The Sounding Board

Best post I have read about this issue. So many &q...

Best post I have read about this issue. So many "experts" out there, yet when you check them out, they are not always engaged themselves. Twitter expert with 200 followers and last Tweet 2 weeks ago? Ya gotta walk the walk, not just talk the talk...

DC, Maryland & Virginia Representing at SXSW

UPDATE (3/2/11): Over at Tech Cocktail, Frank Gruber just posted about DC startup GroupFlier, who Tech Cocktail is working with to push out things like event updates and reminders from SXSW via GroupFlier's free group texting platform. Read more about what they're doing with the Tech Cocktail SXSW group here.

Via SXSWi

Earlier today, iStrategyLabs CEO and DCWEEK co-founder Peter Corbett posted a link to the DC Tech Facebook group pointing to New York by Southwest, a hub to help New Yorkers support each other during the mega SXSW Interactive Festival. I looked to see if I could find a comparable listing or site for DC, but came up short.

I pulled together a quick list of local (DC, Maryland, Virginia) companies representing at SXSW from March 11-15 (complete with boilerplates!). Am I missing anyone? Anyone know of any DMV folks who will be speaking during SXSW? Let me know in the comments and I'll add them to the list.

-Stephanie

Finalists for the 2011 SXSW Interactive Awards
Vital Voices (Washington, DC) - finalist in the Activism category
Rosetta Stone (Arlington, VA) - finalist in the Educational Resource category

Exhibiting at the Trade Show
AuroIn (Frederick, MD)
Since 1999, http://www.auroin.com has been one of the leading search engine optimization(SEO) Web destinations. Today, AuroIN LLC. is a global Internet marketing company providing SEO, PPC, SMO, Analytics, Reputation Management, Conversion Optimization services etc.

Cool Blue Company (Washington, DC)
The Cool Blue Company specializes is developing books for the social media strategist within different areas of business and society.

Eloqua (Vienna, VA)
Eloqua helps clients dramatically accelerate revenue growth through Revenue Performance Management. Eloqua provides powerful business insight to inform marketing and sales decisions today that drive revenue growth tomorrow. The company’s mission is to make its customers the fastest growing companies on earth. Thousands of users rely on the power of Eloqua to execute, automate, and measure programs that accelerate revenue growth. Eloqua’s customers include Adobe, AON, Dow Jones, ADP, Fidelity, Polycom, and National Instruments.

Furnace Record Pressing (Fairfax, VA)
Furnace MFG is a recognized leader in vinyl manufacturing, assembly, and finishing. In addition, Furnace MFG offers CD and DVD replication, duplication, and download cards. Furnace works with thousands of artists each year to bring their projects to life and press over a million records each year for artists like Neil Young, Tom Petty, Wilco, REM, Metallica, and Nirvana.

Intermarkets (Reston, VA)
Since its founding in 1997, Intermarkets has developed into the nation's leading independent advertising sales management services firm. Intermarkets serve publishers as their exclusive representative marketing their inventory to advertisers. In addition, Intermarkets provide our advertising clients complete advertising solutions including placement on our Portfolio which delivers more than 3 billion ad impressions every month, placement across Aurora Audience, media buying and planning, and more.

JustGigIt (Midlothian, VA)
JustGigIt is a free Facebook and iPhone App for musicians to expand their professional network and find gigs fast and easy.

Netbiscuits (Reston, VA)
Netbiscuits' world leading cloud software platform serves the mobile Internet services for premium online, media and retail companies such as eBay, Universal Music, MTV Networks, HSN and Axel Springer, as well as leading agencies such as SapientNitro, Publicis, Razorfish and Ogilvy. Globally Netbiscuits processes more than 4.4 billion mobile page and content requests for its customers each month. Founded in 2000, the company has 90 employees in the USA, Germany, UK and Singapore.

Neustar (Sterling, VA)
Neustar was founded to solve the technical and operational challenges of the communications industry when the U.S. government mandated number portability. Today, Neustar is one of the world’s largest addressing and policy management companies, operating authoritative databases for virtually all telephone numbers and area codes for the United States and Canada; providing DNS solutions that direct and manage traffic on the Internet; and managing the registry for Common Short Codes used by the wireless industry. For Hollywood, Neustar built and manages the UltraViolet™ brand account system which provides consumers with access to their entertainment anywhere, on any device.

Salsa Labs (Washington, DC)
Salsa Labs is the creator of the popular Salsa platform, an integrated, flexible, and affordable set of tools to organize and energize people. From fundraising to advocacy, CRM, communications, and event management, Salsa empowers thousands of nonprofits and campaigns of all sizes to achieve their online goals. Organizations can create their own unique recipe for organizing by choosing from the dozens of available tools they provide as well as by plugging in dozens of other applications produced by 3rd parties in the Salsa Market. Part of Salsa's mission is to help its users become expert organizers and it provides a robust training and online community support program through SalsaCommons.org. Salsa's robust set of services are supporting thousands of user groups' relationships with over 40 million supporters, members, donors, activists, and fans all around the world.

SKYFER (Vienna, VA)
SKYFER™ is a free web and mobile application that connects users within close vicinity and allows exchange information, request services, and take offers in real time.

SocialToaster (Baltimore, MD)
SocialToaster is a social marketing platform that engages supporters to promote your content to their social networks; driving website traffic and providing comprehensive reporting on the effectiveness of your efforts.

SoundExchange (Washington, DC)
SoundExchange is the non-profit performance rights organization that collects statutory royalties from satellite radio (such as SIRIUS XM), Internet radio (such as Pandora), cable TV music channels (such as Comcast’s Music Choice) and similar platforms for streaming sound recordings. The Copyright Royalty Board, which was created by Congress, has entrusted SoundExchange as the sole entity in the United States to collect and distribute these digital performance royalties on behalf of featured and non-featured recording artists, master rights owners (usually record labels), and independent artists who record and own their masters.

VOPED (Lansdowne, VA) 
The VOPED online video platform offers turnkey, Pay Per View technology and services to recording artists, filmmakers, and media and entertainment companies. Go live and go on-demand to attract a global audience to reach untapped revenue streams with online Pay Per View. VOPED, the video platform solutions company, offers a range of products and services to deliver video online. The VOPED platform is feature-rich and provides all of the tools to manage, encode, publish, and monetize online video.

Please Stop Describing Yourself as a "Social Media Expert"

Earlier today, I caught a video by Alex Blagg of A Bajillion Hits fame. Who's Alex, you ask?

Part Internet meme, part satire, ABH is one giant riff on the oft-exaggerated "expertise" of social media "gurus." Blagg, as his site boasts, specializes in "meme-making," "Bieber-baiting," and "Engaging Engagement." He's a "visionary," a "Webeneur," and "strategenius." He offers services in "idea design," "algorithms," "nano-solutions," and "paradigm-adjustment." In other words, Blagg's parody reminds us just how ridiculous it is for anyone to have an "expertise" in making things go viral. To Blagg, it's all boilerplate." - Fast Company

In this new video, from an event he spoke at in December, Blagg talks about how businesses can "get their strat back and win in business by jacking it on the Internet." The video's long (doesn't Blagg know how difficult it is to get an 8 minute video to go viral!?), but I personally found it to be hilarious, and a pretty spot-on look at "social media gurus."



Blagg's right to poke fun at self-described "social media experts." And he's not alone. Just this week, Trackur CEO and Marketing Pilgrim editor Andy Beal published a tongue-in-cheek guide on how to become a Twitter guru.

What does it even mean to describe yourself as a "social media expert"? You use Twitter? You've been on Facebook since 2004?

Yet, as odd as the title might seem, it's not hard to find one of these experts. In 2009, a fantastic study by B.L. Ochman showed there were nearly 16,000 social media experts on Twitter:

In May 09 when we first used Tweepsearch to count of the Twitter bios of self-proclaimed social media gurus, experts, superstars and ninjas there were 4,487. A mere seven months later, we were shocked to see that there are now nearly 16,000. They are multiplying like rabbits.

I haven't seen any updated numbers for 2011, but it's safe to say that the number of self-described "gurus" online has exploded. With this explosion, an issue has developed that I like to describe as the self-gratifying circle of social media.

What is that? Well, if you read enough social media blogs, and keep up with certain pockets of these folks on Twitter, Facebook, etc., you'll quickly notice a common phenomenon: Person A will write a blog post. Persons B-N will, (often without question) automatically share and comment on ("Another awesome post!...") Person A's post. The same thing happens when Person B posts, and so on.

It's a bit self-perpetuating and insular.

Michael Pinto at Fanboy.com calls these experts (or "zombies," as he describes them) "the cancer of Twitter":

The zombies then seek each other: You'll always notice that of the 5,000 followers that a social media expert has that all 5,000 of them are also social media "experts." Their only form of conversation is to quote each other and live tweet conferences where they gather. Like any good Ponzi scheme the lead zombies can make a good living feeding the hopes and aspirations of the worker level drones who parrot their every blog entry.

So what are we to do? First things first, realize that "true" experts are out there, but you probably won't see them describe themselves as such. Beth Harte and Geoff Livingston wrote a solid post on "how to tell if your social media expert is a carpetbagger." It's a few years old now, but I think their advice is just as valid today.

To me, the most important distinction is that your "expert" shouldn't think of social media as a parlor trick, but as part of an overall communications strategy. Similar to any other tactic, they should have legitimate successes to point to, and measurement should be a key component.

Until we get to that point, and until non-experts stop describing themselves as "gurus," we'll see parodies from the likes of Alex Blagg.

-Stephanie Wonderlick

I'm curious as to why the title of the OpenFor...

I'm curious as to why the title of the OpenForum article asked if small businesses would benefit from press platforms. Why wouldn't any company? I personally thought that was the most ridiculous argument ever. However, I do believe there should be more news around the platforms available. I, along with a few PR pros and journalists, recently launched FlackList, a database of flacks within a social network built to help media find and source the best PR pros. www.flacklist.com. We're not trying to take the place of HARO, but rather trying to combine the best features of all platforms in one place. It's about connecting, but it's also about maintaining those relationships.

Content is Worthless. Long Live Content.

Image by a_whisper_of_unremitting_demand

A recent post by Jeff Jarvis made me think long and hard about a term we tend to throw about wantonly within public relations: content. Specifically, how we do (or don’t) view the overall hierarchy of content. As Jeff says in the post: “It’s not about the content (stupid). It’s about value.”

That’s what I think we tend to miss in public relations – we spend so much time worrying about volume of content (read as tweets, Facebook status posts, blog posts, whitepapers, podcasts, repeat ad nauseam), that we completely forget the most important piece of the content puzzle: value. Why should someone read this blog post? Why should they care?

Yes, syndication is important – a client could write the most important piece of analysis for their entire industry, and it would be worthless if we as public relations professionals were unable to get it in front of the right people. But far too often we focus only on on churning out steaming mounds of words, forgetting to actually read what we create.

Publishers are focused on making a profit from their content – it’s the only model that they know. Look at the New York Times’ paywall, the Daily, and so on. But for every outlet that tries to lock its information down, others are providing valuable content for free – citizen bloggers, independent technology analysts, mommy bloggers, and more. Jeff points to the Huffington Post as a key example, which I would agree with prior to its acquisition by AOL – time will tell as to whether the value remains after the site is run through AOL’s monetization machine.

My point isn’t that we need to stop creating content consistently; it’s that we need to step back and look at everything we write and ask ourselves a simple question: Is this valuable?

--John Terrill

Cross Dressing Executives and Love Letters: The Story of the Personalized Media Pitch

During my almost 10 years in public relations I think there is one thing I’ve heard reporters repeat over and over again – personalize your pitch! And no, they don’t just mean the salutation, although that helps. What they mean is do your research, know who they are and what they write about. I’m constantly amazed that this is what reporters repeatedly stress as to me it seems like a no brainer. However, clearly that’s not the case.

Recently though (ok, last month, but I just had a chance to read it this weekend) PR Daily News Feed featured what might be the most creative – and personalized – media pitch I’ve ever seen. Apparently David Pogue, personal-technology columnist at the New York Times also found the pitch (which was sent to him, amongst others) to be one of the best he’s ever seen.

This particular pitch, which was a video that you can watch here, features the CEO and COO of CodeWeavers, dressed in drag. Why would they do that? Well, because they were pitching their latest product: Crossover Mac Impersonator. In short, their product allows you to run Windows applications on a Mac without a Windows license. While dressed as Cher, and Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, these two guys get right to the point – this is our product, this is why it’s cool and this is what we want from you AND they did all of that with little to no tech jargon! Ultimately they wanted Pogue to stop by their booth at Macworld to try out their product. While Pogue didn’t attend Macworld, he did admit that the guys at CodeWeavers certainly got his attention. (Personally, I’d be on the look out for a review of the product from Pogue in the near future.)

Another pitch that Pogue identified as being a “perfect PR pitch” came from Nikon. After openly writing a review of the Canon S95 in love letter form, Pogue received a response from the Nikon D80, which he himself says was “the first camera he ever really loved in print.”

In his response to Pogue, Nikon PR guy Geoff Coalter reminds Pogue about his love for the Nikon D80, waxes poetic about the camera’s strengths and introduces Pogue to a new-to-him Nikon product, the P7000. Pogue found the pitch to be “brilliant” and says “I hadn’t heard of the P7000, but you’d better believe that I’m going to review it now.”

So why do these two pitches work so well? It’s not just that the PR pros behind these pitches got the salutation right. It’s that they know their product; they know their company or the client they are representing and most importantly, they know the reporter. It’s clear that they didn’t just do a quick Google search to see who is writing about camera reviews or Macs. They have clearly been following Pogue for quite a while, they knew about his history writing about Macs (he did after all write Macs for Dummies) and they knew he had previously written about their product (in the case of Nikon).

Am I suggesting that our clients start dressing in drag or writing love letters to reporters? Nope, not at all, but if you want to, to each his own. But I am suggesting that we all slow down, just a little bit, and make sure to carve time out of each day to read. It’s our job as PR professionals to know the reporters that matter to our clients, to know what they are writing about and to make sure we are pitching the right person on the right topic at the right time. With that in mind, I for one am going to spend just a little bit less time talking and a little more time reading.

--Jennifer

Free Press Face-Off: Who Gives the Most Bang for your (Non)Buck?

Mashable had a great post yesterday a repost from the American Express OPEN Forum) breaking down the pros, cons and overall experience of the two largest “free press” platforms: Help A Reporter Out (HARO) and NewsBasis. The post did a great job of looking at the two platforms from a small business perspective, but as a PR pro, is one better than the other?

I happen to use both HARO and NewsBasis, along with ProfNet, which is a subscriber (paid) service from PRNewswire. And while the experience with each varies from day-to-day based on the individual reporter queries, I think that all of the platforms are useful, at least to a certain extent.

With HARO, the biggest thing PR pros need to understand is DON’T PITCH OFF TOPIC. I’m deadly serious about this – Peter Shankman and his colleagues enforce this stricture ruthlessly and aren’t afraid to call out spam pitches by name on Twitter and in email blasts. Generally the queries are a mix of trade publications and major dailies, from Processor Magazine to the Wall Street Journal. SpeakerBox has landed quite a few nice placements from HARO, so it’s worth signing up, even if you have to weed through a lot of off-topic queries to find a gem or two.

NewsBasis is a newer player and one that I haven’t had much success with, due to a dearth of technology-focuses queries. That being said, the queries that I have seen are quality (Wired, New York Times, and so on). Coverage areas aside, the site is fantastic, with a great user interface, timely email alerts and the ability to send general pitches to multiple reporters in a specific focus area (like technology or healthcare), something that other platforms frown upon (HARO even uses throw-away email addresses that expire at the deadline for its journalists).

Finally, ProfNet is much like HARO, only it requires a subscription. While a quality service (we’ve had many successes through ProfNet), in recent months it has come under siege from HARO, with many of the queries being duplicated across both platforms. ProfNet’s biggest upside is that it doesn’t “mask” email addresses, making it easy to collect reporter information for internal media lists.*

*Only do this if the journalist actually covers your topic area; I am not condoning off-topic or spam pitching.

So, what’s the verdict? In short, there’s no harm in subscribing to HARO and NewsBasis – both provide quality opportunities and, more importantly, can connect you with some very well regarded journalists. As for ProfNet, it remains a quality service (if a bit expensive), but I think that it has to evolve to combat the increasing popularity of HARO.

--John Terrill
@jterrill8

I'll Take Computerized Contestants for $200, Please Alex

I think the WCP wins on this one -- and I'm no...

I think the WCP wins on this one -- and I'm not talking about law, I'm talking about PR!

Rumblings, Riots and Revolutions: Your Social Media Strategy

Unless you’re isolated in some lead-lined bunker under the Rocky Mountains (in which case you shouldn’t be reading this, as the government can now find you!), you’ve been inundated with stories around how social media is acting as the backbone for modern revolutions, highlighted by the Tunisian revolution and the ongoing Egyptian protests.

Now, what does this have to do with your social media strategy? Am I supposing that your strategy should aim to trounce a brutal or unlawful government? No. The business of fomenting revolution is a bit beyond my pay grade.

Instead, you need to look at these examples as to how a true grassroots movement is created via social media. Revolutionary or not, if you want your followers/fans/subscribers to actually take action based on your activities, there had better be a call to action, as well as some kind of mutual cause. Keep in mind, I’m using “cause” here very loosely and not necessarily referring to a social cause (which can become extremely powerful through social media, as already mentioned), but more in the vein of a “call to action.”

Finding a cause is where most social media strategies truly fail. Your organization doesn’t need a lofty goal – your cause could be as silly as getting a free Whopper or as complex/class-conscious as taking a stand against metered broadband or childhood bullying, but you need to stand for something.

Without this call to action, your brand is simply adrift in the social media ocean – sure, you might have a few successes in terms of positive retweets and enhanced public sentiment, but you’ll always lack that “wow” moment when you see something your company backs trending on Twitter or surpassing 10,000 Likes on Facebook.

--John Terrill

Kelly Harman Shares Her Favorite Cloud-Based Tools

As part of the bi-weekly SpeakerBox training program, Kelly Harman came to SpeakerBox to share her favorite cloud-based marketing and productivity tools.

Kelly showcased a range of cloud-based solutions that provide crowd-sourced design, cheap labor for repetitive projects, collaboration, personalization and convenience – and explained how she had used these tools for clients and personal use.

We also discussed some of our favorite free productivity solutions, including browser-based to-do lists TeuxDeux and Remember the Milk and project management solutions Basecamp and Smartsheet.

Take a look at Kelly’s presentation. Any other favorite tools you’d like to share?

It's a Question of Taste

It's rare that I get the chance to come on here and blog about fashion (I'm actually a sartorial fiend), so I figured I'd take the opportunity to write about the recent Kenneth Cole PR fiasco.

It all started earlier this week when someone, most likely the designer himself, tweeted on the Kenneth Cole handle an insensitive and ill-conceived attempt to connect the spring collection with the chaos in Cairo.
Poor form, Kenneth Cole. Poor form. Even if the fashion world is accepting of pushing the envelope, that tweet was way over the top in light of current events. Does the Kenneth Cole team really think this is good for PR and branding? Kenneth Cole took the appropriate steps by removing the tweet and issuing an apology on Facebook (I would have recommended that the apology be posted on their website as well), but the damage was done.

Naturally, someone started a fake Twitter handle called @KennethColePR, where equally offensive tweets have been posted for the last 24 hours. With just 33 tweets, they've amassed a following of over 6,000 people; it's very similar to the fake BP Twitter account that popped up last year. In my opinion, the effectiveness of the fake tweets lies in that 1) it doesn't take much of a stretch of the imagination to think Kenneth Cole could come up with these; and 2) the real tweet that started the mess fits right in and is equally absurd.

For me, the ongoing backlash in the media reinforces the belief that you can cross the line with negligent social media efforts. I wonder if Kenneth Cole stopped to consider one of the cardinal rules of Twitter: think before you tweet (actually, that's right up there with don't tweet and drink).

Let me be clear. This isn’t a political blog post. If I may steal from Marie Claire’s Nina Garcia, “It’s a question of taste.” The moral of the story is don't underestimate a smart, aware online community that isn't afraid to use parody to call out tasteless behavior.

The Qwik and the Dead

Why is it that whenever we picture the future, we invariably think of talking computers? After all, we have that technology now. It’s widely accessible. It’s not really all that useful. But for some reason, talking computers will forever remain the lynchpin of any futuristic, ultramodern fantasy.

I suppose one of the things we haven’t yet perfected, though, is a truly open talking computer interface, through which to ask poignant questions about the universe (“Computer, what is true love?”), or—much more likely—stupid questions about Star Trek. (“Computer, is Kate Mulgrew still alive?”)

Enter Qwiki—a paradigm-disrupting interactive information experience game-changer. (“Computer, what is a press release?”)

Actually, Qwiki is more like a website that reads you Wikipedia entries in a stilted robotic voice while pulling up semi-relevant images and videos. In fact, that’s exactly what it is.

People are talking about Qwiki now because Facebook’s Eduardo Saverin (a.k.a. Spiderman’s hunkalicious alter ego)—wait, I’m confusing movies and real life again—invested heavily in the company. And as we now know from watching Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Network, all successful Internet start-ups need a petulant wet blanket to stifle the creative genius of their idiosyncratic founders. (Why else do you think Steve Jobs made Lou Dobbs his VP of product development?)

Now then: Zuckerburg’s role at Qwiki is being filled by Doug Imbruce (CEO), or maybe CTO and former AltaVista founder Louis Monier (you know, that guy who’s always telling people to “just AltaVista it” and then getting hit with blank stares.)

I could describe this more, but it’s probably just easier for you to try it out. The alpha version is up and running here, or you can check out Doug’s award-winning presentation from September’s TechCrunch Disrupt conference.

Play around and let me know what you think: game-changer or pointless waste-o-time? I know which way I’m leaning. (“Computer, what is a Ponzi scheme?”)

--Jonathan

True or False? Snyder v. WCP

Thanks, esleep! Your encouraging words are a wel...

Thanks, esleep!

Your encouraging words are a welcome contrast to the hundreds upon thousands of death threats I've been receiving (although most of them are from my ex-wife and also that fisherman me and my friends thought we accidentally killed last summer.)

Don't feel bad about getting sucked back in to Facebook, though. Just pretend you're taking it down from the inside :)

Be strong Jonathan! I was soo proud of myself for ...

Be strong Jonathan! I was soo proud of myself for quitting last year but then I got sucked back in b/c all my friends are there. Thus I am once again Zuck's property. Glad you got out :)

Steph,<br /><br />I think we may need to enlist Mike to help...

Steph,

I think we may need to enlist Mike to help settle the unrest in Cairo.

He is exceedingly diplomatic and -- at least in his assessment of this particular issue -- probably right on the money.

Jonathan and Stephanie are both right and both goo...

Jonathan and Stephanie are both right and both good looking.

Facebook, like everything involving faces and books, has a cost and a service. The service -- as Stephanie has so eloquently expressed -- allows you, for the first time, the ability to keep in touch with everyone you wish to keep in touch with. Sure, you can gum up the gears by farming beets with people you wouldn’t share a seat on the Metro with. However, if used correctly, the ability to keep in contact with loved ones at such an intimate level has real value. If anything, imaging a grandmother being able to log-on at any time and see pictures of her grandson makes it all worth while.

That all being said, Jonathan, in prose that would make David Sedaris jealous, makes an excellent point as well – this service has a real cost. The assumption that anything placed on the internet – especially Facebook – is going to remain private is ridiculous. Yes, Facebook (along with Google, Microsoft, and everyone else) is going to farm your data. Yes, if you "check in" to Five Guys on Facebook, you will get Five Guys advertisements. Yes, you will never be able to rid yourself of that status message alerting everyone how "completely tanked" you were last Wednesday. The cost of using Facebook’s service is privacy, through and through. It’s up to the user to decide if this is worth it.

If you want privacy, try using a typewriter to update your status message.

Why "Why 'Leaving Las Facebook' Is Not the Answer" Is Not the Answer

Why 'Leaving Las Facebook' isn't the answer

Image via Analytics by Joomla blog

Earlier today, my colleague Jonathan shared his reasons for leaving Facebook, largely citing his privacy concerns. And he's not alone.

But while I think Jonathan is usually right on the money with a lot of his perspectives, I think he's incorrect in thinking that leaving Facebook is the answer. It's only a quick fix, and it ignores the incredible value Facebook has brought to millions of people worldwide.

I do completely agree with his perspective that "information is the new currency." It is! From Facebook to sites like Twitter, Foursquare and Yelp, to "everyday things" we now take for granted like Google, web-based email and blogs, our every move is being tracked online. In a way, it's the price we're paying for "free" access to these sites. The sites collect information on your interests, habits, etc., and through the magic of this data, your online experience becomes even more personalized through ads and partnerships.

So, for people like Jonathan who are worried about what information sites like Facebook are collecting on them, I offer this suggestion: You opted into these services (and yes, you are "opting in" to sites like Google when you do a search on their site). If you don't want your information shared - everything from your birthday, address, relationship status, favorite books / music / movies to "the list of days I go to the gym" - don't share it! It's as simple as that.

Over-sharing on these sites is a different topic for another day (sneak preview: don't do it!). Facebook hasn't wronged any of us by sharing the information we post on their site. They are, after all, a business. Unless they start charging users for access, targeted advertising is their revenue model. And while I've never clicked on a Facebook ad, and I did find it slightly overwhelming that they all changed to wedding planning the exact minute I changed my relationship status to "engaged" a few years back, I didn't blame Facebook. Why would I? I chose to share that information, didn't I?

For me, sharing that information is the small price I pay to stay connected to hundreds of people. Jonathan argued that he "can still talk to his friends through talking," and that's absolutely true for the majority of my connections on Facebook. But there are still dozens of other people that I've reconnected with that I probably wouldn't have, and conversations that I wouldn't have had, but for Facebook.

To me, those connections are "worth the price of admission" in terms of the information I'm choosing to share to have access to the site.

- Stephanie Wonderlick

P.S. Two new pseudo-related links people should look at if they don't want to be tracked online and want the latest and greatest Facebook security features:

• Last week's announcement from Google on "Keep My Opt-Outs" (non-Chrome users should look at this information from the World Privacy Forum)
• An update from Facebook on how they've boosted security with SSL Encryption (aka HTTPS). I highly recommend that every Facebook user make the switch to HTTPS.

Leaving Las Facebook

“Gather ‘round, children,” I’ll probably say some fifty years from now, seated in an oversized rocking chair at the Cracker Barrel, “And I’ll tell you a tale. Actually, they made a movie about it, with former president Timberlake. Won an Oscar, as I recall.”

That’s a disturbing future, indeed.

But perhaps there will yet come a time when posterity fully recognizes the scope of my achievement: that is, becoming one of the few, brave insurgents to ever escape the Facebook’s iron clutches.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: Why would anyone, anywhere, ever want to leave Facebook? It’s probably the second greatest invention of the 21st century (see Weight, Shake). And yet, despite its admittedly attractive features, I would argue that the platform—as it currently stands—is felled by imperfections.

Facebook, it turns out, has this thing about privacy (the thing being that they don’t give a $#@&). And this becomes particularly problematic as the line between business and personal social networking continues to blur. (My colleague Jennifer has more on this in her excellent tech trends post.)

So for businesses with no significant personal privacy concerns, I’d say Facebook is a fine venue. But for me, as a living human man person, I was starting to see it as a privacy liability. And so I did what anyone would do: I assembled a team of elves and dwarves to travel with me to Silicon Valley and help put an end to my account.

How hard could it be to cancel a free service?

Now cancelling AOL back in the early Internet days (as my Dad tells it) was the second hardest feat ever attempted by mankind (see Shake Weight, legitimate marketing of). But AOL had revenue at stake, right? Surely, Facebook wouldn’t care if just one of its 300 million non-paying users left the temple.

Silly me.

In the 21st century, information is the new revenue, didn’t you know? The list of days I go to the gym is—apparently—considered priceless information to most new venture capitalists. And the Facebook guys didn’t become zillionaires by willingly giving away their most valuable assets.

So here’s what actually happens when you try to leave Facebook:


First, Facebook Guilt-Trips You Into Staying.

Say what? Yes, the algorithm picks out a few of your friends (probably those whose photos have the most forlorn or threatening expressions) and basically asks: “Is it really worth abandoning these incredible human beings?”

Fortunately, given the superficial nature of Facebook friends, I didn’t recognize any of the people in the photos. And in fact, as it turns out, I don’t actually need Facebook to talk to my friends; I can still talk to my friends through talking.

Unconvinced, I journeyed on.


Next, Facebook Tricks You Into Thinking You’ve Deleted Your Account When In Fact You Haven’t.

This part is brilliant. What better way to handle member attrition than with a misleading account “deactivation” option that actually maintains all of your information—intact in the system—so that you can reactivate at any time?

Sure, friends can still tag you in photos, people can invite you to events, and Facebook can continue to email you every 45 seconds, but for all intents and purposes, you’re gone man.

Not good enough, so I soldiered forth.


And Finally, Facebook Refuses to Delete Your Account Unless You Can Prove You’re Pure of Heart By Going 14 Days Without Accidentally Logging In.

That’s right, you can’t actually delete your account for fourteen days—if you can even find this option in the first place. (Hint: it’s hidden, and you have to do a help search for it.)

Also, that two-week Bristol Palin-style abstinence test may be tougher than you think, especially if you have auto-logins or mobile Facebook applications. Hit the wrong button and you’re back where you started, but two-weeks older and slightly more pissed off.


And Then There’s This:

Having “left” Facebook successfully, do I really believe that Zuckerburg’s servers have disposed of any of my information?

According to Facebook, the company may in fact hold on to some of my data in their servers for “technical reasons,” (translation: monetary reasons), but I can rest assured that my personal identifiers are definitely most likely probably detached.

Also good to remember is that the Internet is cached all the time, so no matter what Facebook does or doesn’t do, I’m never really deleting anything. Barring a nuclear war, the Internet—and all of its countless data points—will endure.

Still, it made me feel better to go through the motions. After all, the illusion of privacy is—in some ways—even more valuable than privacy itself.

I can’t actually think of any of those ways off the top of my head. But if I had Facebook, I could ask somebody.

--Jonathan