Facebook's psychological experiments and Edward Snowden's NSA leaks
epitomize a world of increasing information awareness in the social
media ecosystem. With over a billion monthly active users, Facebook as a
nation is overtaking China as the largest country in the world.
President Barack Obama, in his 2011 State of the Union Address, called
America "the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers" and "of Google
and Facebook." U.S. Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel opines
that America has become a "Facebook nation" that demands increased
transparency and interactivity from the federal government.
Ubiquitous social networks such as Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and
YouTube are creating the technologies, infrastructures, and big data
necessary for Total Information Awareness - a controversial surveillance
program proposed by DARPA after the 9/11 attacks. NSA's secret PRISM
program has reinvigorated WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's accusation
that "Facebook is the most appalling spying machine that has ever been
invented."
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg once said, "We exist at the intersection of
technology and social issues." This book offers discourse and practical
advice on the privacy issue in the age of big data, business
intelligence in social media, e-government and e-activism, as well as
personal total information awareness. This expanded edition also
includes insights from Wikipedian Emily Temple-Wood and Facebook ROI
experts Dennis Yu and Alex Houg.