DISQUS

Leslie Bradshaw · 1 year ago

Nick -- Interesting stuff. I find it very interesting how these decisions are made... I would like to picture a bunch of expert/economists/social scientists/marketers/etc. + the ACTUAL USERS debating the merits of opt-in and opt-out... with decisions being based on part anecdotal/qualitative stories + hard data (X users flipped out on X number of web platforms after the Beacon "fiasco" as you called it; the economic benefit of tapping into API data results in $X for us, etc.)

Thanks again for keeping the dialog open. -L.

Ian Kennedy · 1 year ago

Hi Nick,

We debated the various merits of opt-in and opt-out but finally decided on opt-out because of the unique nature of MyBlogLog. Most of the activity on MyBlogLog happens in the widgets, a small percentage of users make it back to the site. If we chose to go with an opt-in, it would take a long time for people to catch on and the real value of New with Me comes from a critical mass of users adopting it.

We looked closely at the Facebook Beacon reaction and felt the biggest issue was lack of control. The opt-out pop-up disappeared too quickly and there was, initially, no means to opt-out on the site itself. We took these lessons to heart and have built in controls which a user can use to quickly opt-out and control what they share. By sending the email blast, posting it on our blog, and coverage and discussion from folks like yourself, we hope that we can arrive at a solution that doesn't take anyone by surprise.

Ian Kennedy
Product Manager, MyBlogLog

Brian Breslin · 1 year ago

Well mybloglog seems to have disappeared from LOTS of sites, so I wonder what their reach is like.

Also how hard would it be for someone to create an fb app, set people's cookies, then tie it into mybloglog or a clone?

I'd find real profiles (not the spam i've seen in MBL) of people I know more appealing.

This is more of a play for Attention profile data, and thats the key for yahoo having bought them.