1. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN
THE INTERNET STOPS
BEING POLITE AND STARTS
GETTING REAL
Privacy + Social Media + You
Shea Sylvia | SMCKC | 9.10.10

2. An introduction
Hi. I’m Shea.
I’m part of Cerner’s online marketing team.
I manage the company’s social media activity.
I tweet (@sheasylvia) and blog (sheasylvia.com) and
try to avoid being an SMDB as much as possible.

3. Before July 13, 2010, I:
 Checked in on Foursquare on an almost daily basis.
 Was selectively connected to IRL friends and online
friends via Foursquare.
 Occasionally published my location to Twitter when I
was with a group or thought I had something
reasonably interesting to mention.
 Kept my LinkedIn profile and Flickr photostream totally
public.
 Used Facebook strictly for IRL friends and family with
locked-down privacy settings
 Always felt safe.

4. July 13, 2010

5. And then…
“Are you
Shea Sylvia?
You have a
phone call.”

6. “Brian” was on the other line
Hi Shea. It’s
Brian… Is this
getting creepy?
Brian who?
Yeah… This is
creepy.

7. So I did the logical thing:

8. And then things got interesting

9. And then they got REALLY interesting

10. And then it got ugly
There are over 450 comments on the Jezebel post. Most of
them go something like this:

11. And uglier

12. And as ugly as it could possibly get

13. What happened next
 I cried. A lot.
 I filed a police report.
 I removed comments from my blog.
 And then I blogged about the experience.
 I deleted my Foursquare account.
 I changed the privacy settings on my LinkedIn
profile, Flickr photostream, and (temporarily)
protected my tweets.
 I started taking different routes home.
 I stopped feeling safe.

14. The million dollar question
Q: Am I responsible for
what happened?
A: Yes and No

15. The thing is…
 We’re social media
professionals who sometimes
forget the rest of the internet
isn’t like us.
 Some of us are still checking into
our homes… where our families
live and our kids play.
 Even if we don’t use location-
sharing tools, we give away other
private information ALL. THE.
TIME.
 (Think about your last thirty tweets.
Did you ever say where you were?
Could someone exploit that
information?)

16. Questions
 If I was being reasonably
careful with my Foursquare
behavior and “Brian” called
me, what about users who
can’t even figure out their
Facebook privacy settings?
 What do you think this means
for Facebook Places?

17. A Facebook Places check-in

18. More questions
 Have we become so accustomed to getting excited
about the newest, coolest social media tool that
we’ve stopped caring about the implications of
using those tools?
 Does it make you less of a social media professional
if you are selective with the tools you use?
 Where do you draw the line?

19. Where things stand now
 I’m back on Foursquare.
 I treat the audience of
each social media tool
differently.
 I feel a bit safer. But I’m
cautious.
 I’m pretty sure
Foursquare’s PR team
hates me.

20. Safety tips
 It ruins the fun a bit, but checking in on your way out of
a location is a safer option.
 Only accept friend requests from people you know and
trust. Just because you chat with someone on Twitter
doesn’t mean they aren’t secretly a creepster.
 Change up your routines. Try a different Starbucks in
the morning or a different Chipotle at lunch.
 NEVER CHECK IN FROM HOME. OR WORK. (I know
that last one is debatable.)
 Check and double-check your privacy settings.
 Turn off geo-tagging on your smartphone.

21. Questions?