Social Networks are PRIVACY and not price sensative...

Yesterday I wrote an article about the Privacy debate that had be raging over Facebook’s new “Open Graph” upgrades (Click here to read the story).

The last point of my post was that Privacy (not Price like many other businesses) was the sensitivity that social networks compete on.

Well, both CNet and Forbesare reporting that MySpace has come out in an open letter today  promising users simpler privacy settings.  MySpace’s co-president Mike Jones has outlined the company’s stance on privacy and has detailed what he calls a “simplified” version of the social network’s privacy settings to be rolled out to users in the next few weeks. Setting options will include public, friends only, or public to anyone 18 or over. The key difference from Facebook’s approach is that the toggle to change these settings will be contained in one switch, and in making this change, MySpace will default the setting to “friends only” – that is its an “opt out” default instead of an “opt in”, which would of course make your information public to all.

This is a win for MySpace not only in the privacy stakes but also in the open/transparent PR battle between the two managements. Unlike Facebook’s Zuckerberg, MySpace’s co-president Mike Jones has come out and made a clear and concise statement about the organisations position;

MySpace early on recognized the issues facing a website with a massive global population and we’ve taken our responsibilities seriously. We take a holistic approach to safety, security and privacy and align our product and practices around the needs of our users, while at the same time working closely with industry experts, law enforcement, regulators, and safety and privacy advocates.

Just as we had the browser wars in the 90′s maybe now we will witness the Privacy Wars. But what ever it’s called, it is clear that the first battle has been won.