Ever heard of social WiFi? Well, we know that using any password to authenticate users of a WiFi network, even a simple one posted on signs around the library, is good practice because it automatically encrypts the WiFi traffic instead of sending it through the air in clear text. So what if you asked your library WiFi users to login with their social media credentials instead of yet-another-password. And then a library computer could look through their Facebook postings (for example) to look for the kinds of books they like to read and send them “ads” for similar books in your library. That kind of thing is called “social WiFi,” and it’s a significant trend in businesses that provide public WiFi.
- Purple WiFi and Wavelink join forces to offer social WiFi (Connect World/Purple WiFi press release) “The guests log into the secure hotspot system using social media authentication, via networks such as Facebook or Twitter. The venue providing the connection gains valuable demographic and engagement information from users through its Purple Portal, which allows the business to understand who is visiting and using their hotspot, how long they are online, as well as their age, gender and any other relevant information that they offer in their social networking profile. The portal also provides a powerful engagement tool to promote relevant offers, essentially rewarding guests for visiting the venue.”
- Social WiFi sign-in: Benefits with a dark side (Network COmputing/Lee Badman) “As strange as it seems, despite the wide-open nature of our social media personas, we still expect a modicum of control over how our information gets used. Social WiFi undercuts that odd, fragile handle we have on our social media data to monetize and upsell us in ways that don’t make me really comfortable. Once the data is mined and conclusions are drawn from it, we become new people in the eyes of the social WiFi provider, with no control over how the process presents us.”
- Too much information? Facebook, Google face backlash over logins (Wall Street Journal/Elizabeth Dwoskin) “Facebook recently said it would begin to offer anonymous logins and also allow users to choose which data they want to share, a response to privacy concerns. The head of Google+ recently stepped down amid signs the social network isn’t popular with users. ‘We’ve gotten feedback,’ said Eddie O’Neil, product manager for Facebook Login. ‘We first heard from people that they want more transparency, second, more control.’”
- Social Wi-Fi and privacy: Keeping balance in the force (AirTight Networks blog/Sean Blanton) “Remember that while mobility is fairly ubiquitous in our society, it very much skews to millennials who (like myself) are getting older and expanding our interactions beyond school and home. I’d argue that free Wi-Fi and a dessert coupon in exchange for my name, age and city is a pretty sweet deal, and I’d be excited to see what other places I frequent would provide me with a tailored experiences instead of generic, seemingly unhelpful ones.”
Login fact:
According to recent data collected by LoginRadius, people use a Facebook account most often for social logins (49%), followed by Google+ (29%), and Twitter (6%).
