• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, December 6, 2010

"It comes down to transparency," Mark Schmulen, general manager of social media for Constant Contact, on a panel at the Email Insider conference. Schmulen talks about how consumers use texting and digital companies like Four Square -- and that many consumers are already consenting to receive messaging. "There has to be element of permission."

D.J. Waldow, director of community of Blue Sky Factory, an email/social provider, wonders what if research is wrong about how consumers feel about privacy. "I have no data behind this," he says. "But I don't think people honestly care. How many people really boycotted Facebook [a while back]? Does the consumer really care?"

"There is a value exchange," says David Baker, senior vp of multichannel marketing services, Acxiom, in talking about social media sites and privacy. "Consumers owns the product."

Chad White, research director of Responsys, says the next wave of email will come with including somewhat unstructured opinion - say from Facebook or Twitter -- from consumers in giving opinions about specific products.