It is a chaotic online jungle of companies, platforms, services, devices and behavior. Advertising based on who you are is creating a new breed of empowered, consumer renegades, hell bent on protecting their identity and valuable social networks.

With single access sign-in facilitated over a vast array of technological devices a whole new set of security and privacy concerns have emerged. Social networking sites more than ever must struggle with how to be more diligent in protecting our privacy. But can we rely on the Social Media giants like Facebook, Apple, and Google to educate and protect us from what we don’t know? Unfortunately none of them have had a stellar record when it comes to internet privacy issues.

This Christmas I received an email via Facebook from my friend Trish who had apparently bought a Louis Vuitton handbag and Rolex and Gucci watches for an amazing price on this shopping website she had discovered. The problem is that not only was the message strange coming from my friend Trish, but that she would send a message like this to me (knowing my serious allergy to the idea of shopping). To add to the mystery Trish confirmed that she had not sent the message and expressed shock that her entire Facebook group of friends had received this message.

If you have not had a look at the privacy settings for Facebook Apps in a while perhaps now is a good time. I was surprised to see how many apps I was signed up for which I had never heard of.

Perhaps you may think this situation is just a trivial annoyance, and on the surface this situation can appear as such. However, in my opinion it foreshadows the social networking hazards ahead for 2011. As a society we are just in the very infancy of social online networking which is about to explode ten fold over 3G networks at the hands of careless geeks and greedy marketers and merchants.

Welcome to the next computing era. The Mobile Internet. With 10 billion units connecting to the internet including: iPads, smartphones, kindles, tablets, MP3s, cell phones, PDAs, car electronics, home entertainment systems, games, and home appliances (to name a few), the social networking phenomena is emerging as the greatest privacy and security threat for decades.

Well, I don’t know about you but I think it is time to say; “bye, bye open source, social networks, email and cell phones. The party was fun while it lasted. I’m going back to my Walled Garden where I don’t have to worry about people pitching me (including life long friends) and where I can sip no brand tea, listen to cassette tapes, and renew my creativity.” You could say the “Groundswell” overtook me and I am on a temporary retreat to discover real authenticity.