The ugly side of social media

Being a big advocate of the possibilities of social media, I was saddened by two stories I came across today. The first is a blog post by Jeremy Woolf of Text100 Hong Kong questioning the ‘trustworthiness’ of information that filters through via social media. Jeremy alludes that each of us, whether we are PR professionals, editors, journalists or ordinary citizens should take responsibility for the information we pass on, as the consequences can be very damaging. I agree that just because technology has made it easy for us to spread rumours, it shouldn’t take away or conscience or responsibilities.

This view has been further enforced when it has been reported that the suicide of Korean actress Choi Jin Sil was the result of malicious rumours that were spread via the internet – this is the second case following from the suicide of Korean pop singer Yoo Na after cyber-bullying over her plastic surgery. Korean Police have now decided to crack down on malicious new media rumour spreading.

It’s a shame that a small group of people would use such a powerful vehicle for malicious actions. It almost makes a case for internet censorship!!

I hope we don’t see a rise in cases such as Darryn Walker case, in which he is being charged under the Obscene Publications Act after postings about girl group Girls Aloud in the UK.

Domain name shake up

There has been much discussion about ICANN's potential plans to open up the internet domain name system. There is a good summary of the story here from the BBC website.

I don't normally sit on the fence, but on this occasion I can't for the life of me decide whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.

Here is a summary of my thoughts:

Good
- It allows companies to turn their brands and individuals to turn their names into domain names
- It will allow for new domain names to be internationalized meaning support for Asian and Arabic languages

Bad
- The creation of hundreds and thousands of new domain names making it harder for us to find what we are looking for
- Less regulation means more potential for fraud
- The application fee to register a domain name is expected to be at least several thousand dollars

It sounds like, maybe, the big fish will benefit, I think!!

Update: Chris Green says "I think the ICANN proposal is a bad move. It will create a cyber squatting war, cost ISPs millions and won't solve the problem"