I spend a lot of time interviewing entrepreneurs, bloggers and the like so I find it really interesting when someone requests an interview with me. Jeffro at Jeffro2pt0 (a great blog that you should all check out), sat me down to talk about my tome on “Web 3.0″. He had some really great questions, one of which was how likely is it that technologies like people search will affect the way we behave online.

The question, “Do you think services such as people search will promote better online behavior?”

Breaking The Fourth Wall

No.

I think that normal people will know absolutely nothing about People Search until it shows up at their front door (like in the case of RottenNeighbors). I recently read an article in a semi-local newspaper about parents who are being fired, demoted and otherwise harassed because of things that their children are writing about them on social networks. The point is that almost everyone’s kids have been at this for years and it’s only in the last week that anyone has cared enough to point out the dangers.

As for the Web crowd, I think that we are so used to our information being out there for all to see that a few new algorithms won’t be enough to raise eyebrows. It might stop a few part time Trolls with full time jobs who aren’t clever enough to find a way around it, but don’t expect a revolution in social mores.

Web 2.0 Roundup

That is the strongest point I can make about fringe technologies like People Search. For everyone who might actually be concerned about them it will be months, if not years, before it makes it onto their radar.

The interesting thing about the web is that we have an opportunity to push ideas like personal privacy and identity to limits that generally aren’t possible in the real world. The question then is not whether online behavior will change in response to new ways to search for information, but instead it is how long will it be before the public at large realizes how much of their personal information is already available for just about anyone with a bit of ‘net savvy to see.

And more importantly, what the public outcry will sound like.

[Be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed before leaving]