Mike Arrington interviewed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently. One of the thing that stands out in this interview is why Facebook decided to effect privacy change for its 350 million users. According to Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook is constantly innovating and they updated their system to reflect “current social norms” (watch embedded video).
So the question here is who defines these “Social Norms”? As large corporations like Google and Facebook start monetizing vast amount of information they have about users and their interaction with family and friends, who decides what is “fair” and what is not?
In a rapidly evolving field such as Social Networking, where there are no set standards or benchmarks, self-regulation is the best regulation. Trust being such an important factor in Social Networking, Facebook and Twitter would do well to maintain the “trust” their users have in them and not give in to short term commercial gains. Those who prove themselves to be “trust-worthy” and act in the best long-term interest of their users will emerge as leaders in Social Networking space.