Monetizing the mobile social graph

November 4, 2011

Lisa J. Borodkin

MONETIZING THE MOBILE

SOCIAL GRAPH:Photo-Sharing and Consumer Data

Smart phone is a GPS but it’s also a cameraInstant connectivity to the grid Flickr FacebookInstagramPath… et tu?

THE SOCIAL GRAPH IN PHOTOS

~6b pictures40m users$50m in revenuePremium account (“flickr Pro”)Partnership with Getty ImagesFreemium/IP modelCreative Commons

Flickr’s Business

Photostream

Opt-in

Creative

Commons

Manual Geo-

tagging

Manual Tagging

Manual Permission

From an

intellectual

property point of

view.

Attribution.

Commercial use

Derivative works

Margie’s Candies

Schmap

Flickr Creative Commons PoolPhoto of a minor girlPure likeness caseDidn’t have to prove commercial valueUsed in bus stop ads“Dump your pen friend”Note: a mobile network ad

Susan Chang v. Virgin Mobile(D. Texas 2009)

100b pictures>1b users>$50b valuation

Ad-supported

Facebook’s Photo Business

May 2010

Unique URLS for

Facebook Photos

EFF – Kurt Opsahl

May 2010

Mark Sullivan PC World

Computers, Freedom and Privacy Conference June 2010EFF, PC World also had proposed Bill of

Rights

Social Network User’s Bill of Rights

Open Letter to Facebook

1 Honesty: Honor your privacy policy and terms of service2. Clarity: Make sure that policies, terms of service, and

settings are easy to find and understand3. Freedom of speech: Do not delete or modify my data

without a clear policy and justification4. Empowerment : Support assistive technologies and

universal accessibility5. Self-protection: Support privacy-enhancing

technologies6. Data minimization: Minimize the information I am

required to provide and share with others7. Control: Let me control my data, and don’t facilitate it

unless I agree first

SOCIAL NETWORK USERS’ BILL OF RIGHTS

8. Predictability: Obtain my prior consent before significantly changing who can see my data.

9. Data portability: Make it easy for me to obtain a copy of my data

10. Protection: Treat my data as securely as your own confidential data unless I choose to share it, and notify me if it is compromised

11. Right to know: Show me how you are using my data and allow me to see who and what has access to it.

12. Right to self-define: Let me create more than one identity and use pseudonyms. Do not link them without my permission.

13. Right to appeal: Allow me to appeal punitive actions 14. Right to withdraw: Allow me to delete my account, and

remove my data

SOCIAL NETWORK USERS’ BILL OF RIGHTS

SxSWi 2011

With Jack Lerner

Christina Gagnier

Moderated by

Alex Howard

THE WEBSITE: snubillofrights.com

Some added approval

Manual tagging

from

Social Graph

12 Million users150 million photos100k downloads per week in China aloneiPhone onlyPublic API

Instagram’s Business (2010)

Feed

Effects

Stream

“Popular”

Feeds

Facebook,

Twitter, Tumblr,

Posterous,

Foursquare

Experiences, not

yourself

Mobile only

iPhone (Android

coming)

Followgram.com

Third Party API

Online sites

Instagram briefly

disallowed this in

January 2011

Then permitted

Third-party only

for now

$7.5 Million funding

No revenues

Based on $20M

valuation in Fall

2010

Predictions are

they will sell to a

company that

needs users

Not searchable

on Google

October 2011

Consumers are

the data

Verizon changed

privacy policy

Aggregates data

and

demographics

and sells to

companies

Is it coercive,

given the typical

2-year contract?

Demographics

Phone companies

AT&T AdWorks

Sells targeted

coupons and

advertisements

tracks the kinds of websites a customer visits on their mobile devices

tracks what applications they useuses that data to help third parties target ads

to customers.

Sprint

"collects information about the websites that customers visit and their location”

"may use that information in an anonymous, aggregate form to improve our services.”--T-Mobile privacy policy

T-Mobile

Traditional Civil Check on Privacy Overreaching

Incentivizing Private Attorneys GeneralAllows individuals to aggregate claims Spring 2010: Facebook settles Beacon case

for $9MSept. 2010: Google Buzz $8.5 m settlement

Privacy Class Action Litigation

End of Buzz

Buzz privacy settlement

8.5 million

Plaintiffs sued because of $30 tax on “free” phone

9th Circuit had invalidated class action waiver in arbitration agreement as unconscionable

Savings clause of Federal Arbitration Act Sec. 2

AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, 563 U.S. __ (Apr. 27, 2011)

5-4

Party lines

April 2011:FAA preempts CA unconscionability re: class waivers

“the times in

which consumer

contracts were

anything other

than adhesive are

long past.” –

Scalia, J. at Slip.

Op. 12

Footnote 6

“States remain

free to . . .

requir[e] class-

action waiver

provisions in

adhesive

agreements to be

highlighted”

Unequal

leverage/bargaini

ng power

Death of Class Actions as a Check on Privacy?

Sticky transaction

costs

Movement limited

by contract

“simple and private”

Real social graph,

not a virtual

network

Android and

iPhone

Expressly limited

to 150 because of

Dunbar’s number

Dunbar’s number

“Our goal is to

continue to help

users connect

more deeply with

the people they

care about.” –

Dave Morin, Path

Co-Founder

150 is the

maximum

network one can

“groom” and

maintain

Path

1 million users

February 2011

turned down

Google’s offer of

$100 million

Funded for $11M

Dustin Moskowitz

Matt Van Horn

150 user limit

Harry R. Lewis

professor of

computer

science, final

lecture in

Quantitative

Reasoning 48,

“Bits,” /Empirical

and Mathematical

Reasoning 12, /

Computer

Science E-2 in the

Harvard

Extension School.

“We can help make that choice through the political process, by watching what laws are enacted by state and national governments. We can help make it by our choices as consumers, by what we say about the features present in, and missing from, the devices and technologies we buy. We can make it by what we have to say about the workings of the institutions and businesses of which we are a part. We can resist those expurgated dictionaries and those Web sites that want to know things you do not want to tell them. We can speak up. We can leave the box on the shelf. We can click ‘I don’t agree.’” – Harry R. Lewis

Leaky Bits

Is there a concept of “social property”Is it consensual?Will the market correct it?Are Terms of Service and Privacy Policies

enough?Class action waivers in every social product?Is there an economy of relationships?Is consumer consent to use of data a fair trade?Who will “organize” offline mobile data (not

Google)?

Who Owns the Social Graph?

Net neutralityISPs throttle access: 10Mb down, 1 Mb upWhat consumers “want”Wireless carriers capping dataPay overage charges to access your social

graph(BTW Sprint will grandfather you in to

unlimited data)

Identity Superhighway

Keep your pen friend.

(cf. Chang v. Virgin Mobile)

Slides will be available atlisaborodkin.com and

slideshare.com

Twitter: @lisaborodkin

THANK YOU!