Web 2.0 Expo-No Price on Relationships

After my first HRIS class, with Jun, I was very skeptical about creating a Twitter account and starting to use Cloud computing. I wasn't comfortable talking openly about my business, nor was I comfortable using a Saas and having my company's data out there on the Internet. I know there is a security and privacy system but it still seemed so virtual to me. I do appreciate using FaceBook, Twitter and other media networking sites but to a certain degree. The social and professional networking sites ask their users to sign an online agreement, a contract. However, does that protect us from hackers? Do we actually know where our data is stored and who has access to it? The only way I was going to be reassured was to choose and control what I want to make public. Yesterday, I took the opportunity to spend a couple of hours at the Web 2.0 conference at the Moscone Center in SF. I thought I might be inspired. I attended 2 open conferences:
1. Applications in the Cloud Threat or Menace?
2. Social Media Measurement

I was really looking forward to the first conference but speaker only talked about FaceBook and gave a more philosophical aspect the topic rather than addressing a common concern users might have. He talked about how by creating a Facebook account, we allow data to be taken out of our machine and put on the Internet. There is indeed an online contract, that's non-negotiable, where people are given the choice but are then stripped of power once they decide to "give" their data away. Moreover, because that data is in the cloud, it's less scalable and less controllable. I understood where he came from and what his concern was but he only used FaceBook as an example and didn't care to mention that as users, we still have to the power to choose was upload and what we write on people's walls.
The second conference, Social Media Measurement, really inspired me. The speaker talked about monitoring and measuring one's website via tools like surveys and Google Analytics. This is a great source of feedback for knowing how often is your website being visited, what time of day is it being most visited and what people think about it. Will they continue exploring the website after the consulting the home page? How long will they visit your website? I've been working on my company's website for the past month and I know this tool will be very useful to me and help me make necessary changes. The speaker also talked about how Twitter has become a great source for professional relationships. Like I mentioned above, I was very skeptical about Twitter, but my HRIS class in addition to this conference, showed me how it can be of great help to me. It's all about searching professionals with common interests, searching professionals you can help out and who can help you out, via Twitter search words for example. It's about creating and maintaining relationships online. It's about choosing your openness and transparency, choosing your relationship. It's who you choose to talk to and who you choose to develop a relationship with.
Although my skepticism has not completely died out, I feel more comfortable using and exploring Twitter and Cloud Computing. Just like before any of all of this existed, we had to choose who our friends out on the playground, in class or at work and we had to be careful. We also had the option of not choosing. We are the sole deciders and set our limits whether it's in person or in the cloud.