Generally, social media tools give you the power to connect to people, organizations, and companies that you want to follow or support, but it is usually impersonal, not face-to-face and you can create relationships without ever meeting. Some people believe that social media is much too computer based and it takes away from meeting people the “old-fashioned” way.
The Swedish mobile software and design firm, The Astonishing Tribe (TAT), is attempting to bridge this gap with a new facial recognition application available for Android phones that will allow you to take pictures of individuals on your phone and through your app you can search which social networking sites that individual is participating on and gain access to their information.
The new app is called Recognizr. There is a lot of controversy over privacy issues and opposition to this application, but according to TAT, it can only work if both parties have subscribed to the service and you can set specific privacy levels. Privacy concerns also bring up the issue that if you do not want people in social media networks or the Internet to have access to information posted, you should not post it at all.
How does this relate to organizations? Well, Recognizr is available for cell phone manufacturers and cell service providers to buy and distribute to their users; meaning this can generate better user experiences for their customers. You can also, when meeting people in person, take a picture of them and directly to connect to them on their networks. So whether you make a new friend or you are at a business meeting with a guest speaker, you can instantly begin your social media relationship.
Popsci explains how it works with augmented identity, but the video below seems to be the best visual demonstration.
Facebook is also using a similar application using facial recognition where it will search your friends and your networks for pictures with you in them and will tag them for you. It will also tag pictures of your friends and find “unknowns” in your network. This application is called Photo Finder; it follows the privacy settings already set to your Facebook page and also only allows people to see the auto-tagged pictures if they are using the application as well.
Do this mean that, if not now, that our future employers can search our name and see all of the pictures that have been “untagged” if our privacy settings are not as tight as they should be?
I agree that the computer is hindering many face-to-face relations because many people don’t know how to interact with one another these days. Don’t get me wrong, I think that social media and the internet in general provide some great benefits, but some of the applications and networks that they are coming up with makes me wonder if they really don’t want people to ever have to ever have a real conversation again. I also think that this facial recognition software is a little too big brother for my taste because right now it might only be for people who are on the network, but how long before it allows you to do this for everyone, whether they want you to or not. As far as don’t post something you don’t want people to see, sometimes people post content that they only want friends and family to see, not the whole world. I think that this will also raise concerns about younger members of the social media world being even more prey to predators. What’s to stop a pedophile from using any of these technologies that you mentioned, namely the facial recognition software (especially if it were to open up to find anyone) to find young teens and their information?
I completely agree with you.. those were some of the first things that came to my mind when I read about this. I hope that people will use the Recognizr as a professional tool rather than for stalking or anything else dangerous but when reading about it, there were a lot of concerns for safety and when younger people are on the web, they are not fully aware of the risks they are taking when they put their information out there. From the video I found that I posted, it seems like they are trying to promote it in a professional manner, not just among friends and people you are meeting for the first time when you are out, but it is a very new technology and I guess we will see how it unfolds… you never know what people are capable of on the Internet and with greater access, there is definitely a higher safety risk for anyone online.
This application scares me. I personally think that it is an invasion of privacy. To have a professional demeaner is different than your personal demeaner. I agree with the comment about not posting what you don’t want to be seen, however it is impossible to live a purely “professional” life all the time, that’s boring! Of course there are fun events that you do with friends or family that are not approriate for the work place. I don’t mean that these activities are illegal or distasteful; for example, if you write for a newspaper and are required to write an UNBIASED column on politics, lets say, I don’t think it’s fair that on your personal posts on facebook or twitter you can’t post pictures of yourself at a republican party rally or anything of that nature. You should be able to express your personality and your professionality, but in separate arenas, you should not mix the two. It seems that with this feature, the two can be mixed.
I forsee negative reactions to this application!
This is really interesting. I think the Recognzr App could be a cool idea, seen as how you have the choice to be a subscriber. Professionally, I think it would be nice to find what networks your contacts are on so it would be easier to build a relationship and get in touch with them. As for the facebook app, I really don’t like the idea of it and I do feel like that is a privacy line that doesn’t need to be crossed. Even if the privacy settings are set, those photos are still on the web with your name attached. I don’t think many people would be willing to sign up for it.