Buzz and Brilliance: Week ending November 5

In general, the news this week was pretty lackluster - nothing really huge going on, but that doesn't mean there wasn't lots going on anyway, unless you're Google.

The more I see complaints about privacy (especially in regard to Facebook), the more frustrated I become. Look for more on that in the coming week. But, this post from Kelly Clay at Lockergnome really hits the nail on the head when it comes to all the people I see threatening to leave Facebook. Really? Will you? Because it's where your friends are, so are these serious threats or simply expressions of frustration? That said, will those who stay fill in their timeline now that they can back date posts? I'm still very much up in the air about doing this. Partially because of time (I don't have any). Partially because of privacy (I'd like to keep it).

In the ever-popular commentary on the war between Facebook and Google+, a new angle was introduced this week when Google integrated G+ with Google Apps - the enterprise angle. Mashable guest poster, Balakrishna Narasimhan, believes that could be the key to victory and the commentary is interesting, but I say that's just another huge difference that sets Google+ apart and makes it complementary to Facebook. Of course, guest poster, Aidan Hijleh, on All Facebook would probably disagree with me - they think Facebook is going to win. When I read commentary like this from Social Times, I'm convinced that the market that Google is targeting isn't your mom, dad and high school classmates. I've always looked at Google+ as a cross between Facebook and LinkedIn anyway...sort of.

Other Google news includes a facelift for Google Reader and integration into G+ as well. There's been backlash at the changes, but nothing that I think will convince Google to roll back the clock. Other than missing the count of posts I've starred, I have no issues with the update. Gmail is the other big Google product to get an overhaul this week. I'm not a fan of the Gmail interface - I use Outlook as my email client (even for web-based accounts), but they have made some nice changes. With all the integration, including YouTube, that Google+ is giving its users, Google is becoming quite a powerhouse of information and content.

Here's a few other briefs for you:

Why Comments Help You: Bloggers love comments (hint, hint). But have you ever seen the benefits for yourself? Trust me, there are benefits.

Protecting Your Home: We've all seen cringe-worthy posts where someone says too much about something. Here's how to avoid sharing too much about where you live.

Tumblr Spam: Tumblr has admitted to having a spam problem and they're working to resolve it. I have an account, but I haven't actually seen any spam. Unless you count this. (Oh, Klout, you have problems!)

Twitter Ettiquette: I really wanted to share this link with a new follower this week who immediately wrote a sales pitch to me when I followed back. The person did engage with me a bit after, so I held off. I did notice that someone else gave them some advice. Appropriately so since the pitch they were sending to everyone (apparently) didn't apply to that individual. And it made me want to share Susan's tips once again.

Facebook Privacy and Access: In another fun privacy story about Facebook, researchers found it was quite easy to friend users through their mutual friends - from fake accounts.  I'd say this is a great reason to be selective about who you're connecting with.

For all the complaints people have about privacy on Facebook, there are actually some pretty sophisticated features in place to help people protect themselves. Unfortunately, they aren't commonly known.

Social Media in the Workplace: What's your preference: Access to Facebook at work or a higher salary? The answer might surprise you.

Crowdsourcing Life: There is so much good going on in social media. It's overwhelming sometimes - especially when I hear about life and death situations where people are spurred to act and raise awareness.

MySpace getting its SexyBack: Well, at least Justin Timberlake is going to try. This is one story that barely got any play this week. It's the reason I dislike seeing "<insert social network/tool> is dead" whenever I see it. Until you're down to a handful of users, it's not dead. MySpace is bleeding users, but Justin Timberlake has proven himself to be a smarter than average businessman. I'm extremely curious to see what happens with this.

*****

The Business Book Club's first reading assignment was set this week. I started reading yesterday and I can tell this book is going to challenge me in numerous ways. Will you join us?