The Grench Facebook that Stole Christmas

I've been reading a lot lately about Facebook's new Beacon Feature. In case you haven't - basically Beacon automatically adds things that you've bought, rented, or auctioned from participating merchants to your news feed - so they show up on your profile and that of your network.

This is not only creepy - it's ruining Christmas presents! "Hey honey - I see you bought that new ipod I wanted... oh... umm.... " Yah, just like that.

Moveon.org has mounted a campaign against this feature - (see their demo here) stating that it's an invasion of privacy because you're opted in by default, and it's very hard to opt out of... you have to do it site by site, you can't just opt out of the program all together.

I totally agree.. What is Facebook thinking? Do you really want your colleagues or your boss to know you rented some cheesy romantic comedy? Or finally sold that old wedding dress on ebay? I can't really tell if a user will know what sites are participating and what might show up on Facebook without constantly checking their profile. I'm sure there must be a way, but the real issue is - it's not easy and it's not opt in.

Surely Facebook will see the error of its ways and clear this up. It's an oversight, and they'll fix it. They'll listen to their users... Right?

The WSJ explains it all here.
Good Morning Silicon Valley talks about it more.

Blogging Guidelines: People Should Blog, Not Zombies!

A few years ago, I spearheaded the brand-spanking new blogging program at a major software company. As part of that role, I wrote a treatise called "Blogging Guidelines" for all our novice bloggers. These bloggers were all senior management folks, and I knew just what kind of entries they'd deliver -- on the spectrum between "This guy is really neat - he has some really innovative ideas and I can't wait to meet him at the next conference" and "This diluted dribble sounds like it was created by the buzzword generator, then edited by 20 lawyers" well, they were off the chart (to the right). Yawn city.

Even so, I think management wanted the "Blogging Guidelines" to be a book of rules and regulations, but what I actually delivered was more of a pep talk. What I said in that paper can be boiled down to this:

Blog frequently, keep the entries short, and remember you're trying to start a conversation. Don't try too hard. Be yourself.

I think lot of corporate blogs completely miss the idea of "starting a conversation." If they'd focus on that aspect, and let their bloggers actually reveal some personality - the company becomes less of a monolithic presence and more of a network of people: people that other people want to meet and do business with.

One of my professors recently told us that a corporation is really just a collection of contracts. Don't let your bloggers think like him. Companies are made up of people, and those people should do your blogging. Bloggers don't have to be executives, they might be subject matter experts. But no matter what they need to be engaging.

If you could say anything from a podium in front of thousands of people...

Would you say this?

Evidently Live Journal was hacked.

I don't get it, you could do anything with the page, and you do this?

the Project Management Series... Spec-tacular!

Sorry I've been missing in action lately. It's been SUPER busy around here. We have the schoolwork, the business-work, and the general keeping up of the life activities work. Very very busy. But good busy, especially for Q4.

That being said, I do have a quick thought to share... I've been pitching a lot of new business lately - and what really amazes me is how many companies/initiatives have a working prototype but they have no spec. How can you know you got what you wanted, if you haven't really planned out what that is?