Lianne Schep

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Recent studies have find out that nine out of ten people in the Netherlands are somewhat active on social media platforms. This means that all these people have registered themselves on these social media sites. Nowadays, we are almost obligated to fill in personal information on sites in order to obtain certain context. Whether it is on social media sites or in web shops to order products, we need to register and fill in user details. Just think about it. You want to buy a pair of jeans online: you have to at least fill in your name and address. You want to log in on FB: you have to fill in your name and your email-address. And we almost always fill it in, just like that. Most people don’t even give it a second thought; they feel it is completely normal to give their personal data.

People have to make a trade-off between positive network externalities and negative network externalities. Positive network externality is the phenomenon that the value of the network to each user increases. Negative network externality is the concept of increasing privacy concerns that people experience when registering on a site.

In the article ‘What drives website registration (2016)’, the authors gave several advantages of user registration. The first advantage of users is that they are able to get access to a restricted area. A second advantage is that they can receive personalized advertisements. There are also disadvantages. A negative effect of registering is the fact that it is making it easier for others to invade people’s privacy through trolling, stalking and cyber bullying. Besides that, it also makes it easier to become a victim of identity theft. An advantage of user registration for websites is that it is a way to gather all kinds of information to be more efficient and to target customers. It is also a tool to develop closer relationship with users. The disadvantage for websites is that they can get in serious problems when personal data is stolen from the server.

The above-mentioned advantages are the reason why a lot of people enter their data on sites. However, we don’t know what these sites are going to do with our data. For example: Facebook started using data from their messaging app in order for their advertisers to better targets Facebook users. Facebook users were not aware of this. There is always a chance for loss of privacy when private information on a site is being stolen or misused. Websites try to convince customers that the data they enter will be safe with trying to build trust. They do this with showing popularity information, such as the number of registered users on a site, and/ or with Word of Mouth information that shows credibility.

There are obviously advantages and disadvantages of registering on websites. The most important lesson here is that sites have to protect their customer data as good as possible. Do you perceive providing personal information on a site to be risky? Do you ever think about what might happen when your personal data would be stolen?

Sources:

Li, T., and Pavlou, P. 2016. What Drives Users’ Website Registration? The Network Externalities versus Information Privacy Dilemma

Oosterveer, D (2016), Social media in Nederland 2016: Whatsapp overstijft Facebook, http://www.marketingfacts.nl/berichten/social-media-in-nederland-2016-whatsapp-overstijgt-facebook

Robertsen, A (2016), Protecting our privacy privacy online, http://www.thenational.ae/opinion/editorial/protecting-our-privacy-online

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Do you remember the first time you heard about Google Glasses? Did you ever hear more about it after the first introduction, or have you ever seen someone wearing the Glasses? Well, me neither. Google introduced the first edition of the Google Glass in 2012. They introduced the Glasses as wearable computing eyewear. It should have made an enormous impact in the way we use technology as it serves as a second screen for your smartphone. It should have been the next Big Thing, the gadget that everyone would want. Obviously, this did not happen. Google even stopped selling the first edition of the Glasses in January of 2015. The main reason why Google stopped the production of the Glasses was the claims that Google received about privacy implications. Consumers, who were using the Glasses, were able to record people without these people’s consent.

However, this year, Google came with the Google Glass 2.0. Google Glass still offers the same multiple features as the ‘old’ one. For example, there is the possibility to take pictures, you are able to call someone and the Glasses will be able to help you navigate.

To answer the question: the opinion of whether Google glass is a disruptive innovation or not, differs among the people you ask. Lets first define the term ‘disruptive innovation’. A disruptive innovation displaces an existing market and creates new markets that are more efficient. Now reflecting this on the Google Glass, the potential market that could be disrupted is the Smartphone market. This industry particularly stands out because the Google Glass is able to do pretty much the same as a Smartphone. However, the Google Glass 2.0 needs to connect to your phone. The smartphone receives the notifications and other information and connects this to Google Glass. This means that the Glasses are not a disruptive innovation for the smart phone.

If you would ask my opinion I would say that Google Glass 2.0 will not become a disruptive innovation because of the following aspects. First of all, the Glass works on voice demand, which means that you have to ‘talk’ to your Glass. This might become awkward if you are somewhere with other people close by and it looks like you are talking to yourself. Secondly, the Glass doesn’t look appealing at all. Google will need to make some radical changes. The last reason why I don’t think the Glass is a disruptive innovation is because the main technology already exists, but we are using our smartphones for this.

What is your opinion about the Google Glass 2.0? Do you think it will become a disruptive innovation? Moreover, do you see yourself wearing the glasses?

References:

Christensen, C (2016), Disruptive Innovation, http://www.claytonchristensen.com/key-concepts/

Tsukayama, H (2014), Everything you need to know about google glass, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2014/02/27/everything-you-need-to-know-about-google-glass/

Valeb (2015), Module 4: Google Glass a disruptive technology, https://valeb51.wordpress.com/2015/01/21/module-4-google-glass-a-disruptive-technology/

Do we still have privacy online?

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Google glass 2.0: A disruptive innovation or just another failure?

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