I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about opt-in and what is and isn’t, especially with the advent of Facebook like buttons. As you may know you can put a like button on your website and if someone chooses to press that button, then you can not only see if they liked what the button was connected to, but you can also post a message to that person’s wall. This brings up the question of whether the person has really opted-in or not.
To understand that you need to understand that opt-in involves making a user aware that s/he has a choice, in terms of choosing to be contacted by someone abut that person’s services. Facebook’s like buttons seem to be opt-in on the surface, but really aren’t. While you’ve certainly opted to like a something, you haven’t knowingly opted to be contacted by a business, but Facebook assumes that by liking something you want to be contacted about it.
Opt-in is an ethical issue. By notifying a person that you may be sending that person information, if that person chooses, you are ethically respecting that person’s ability to make a choice. It’s important, if you run a business where you could be contacting people about your services, that you include an opt-in statements that make people aware that they have a choice to receive your information.
