Some journalists are apparently finding it hard to interview Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Maybe it is because they aren’t geeky enough. Or, maybe some journalists just don’t get Facebook or maybe there is nothing to get. Maybe Facebook is just another social network like the thousands of others out there. It just happens to be more popular. What journalists need to do sometimes is recycle old questions and old stories like this one from the Washington Post. Just because we have heard all the questions before doesn’t mean they aren’t still relevant. Let us recycle all the questions from MySpace’s past and apply them to Facebook. Are parents joining to follow their kids? What is Facebook doing about predators? Are young people flocking away from Facebook to join other social networks? The Washington Post got us started by bringing back the parents following their children on the social network story. Parents are apparently tired of the mystery and so many are trying to find out what their kids are up to on Facebook. The Washington Post reports that some teens and young adults are shocked to find their mom or dad trying to “friend” them on Facebook. Some are even finding their Mom or Dad friending their friends. Across the country, Facebook users are contemplating similar questions when they log onto their accounts. More and more moms and dads are signing onto Facebook to keep up with their offspring. Not only are they friending (or attempting to friend) their sons and daughters, they’re friending their sons’ and daughters’ friends. Some, like Matt, take the requests in stride. He ultimately friended his dad. Others are less sanguine, voicing their dismay via online groups that decry parental intrusion and offer tips on how to screen out mom and dad. (“Just go onto their computers and delete their accounts.” “Just don’t add them as a friend or any1 that is a co-worker with ur parents duh.”) Even parenting experts are getting involved, offering their own tips on proper Facebook etiquette. “I do not know if this has happened to anybody, but this morning I log on to Facebook and I have a new friend request!” wrote 19-year-old Mike Yeamans, a sophomore at James Madison University, on one of several “No Parents on Facebook” groups that have popped up on the site. “I am excited to make a new friend so I click on the link. I could not believe what I saw. My father! This is an outrage!” Some might argue that this means Facebook has jumped the shark. They might be right. If someday in the near future young people start complaining that their parents are following them on Twitter it could mean that many twittering teens are about to relocate. However, these same types of stories popped up a couple years ago with parents becoming the MySpace friends of their children. We’ve seen this all before. We’ve even seen this story before with Facebook and parents. Last June the New York Times ran a story called “omg my mom joined facebook!!” Today, MySpace is still going strong although one could argue that some of the younger people have gone elsewhere. Facebook seems to be holding onto its young users. Most 20-somethings can probably deal with the idea of parents on Facebook but parental intrusion might discourage some of the younger Facebook users who just aren’t interested in having their parents as Facebook friends. Posted in Facebook Permalink | Recent Headlines | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

CBS Launches Local Ad Network
Caroline McCarthy at News.com’s The Social blog reports that the CBS Television Network is launching a program that will have local bloggers installing CBS News widgets in exchange for revenues. The CBS Local Ad Network is being managed by a company called Syndigo. One blog already approved for the CBS widget advertising plan is SFBayStyle – you can see the widget on the right side of the blog. On Monday, the program was launched in a selection of the TV network’s regional markets: Boston, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Francisco, Denver, and Chicago. Within the next few weeks, CBS has said, the CBS Local Ad Network will come to New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Miami, Sacramento, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore. Some of the blogs currently participating in the new program are San Francisco’s SFBayStyle and Boston’s Red Sox Nation. Approved sites will be able to choose the content of the CBS headlines displayed (breaking news, sports, politics), as well as select from a number of options to determine, for example, whether they want video content in the widget. Bloggers can’t just embed a widget and hope for profits, CBS Television Stations Digital Media Group president Jonathan Leess told CNET News.com. “There’s a screening process, obviously,” he said. “We have to figure out or get some visibility into what the content is on that site, and then we screen, but we have a third party (Syndigo Networks) that administers all this for us.” CBS declined to share exact breakdowns of the revenue-distribution process. “All of it’s based on certain traffic estimates from each of the sites, and (ad) placement,” Leess said. Paid Content says no payments will be made until over $50 are earned by the partner. Payment is 45 days after the calendar month; payments that don’t exceed $50 will roll over until they do. The contract runs one year. As far as I can tell-and I may be missing something in the fine print-members have to sign up before they are told the rev share amount. Turning local bloggers into affiliates is a smart move. This is the kind of idea that could also motivate others to launch local blogs and generate a local blog boom. It may not necessarily be this exact program from CBS that ignites a local blog boom but the news networks do have some potential here to use blogs to spread their brand. The program that succeeds will be the one that bloggers can build a business around. Permalink | Recent Headlines | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

The Importance of Happy Hour – RV Secrets
The Importance of “Happy Hour” From the Ebook “RV Secrets” What they do not tell you.  By Rob Scribner Here is a very important subject.  Happy hour!!So there we are, Full Timing RVers, and …

Check out this video: RV Secrets by Rob Scribner
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Another Print Blogging Magazine: Artful Blogging
There is a second print publication about blogging called Artful Blogging. We blogged about the launch of Blogger & Podcaster magazine nearly a year ago but we missed the debut of this quarterly publication that also launched in 2007. Artful Blogging is focused more on creative blogging and the artwork and photography found on these arts and crafts blogs. Take a virtual tour of some of the most visually inspiring blogs on the internet with the second issue of Artful Blogging! Each page of this captivating publication is like a digital gallery, filled with photography, artwork and blog excerpts sure to stir your imagination. Within this 144-page quarterly publication, you’ll find features that include “Blogging Etiquette,” “Blogger’s Must-Haves” and “How to Get Started” on your own blog spot You can see a few sample pages from Artful Blogging here. The quarterly magazine is published by Stampington & Company. Artful Blogging is now on its second issue. Several blogggers were more on top of things and caught the launch of this new print publication. The Guardian’s blog provides a good explanation of what the blog is all about. Other blogs discussing Artful Blogging include Artsy Mama, Persisting Stars, Navylane and Blogher. Permalink | Recent Headlines | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Check out this video: Fishing With Rangerrob and Frieds
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New York Post’s Richard Johnson: Blogs are Parasites
I Want Media has posted this brief one question interview with Richard Johnson, the editor of New York Post’s popular gossip column called Page Six. In the one question interview Richard Johnson says blogs are like parasites. Richard Johnson, editor of New York Post’s Page Six column: “I think they’re more like parasites. A lot of them don’t generate their own news stories. Some of them have been sued for publishing things they don’t have the rights to publish. Mostly, they’re just parasites.” … But, while interest in celebrities is increasing, PageSix.com was folded recently because “we were about two years too late” on the Internet. A lot of celebrity “news” is generated by the celebrity publicists so it is wrong to suggest that blogs are constantly sucking celebrity gossip material away from the magazines and newspapers. Johnson could just be bitter because the PageSix.com project failed – although it might have done much better if the website had been given a little more time. Filed in Blog Pessimism. Permalink | Recent Headlines | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Yahoo Launches Shine
Yahoo Inc. has launched a new resource for women called Shine. The site targets women aged 25-54. An Associated Press article noted the bloggish format of Shine. Monday’s launch of Shine, which will use a blog format, is aimed largely at giving the struggling Internet company additional opportunities to sell advertising targeted to the key decision-maker in many households. Yahoo said advertisers in consumer-packaged goods, retail and pharmaceuticals have requested more ways to reach those consumers. Amy Iorio, vice president for Yahoo Lifestyles, said internal research also shows women are looking for a site to aggregate various content and communications tools. “These women were sort of caretakers for everybody in their lives,” she said. “They didn’t feel like there was a place that was looking at the whole them – as a parent, as a spouse, as a daughter. They were looking for one place that gave them everything.” Some of the content for Shine is coming from Hearst and Rodale magazines according to the AP article. Yahoo is partnering with media companies like Hearst Communications Inc. and Rodale Inc. for content exclusive to Shine. Hearst publishes Redbook, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping and other magazines aimed at women, while Rodale publishes a range of magazines on sports and recreation, including Women’s Health. The article also says that Shine “likely will replace the existing Food site over time.” So instead of launching Yahoo Beauty or Yahoo Women they decide to brand an entire new name (Shine) and dump Yahoo Food? Yahoo is trying hard to be a content company but their strategy is confusing and seems to develop in fits and starts. Yahoo’s best move of late has been Yahoo Buzz. They should focus more on these types of project. Shine does have some original content such as this post that asks “Would you blog about grilled cheese all day?” The post reveals that one blogger already does at the Grilled Cheese Blog. Permalink | Recent Headlines | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 6th, 2008 at 9:59 am and is filed under Celebrity News. 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.