Valleyspeak, facebook, great moments in public relations, mark zuckerberg

Facebook founder redefines "opt-in"

People say the craziest things to New York Times reporters. In an attempt to explain that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wasn't, you know, lying when he implied to NYT staffer Louise Story that Facebook's Beacon ads wouldn't report on users' purchases and other activities unless they opted in to the system, "Matt Hicks, a Facebook spokesman, said Mr. Zuckerberg had meant that users would be given the opportunity to opt out of having information sent out by Beacon, and the company had assumed that anyone who didn't say no meant yes." As Story reports, Coke is having the same "Huh?" reaction, and has withdrawn from early participation in Beacon ads. I confess: I'm biased. I went to MIT, so whenever a Harvard man like Zuckerberg opens his mouth, I start listening for the bullshit. I wish I were wrong more often.

9:34 PM on Sat Dec 1 2007
By Paul Boutin
2,339 views
12 comments

Comments

harrington at 09:52 PM on 12/01/07
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For me Zuckerberg will always be the guy who said, "Once every hundred years, media changes." It's like E = mc2 for Web 2.0!
abmw at 11:34 PM on 12/01/07
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Once, I attended a Harvard Biz skool startup mixer, and during the event, I nipped out to use the restroom.

I did my thing, zipped, and turned and washed quickly. The post-preppie MBA in Tweed and leather elbows did not see me wash up, apparently, as he felt the need to overtake me on the exit and said, "we wash our hands here at Harvrad events".

I answered the twerp, "yeah, well, at MIT, we learned not to pee on our hands."
sample032 at 12:02 AM on 12/02/07
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It's like those pre-checked email "opt-in" checkboxes on some website registrations. Most companies stopped doing that because people found it obnoxious, but in Web 2.0, what's old is new, so maybe it's worth another try?
Paul Boutin at 02:16 AM on 12/02/07
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Apple does that.

I will now get 142 hate mails.
cv at 08:02 AM on 12/02/07
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Pre-checked opt-in, unchecked opt-out, what's the difference? I'm usually pretty careful when I register online, but hey, sometimes I miss one and I get spammed.

Guess what? IT'S NOT A FREAKING BIG DEAL. Just go back and opt-out. End of story.
Rock tha Hizzee at 01:14 PM on 12/02/07
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Am I the only one who's thinking this company isn't worth $15 billion?
The_Age_of_Plastic at 07:14 AM on 12/03/07
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@Tech Merkin: No, you are in good company. I believe Barry Diller called it a "phantom valuation"
QADude at 10:27 AM on 12/03/07
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"yeah, well, at MIT, we learned not to pee on our hands."

Nice comeback!
Condéleeza at 01:10 PM on 12/03/07
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I've yet to see an opt-in or opt-out window on the external sites. Apparently, you need to be logged in to facebook to see that option?

Hmmm... so to protect my privacy, I should be logged in to Facebook all the time, whenever I am online? Brilliant! What a business model! Almost as good as using slaves to pick cotton.

As for CV saying it is not a big deal, I don't think he/she is seeing the bigger picture. One company being to able to track all your online activities is a big deal. Also, web traffic data has always been used only in ways that are not personally identifiable. This departure could open the door for any company to start marketing to you based upon your search behavior, online media consumption, even pornographic preferences.
Paul Boutin at 05:15 PM on 12/03/07
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@cv: The worry Facebook users have about Beacon being opt-out isn't that they'll be spammed. It's that their activities - purchases, gaming, etc - will be reported to other users in order to market them. "Paul Boutin bought REO Speedwagon's Greatest Hits from CD Warehouse." I'd be ruined.
swagv at 05:59 PM on 12/03/07
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@Tech Merkin: No, but Microsoft isn't one of them.

Scary to think that on an oversimplified per-user evaluation, Facebook is valued at over $300 per user via the MS investment ... when just recently MySpace was about $22/user when News Corp got out their checkbook.

My value as a social networking site member has increased over 1500% in the past two years. How do I cash in on this inflation?! (Now that it is too late for sub-prime mortgage scams...)
dula at 07:03 PM on 12/03/07
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wait what the hell does coke want out of beacon anyways? Nobody is gonna buy a coke online