Facebook’s supposedly innovative new advertising feature called Beacon is quickly turning into a disaster for the popular social network. The feature annoys users and ruins the holiday experience by broadcasting Facebook users’ recent product purchases such as books, movies, apparel and other gifts. The federal government might be disturbingly interested in people’s book purchases but consumers don’t necessarily want information about the goods and services they have just purchased broadcasted for everyone to see. Another problem with Facebook’s Beacon is that they made the service opt-out instead of opt-in. Facebook users are forced to turn the Beacon off at every single online retailer that is connected to Facebook Beacon. Facebook apparently fixed a “glitch” that made the opt-out switch nearly impossible to find but the problem remains because the problem is Beacon itself. The Beacon problem is turning into a big PR disaster for Facebook. Moveon.org is speaking out against Facebook’s Beacon. New articles are being written daily about how Facebook is ruining Christmas and Hanukkah. Here’s a sample of some of the recent headlines. Facebook May Become the Grinch that Stole Christmas Facebook Users Light a Beacon of Protest Facebook is Accused of Spoiling Christmas Spirit Privacy Groups Ready FTC Complaint Against Facebook That’s not the kind of PR any kind of company wants especially this time of year. The negative publicity is mounting so quickly that Facebook may soon be forced to admit failure and turn off the Beacon – darkening its unwanted bright spotlight on consumer purchases. This is the information age and a vast wealth of information is available but not every information source should be broadcasted. Would you want a public stream of your American Express purchases? Your tax returns? Your doctor visits? Social media does not have to be synonymous with “no privacy” – some information streams should not be turned on. Facebook should at the very least make it opt-in – check this box to annoy your Facebook friends with information about all of your online purchases. Posted in Facebook Permalink | Recent Headlines | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s Baby Blog
Now that Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s new baby Taylor Thomas Hasselbeck is here (congrats Elisabeth!) will she keep blogging? She kept fans up-to-date with a few posts before her baby was born on her blog called Elisabeth’s Baby Blog. The blog lives on Dreft.com, which is a Procter & Gamble website. Here’s an excerpt from her most recent post. Still no sign of baby #2 yet! I am having some contractions at night that make me think it may happen soon! I have been having a hard time getting out of bed? especially because I get up at least 4 times, either for the bathroom, or for Grace? One would assume that any baby blogging deal she cut with Procter & Gamble would have her continue blogging once the baby arrived. According to E Online she will be back. E Online also wonders if she is blogging out of a desire to compete with Rosie O’Donnell. Perhaps driven to compete with former View cohost Rosie O’Donnell (long famed for her haiku-riffic stream-of-consciousness bloggery), Elisabeth promises “12 personal stories recounting her experiences and emotions both before and after the birth of her second child, due later this month, along with photos of the new baby.” If the blog was on Elisabeth’s personal website or on a blogging service like Blogger than maybe we could buy E Online’s suggestion that she is trying to compete with Rosie but since the blog is on the Dreft detergent website it is much more likely that it was a financial deal. We would love to know how much The View co-star was paid for baby blogging but that information is not readily available. Posted in Baby Blogs Permalink | Recent Headlines | WWFeeds.com

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L.A. Times Launches Readers’ Representative Journal
The L.A. Times announced in a press release that they are making some editorial changes that will help them better communicate with their readers. One of the editorial changes is a new blog called Readers’ Representative Journal. Anchoring the changes is today’s launch of the “Readers’ Representative Journal,” a new blog (http://www.latimes.com/readersrep) aimed at bringing the public deeper into the process of how editorial decisions are made. Hosted by readers’ representative Jamie Gold and assistant readers’ representative Kent Zelas, the journal will feature a Q&A-oriented conversation to engage reporters and editors in addressing reader queries and observations. Among the rotating features will be “Ask a Staffer,” a chance to get the story behind the story; “Whatever Happened to … ,” where readers can ask for updates on past stories; and grammar critiques. Users will be able to view a staff directory, peruse the L.A. Times ethics guidelines and get answers to frequently asked questions about newsroom practices, as well as outside-the-newsroom operations such as how to buy back copies. The Readers’ Representative Journal will explore virtually anything readers want to know about the editorial operation of the Los Angeles Times, online and in print. “The ongoing changes reflect The Times overarching goal of becoming a more transparent and integrated news organization,” said Los Angeles Times editor, James O’Shea. “Most important, we’re further opening the lines of communication with our readers and using new ways to make the newsroom more accessible.” There are several posts on the blog already. In this post an L.A. Times staff photographer answers reader questions about a photograph taken during the recent wildfires that destroyed hundreds of homes in Southern California. There is also an introductory post that explains how the blog will operate and where information can be found on the blog’s sidebars. Posted in New Blogs Permalink | Recent Headlines | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Two More Social Media Websites: Mixx and myM
A couple new social media sites are being discussed in tech blogs today. Mixx is a new Digg-like site that also features photos and videos on its homepage. TechCrunch blogs that some unhappy Digg users are wandering over to Mixx. New startup Mixx, which went in to private beta just two months ago, may be finding itself with the right product at the right time. Digg users, including top contributors, are showing an increasing amount of frustration with the Digg community, and many are leaving. Conspiracy theories that Digg auto buries stories with certain topics or linking to certain sites only compounds the problem. Some users eventually go to Reddit, Propeller or any of a number of other Digg-like sites. But a disproportionate amount of them seem to be heading to Mixx, and writing about their choice. The other site in the news is myM. Valleywag writes that myM is a new social messaging site being launched by Yahoo. The site is currrently invite-only. Will these new social media sites have what it takes to thrive? They do have short catchy names – sometimes it seems like that is what it takes. Mixx has a nice look to it and the popular photo feature on the top of the homepage is a nice touch. It could build a following but approaching anything near Digg’s traffic is going to be very difficult. Even if some early adapter Digg users are leaving there are probably more new Digg users replacing them. You can’t access Mym yet but the Valleywag post seems to be saying that myM is more of a Meebo clone (a way to access multiple instant messaging clients simultaneously) than a Twitter clone. Of the two sites Mixx sounds more exciting. Note: We haven’t forgotten about Thanksgiving and we will be posting a Blogging Thanksgiving roundup later today. Permalink | Recent Headlines | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Syria Blocks Facebook
Reuters is reporting that Syria’s government has blocked access to Facebook. There are thousands of Syrians who use Facebook accordign to the Reuters story. Syrian users of Facebook said on Friday the authorities had blocked access to the social network Web site as part of a crackdown on political activism on the Internet. “Facebook helped further civil society in Syria and form civic groups outside government control. This is why it has been banned,” women’s rights advocate Dania al-Sharif told Reuters. “They cut off communications between us and the outside world. We are used to this behavior from our government,” said Mais al-Sharbaji, who set up a Facebook group for amateur Syrian photographers. There was no comment form the government, which has intensified a campaign against bloggers, virtual opinion forums and independent media sites in recent months. Syria may have agreed to attend Tuesday’s Middle-East peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland but they appear to be very serious about silencing opposing political points of view. Ammar al-Qurabi, head of the National Association for Human Rights, told Reuters that there is even a “Internet political crimes” ward at one of Syria’s prison. An article on Human Rights Watch says Syria’s approach to Internet access is consistent “with its efforts to suppress all forms of expression deemed critical of how the country is governed. All newspapers and broadcast media are tightly controlled, and hundreds of political prisoners remain behind bars, many of them serving long terms for peaceful dissent.” Posted in Censorship Permalink | Recent Headlines | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

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NBC Acquires Internet Show Quarterfile
The New York Times reports that NBC has gone ahead and purchased the Internet show Quarterlife. Numerous tv shows have schedule changes or are running out of episodes – you can see a chart here — because of the ongoing writers’ strike. The rapidly diminishing number of quality shows has the networks looking for other options such as game shows and reality tv. NBC managed to find in Quarterlife an online show that had enough quality to be broadcast on television. The Times says NBC buying Quarterlife to air on the network is a “first-of-its-kind deal” for a web-based show. “Quarterlife” deals with a group of creative 25-year-olds and how their personal lives are described in the blog of the lead character, a would-be writer named Dylan Krieger. Though they would not disclose the exact terms of the deal, Silverman and Herskovitz said NBC had agreed to become a partner in the “Quarterlife” concept, by paying a license fee that Herskovitz said was much less than what is paid for conventional shows. NBC will be able to replay the episodes on its Web sites after the broadcasts and will sell the negatives of the episodes internationally. But for as long as the series runs, the episodes will first appear on the “Quarterlife” Web site. The idea originated more than a year ago when Herskovitz and his longtime partner, Ed Zwick, decided they had to find a way to create entertainment that would be free of corporate ownership–and creative interference. Some of the tech blogs have been buzzing that the writers’ strike will benefit web publishers somehow either as a boon to original web video content or by sending advertisers toward the Internet. Advertisers are already pretty keen on trying out the Internet so the writers’ strike isn’t really going to motivate them anymore than they already are. As far as web fiction goes Quarterlife is really the exception to the rule. Most web fiction is either too short or the production values are not good enough for it to make the jump to television. There probably isn’t enough time to get an original high quality web series off the ground quickly enough before the writers’ strike is over — especially with the top 12,000 script writers on strike. The web might compete a little better in the humor category than in fiction but even then you are still lacking the top comedy writers and the tv studios. You can keep up with latest news on the writers’ strike here on Twitter. The first episode of Quarterlife can be seen below. Other episodes can be found on the show’s website. Quarterlife can also be seen on MySpaceTV where it should not be confused with an online reality series called Roommates. Posted in Video Permalink | Recent Headlines | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

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This entry was posted on Thursday, November 29th, 2007 at 12:13 pm and is filed under Celebrity Information. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.