The “F-identity”, as described by Rich Murnane, is the concept of using a social networking account like Facebook to share important tidbits of personal data to other authorized sites and users. In this manner, a person would no longer need to enter his or her personal data across multiple social networking and business sites, but rather could re-reference information directly from the single Facebook account.

This idea of a shared “golden copy” has merit in terms of efficiency and one-stop retrieval. One sentence in Murnane’s article struck me as interesting:

“In order for this to really work, Facebook will have to overcome its current stigma as an organization that isn’t concerned about the security of people’s personal data. In fact, this stigma might be such an issue that the opportunity for someone else to swoop in and become the ‘F-Identity’ company is certainly a possibility.”

I agree that one person spoofing another is a great concern. To that end, I began to think about human nature, the psychology of familiarity, and the potential paranoia that an F-Identity could potentially cause.

To illustrate this: My family took a long-awaited cruise over the holidays. We had voyaged with this particular cruise ship company in the past, and some of our preference data from that trip had apparently been stored along with our current reservation data.

“Ah, Mr. Goldfedder,” the wine steward asked, “do you still prefer the red wine with dinner?”

“Will you be playing Bingo again with us this year?” the entertainment director asked.

“I see here that you took a balcony suite with us your last cruise. Are you interested in an upgrade this time?” the cabin attendant wanted to know.

And on they went, noting my likes and crossing out my dislikes.

This strategy, in my opinion, demonstrates excellent customer service. On a daily basis with business, how often do we truly get acknowledged as PEOPLE with actual PREFERENCES, and not just a number on a revenue sheet? All of us love being treated as the individuals we know ourselves to be, and when large corporations take the time to recognize it as well…heck, it’s just plain refreshing.

We must acknowledge, however, that there is a fine line between customer satisfaction and creepiness. The sharing of our personal data between companies–as the ‘F-identity’ might suggest–may allow other, less scrupulous companies, to cross a line of knowing too much about us.

As an example, how would I have felt if, say, another cruise ship company, one with which we had never travelled, had asked me if I still prefer red wine with dinner?

Or what if it was a representative from, say, a winery, calling to tell us he had a great supply of red wine that he was sure we would love as it was the same vintage as on our cruise ship?

My immediate response under normal circumstances would be to contact the cruise ship company, demand to know why they had given away personal data, and be sure to never travel with that company again. But if this preference information becomes public as an ‘F-identity’ might do, I would have no type of retribution other than cancelling my Facebook account.

This is I believe the problem with a truly global “F-identity” may lie. We must be both personal and secure at the same time, and the two concepts by definition cannot mix.

Social networking tools can easily become a marketing weapon in the hands of the wrong people.

One obvious solution might be to limit the amount of data stored in the ‘F-Identity’ data set, limiting it to maybe just a name, gender, and other non-preferential demographics. To me, however, that eliminates the whole purpose for having a Facebook account in the first place. Although I may want my old college buddies to know that I’m sophisticated enough to drink red wine, I certainly would not want John from Great Wine Magazine to call me on this, so what do I share and what do I withhold?

Nevertheless, I do think the ‘F-identity’ is a great concept in theory. If we can establish a networking site that can both incorporate as well as separate our personal preferences from our business ones, then we should be good to go. Until then, I’d like to keep my tastes in wines to myself.