making private circles.

 

And yeah, I'd have to say that people adding you aren't aware that you're going to place them in the same circle as other clients (or have a private circle for every private contact, which doesn't seem very manageable) and then they all get to see each other in the same circle which is very bad on many levels.

 

I had an SP send me a FarceBook friends request and as my friends list is private, no problemo, until she indiscreetly posted on my wall then I had to block her :( Yeah, maybe I could mangle the permissions so she couldn't post on my wall but then there are too many other ways to leak in so just too much trouble.

[JoyfulC 132299]

Yep, that was pretty much what I was thinking. Hobbyists mingle here, but everybody here has a pseudonym chosen just for here. It's not the same thing as playing publicly with your email address. Perhaps some are doing so knowledgeably, but probably best just to avoid any accidents.

[blato 100]

With Google+, you can hide your circles so nobody else can see them when they look at your profile. Also, you can share information with specific circles, so your aunt doesn't get your message about your new incall rates or whatever. If somebody looks at their profile (as in one of their friends) they would see you in his circles, but if they clicked on your profile, they wouldn't see anything on your circles.

[Phaedrus 209521]

All of this, of course, comes with two major pitfalls. Firstly, you may post something, click in the wrong place, and not realize until your friends or family ask about it. Secondly, the rules and policies of these sites change, often without much notice, and usually in ways that allow advertisers to extract more information about you...

[backrubman 64800]

All of this, of course, comes with two major pitfalls. Firstly, you may post something, click in the wrong place, and not realize until your friends or family ask about it. Secondly, the rules and policies of these sites change, often without much notice, and usually in ways that allow advertisers to extract more information about you...

 

I so agree. And never mind the rules and policies but the privacy behavior can change without notice.

 

What I found interesting about the video tutorial I posted the link to on making private circles is then if any component part is marked public, the public setting overrides the private and makes the private become public. Of course one would not expect this to occur without warning but surprise - it does!

 

Best (only) approach is totally separate accounts or perhaps the best approach is don't mix social networking with client lists or SPs, at least not yet. The implications and outcome is unpredictable.