Posts Tagged ‘Facebook’

Cindy West

The Love And Hate Relationship We Have With Facebook

05.16.10

I have watched the debate over Facebook Privacy issues all week and it is fascinating.   It’s like a  feeding frenzy, probably one of the dilemmas of Social Media. From so called “influential’s” canceling their Facebook pages, to let’s burn CEO-Mark Zuckerberg at the stake for his evil intentions.  All this consternation triggered by f8 and an exposed  foolish chat post.  I guess he wasn’t thinking about his own privacy when he posted that.

It shouldn’t come as a big surprise to those of us that regularly surf the internet, but the majority of our data has been collected way before Facebook came to the web. To raise such a fuss now is making ourselves look foolish, since we actually opted in from the beginning.  Common sense tells you nothing in life is free. It is illogical to think you can provide a service to millions of people at zero-cost to anyone.

A lesson I learned a while back, is when you get something for free it is easy to get addicted and hard to go without when the owners of that service, decide the free ride is up and now you have to pony up to stay connected. Darn that GM for putting a “free” satellite radio in my car.

And what’s been the upside? I have met some amazing people on Facebook.  I have connected with relatives I haven’t seen for years and my classmates from 19XX…(gotta go to Facebook if you want me to share that!) People have reunited with each other, all possible because of Facebook. Since when have you had so many friends?

Want PRIVACY? You’re in control because you are the one that hits UPLOAD & SHARE.  By adjusting your settings you decide whom you want to share it with and what others can share about you.  And if it goes beyond that…maybe you shouldn’t have posted it to begin with.

I agree with one thing. Facebook could make the privacy settings easier to navigate. And those oversized pop-up ads are a little much. I would ask that they be balanced on the side of the page and not allowed to exceed the width of the column.

But seriously, if you truly want to have an opt-in or opt-out on privacy, then maybe Facebook should become a platform for which you pay. Although, you could always go back to typing emails.  Now there’s a fail-safe platform for privacy.

Here’s my revolutionary suggestion if you really and truly value your privacy …don’t post it.  I have a friend, quite intelligent and very social, but has never once communicated via email or ever made an online purchase…and certainly doesn’t socialize on Facebook.  He’s digitally disconnected, but content.

But for me a life without Facebook… would be frankly…boring.

Categories: pr marketing

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Ryan Gerding

On Bunions and battles

04.29.10

A quick search on Twitter found that in the last 48-hours, about 10 different people have “tweeted” about their bunions.  For all their ‘followers’ and the rest of the world to see.  Bunions.  We truly are a society that shares everything.  Our food, our sicknesses, our kids…everything.  24-hours a day, seven days a week, we tweet and Facebook and blog and tell everyone everything about everything.

I thought about that yesterday while watching a rough cut of a new documentary, “Hold At All Costs”.  We’re working with the filmmakers to help get the word out about the film.   It’s a tribute to the men and women who worked to defend Outpost Harry near the 38th Parallel during the Korean War.  Outpost Harry was the scene of a bloody, brutal 8-day battle between American, UN, and Greek forces and Chinese and North Korean soldiers.  It happened near the end of the Korean War as both sides were negotiating over where the line of demarcation would be between North and South Korea.  To prevent the Chinese and North Korean forces from occupying more land prior to the truce being announced, Allied orders were to protect and hold Outpost Harry “at all costs.”

The men and women in the film talk about the eight days of hell they went through on that hill in the summer of 1953.  The descriptions of horror and hope and bravery and friendship are engrossing.  What amazed me was one soldier saying that after the war he had never spoken to anyone about his experience at Outpost Harry for 50-years.  Not even to his wife.  Not once.  Wow.  We tell the entire world when we have eaten a good sandwich.  It took these folks 50-years to tell their own family about their involvement in what some say was the most significant battle in the Korean War.  Obviously it’s a lot easier to talk about sandwiches and sports and American Idol than it is to talk about the horrors of war.  So when the folks who fought in forgotten battles in a forgotten war decide to share their experience, it’s important that we take the time to listen.  And learn.  And appreciate the fact that because they don’t share every bit of the minutiae of their lives with everyone, when they DO decide to talk, they really have something important to say.

So take a few minutes, if you could, and watch the trailer to the film below.  Ironically, we’re working on a Facebook page for “Hold at All Costs”.  Click here to read an interesting Q&A with filmmaker Glenn Palmedo-Smith.  Check it out and share your own thoughts and stories.  And share this with your friends and followers.  It’s a way to pay tribute to these great people.  And it beats talking about bunions.

Categories: Client News

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