US launches ‘MySpace for spies’

“Spies and teenagers normally have little in common but that is about to change as America’s intelligence agencies prepare to launch “A-Space”, an internal communications tool modelled on the popular social networking sites, Facebook and MySpace.

The Director of National Intelligence will open the site to the entire intelligence community in December. The move is the latest part of an ongoing effort to transform the analytical business following the failure to detect the 9/11 terrorist attacks or find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.”

Incredible! Kudos to the CIA for realizing the powerful potential of social media networks. Now if only the Canadian government could learn from our neighbours down south and follow suite to reduce the bureaucracy and lack of communication within and amongst departments. What are we doing instead? Banning Facebook. Go figure.

Read the full article here:FT.com / World – US launches ‘MySpace for spies’

Facebook –> Personal or Business Network?

I just read the recent Marketing Profs article on Facebook and its implications for marketers: What the Web Marketer Should Know About Facebook. It’s a great summary of Facebook features and some interesting new facts (i.e. the fastest growing Facebook segment is 35+). A question I’ve been pondering on lately is whether or not it is a good thing that my business contacts and clients are trying to get on there. I’ve been using Facebook since its infancy (I was one of the many originators sending all those annoying Facebook invites hoping other friends would join). Soon all my friends (actual friends) were on board and it became a great MSN Messenger compliment for staying in touch with my friends (for those unaware, MSN Messenger / ICQ were the real-time chat platforms of choice amongst the 18-25 demographic at the time).

Where am I going with this? Well, as an individual, I have my private conversations and photos on there, which are meant to be shared and seen by my close friends (from my private social life).

As a marketing professional , I am reluctant to be adding business contacts and potential clients as “friends” (unless they really are). There seems to be a serious blurring of the lines between private and work life. Personally, I have nothing to hide, however, I do still feel that there should exist a certain level of separation between the two. Perhaps I should create a second business identity on Facebook? This would likely be a pointless effort. No matter what privacy settings we have, everything that we post online will someday be easily accessible to someone looking for it.

My advice: be smart with what you do online, regardless of where it is. Start thinking of yourself as a BRAND. Be consistent, and always be aware that a future employer might be looking at your blog post/youtube video/facebook photo/ etc…

For now, as my business social media network I use LinkedIn.

What are your thoughts?