[Posted on December 4, 2007 - 12:03 PM]
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Facebook Inc. founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, last seen making googly eyes at Hong Kong Richie Rich Li Ka-shing, would be well-advised to deal with the public relations mess over the social networking firm's proposed marketing program. So says Robert Scoble, who takes the Web 2.0 "It boy" to task today for dropping out of sight as critics continue to kvetch about Facebook's plan to use the network to send information about what members are buying to their contacts on the site.
"This story is NOT going away," Scoble writes. "Even if this particular story goes away, there's a bad taste in our mouths because Facebook tried to do something that clearly wasn't for the users."
Where's your $15 billion valuation now, Bill Gates? You'd think Microsoft Corp.'s recent $240 million investment in Facebook might entail the right for the software company supremo to teach young Zuckerberg a thing or two about crisis PR. After all, Gates certainly has taken his lumps in the press over the years, while today he's an early candidate for secular sainthood, thanks largely to his commendable charitable works.
Hey, there's an idea for the holiday season (and stop me if this already exists)! Rather than turning Facebook into a crassly commercial "product recommendation" engine, why not plug in an app that lets users automatically notify their social networks of any contributions to charity they've just made and allowing people to "opt in" with their own donations? Such a service would go well beyond a Googlesque pledge to do no evil by actually doing some good. And for Zuckerberg, whose stock on the zeitgeist index is falling now that Facebook has evolved from plucky startup to Internet world-beater, it would be a step toward professional, and PR, rehabilitation. - Alain Sherter
See Nov. 30 story from Tech Confidential
See Nov. 30 story from The New York Times
See Dec. 4 post from Scobleizer
See Oct. 24 post from Tech Confidential
For more see Allfacebook, Insider Chatter, PR 2.0 and TechCrunch,
