1. I’ve got your data portability right here…all I need is a thumb drive and the corporate network. Actually, will data portability arguments move to renewed question over ownership of intellectual property created by employees? Who owns my rolodex? What I write on my employer’s blog? We may see disagreements over the answers to such questions.

2. Social Media hippies meet the PRSA squares in Boston. Thank goodness the Merry Pranksters 2.0 didn’t spike the Kool-Aid. Actually, members of the “traditional” public relations community understand more about social media than some folks think.

3. Social Media Club/PRSA Boston Take 2: C.C. Chapman referring to Amanda Chapel of Strumpette as the “heart of evil” and meaning it as a compliment (I think) may have been the highlight of the evening, followed by the near-lynching of Laura “Pistachio” Fitton after she compared “black hat SEO” to porn. Lessons learned: SEOs need to develop their sense of humor, and Pistachio should let someone else start her car for the next couple of weeks, if you know what I mean.

4. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg on 60 minutes. What we learned I:

• Mark Zuckerberg did not take Human Growth Hormone or steroids, but has received several vitamin B12 shots, and it turns out that the coders for Facebook Beacon were merely using flaxseed oil.

5. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg on 60 minutes. What we learned II:

• Facebook will compete with Google as a search destination, according to Charlene Li of Forrester Research. If you ask me, after he has laid waste to Google, Zuckerberg will then proceed to level, in no particular order:
  • Amazon.com
  • Microsoft
  • Sony (but only the cool parts)
  • Matt Drudge
  • Balco
  • The Federal Reserve
  • Domino’s Pizza
  • Hasbro
  • Hormel, and maybe Kraft Foods
  • The State of Idaho
  • Harvard (just for fun)
  • Teva

  Do you have any ideas for who Facebook will go after next?

Technorati Tags: socialmedia, facebook, prsa, socialmediaboston, prsaboston, prsa, cc+chapman, pistachio, dataportability, 60+Minutes

1. In the Robert Scoble/Facebook brouhaha, the social media community has spoken: “Facebook, you don’t own our data. Our info belongs to…Plaxo?” It’s unfortunate that Scoble’s run-in with Facebook involved his use of new Plaxo software to scrape profile information. The ability to carry our data– including the people in our network– is interesting. The presence of a company (Plaxo) that had only begun to rehabilitate its image as an unwelcome intruder in our email inboxes constantly asking us for contact information skews the perceptions in the debate.

2. Other side of the coin: those of us who join social networks gleefully enter lots of contact information, such as emails, cell numbers, and sometimes things even more sensitive and personal. We also agitate for easier ways to take our data from one network to another, but frequently scream if we think another company might want to do something with the data. Our data is gold. We should demand reasonable terms of service, but we should also expect that just because we don’t pay money for something does not mean it is free.

3. In other Scoble news, he was kicked out of a local Safeway last week after using a scanner to try to capture the nutritional information from the entire breakfast cereal aisle.

4. Now that actual voting has begun, we are seeing that the political candidates really don’t care about using social media. If this means we are spared a new Hillary Clinton song contest, I’m willing to wait until 2012 for a Social Media President.

5. CES, the Consumer Electronics Show, is this week. Can we top last year’s unquestioned highlight, which was undoubtedly either the tasering of Amanda Congdon on ABCNews.com, or the introduction of the iPhone (wait, that wasn’t at CES?)?

Technorati Tags: social+media, Robert+Scoble, CES, Facebook, Plaxo

I mean that in the best possible way. Yesterday, Jeremiah Owyang of Forrester Research, in a post about the microblogging service Twitter, invited people to leave their Twitter ID in comments in an attempt to connect as many people as possible.

Boy howdy, did he succeed! More than 300 comments later, I personally have over 120 more people following me in my Twitter network. Why is that important to me? It will come as no surprise to those who know me that I have more people following my twitter posts than my blog. No big deal, Twitter suits the “spur of the moment” way my brain often works. Quick messages, comments on what’s going on, questions, thoughts, observations. It all combines to make a nice stream of thought; even more so, combined with my entire network.

So, what a day– I am looking forward to more enlivening conversations going forward. Thanks Jeremiah– great idea to connect like-minded people!

Find me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DougH

(edit: Jason Falls has an even better post about the Owyang Twitter explosion.)

So, am I a social media addict? Ask Jeff Sass:

Technorati Tags: Forrester, Jeremiah+Owyang, Twitter, Jeff+Sass, socialmedia

Well, now that I have jolted Bryper back into action with his Social Media Top 10, and Scott Monty has volunteered to be the RC Cola of this group with his Social Media Takeaways, the pressure is on to keep up the Social Media Top 5.

SMT5 is the longest-running (5th edition already!) uninterrupted Social Media roundup, and the only one with sufficient snark. There are real insights in here, I’m just making you do the work to find them….

1. The Great Twitter Panic of ’07 (not to be confused with the Great Twitter outage of ’07): Jaiku bought by Google: Twitter users panic, stock up on Jaiku invites, milk, beer and strawberry pop-tarts. Oh, and Bacn

2. Die! Note From Your Mother, Die! Die! Die! First, an uproar by Tom Foremski and others led to efforts to create a social Media Press Release (SMPR); then, Bryan Person applied the same idea to the resume (SMR). Now– presenting, the Social Media Note From Your Mother (SMNFYM).

Features:

• A purpose-built del.icio.us portfolio page, with links to Dr. Koop.com for info on flu, whooping cough and measles
• A pointer to your pediatrician’s LinkedIn profile
• Linked photos of the sick child, for proof of bloodshot eyes, pale complexion, swollen glands and other symptoms
• Embedded video of illness, including vomiting and coughing fit
• Links to PDF files of the official Doctor’s note, and e-signatures from the mother (or father or legal guardian)
• Link to IM stream with friends (“OMG OMG I so totally puked on the new rug LOL”).

3. Tom Foremski likens PR industry to Wile E. Coyote in RoadRunner cartoons. Sneak peak of next post: Advertising industry is akin to Oil Can Harry from Mighty Mouse.
4. Target discovers a way to grow astroturf indoors.

5. Steve Jobs congratulate’s Al Gore’s Nobel win on Apple‘s home page. Al Gore to reciprocate by congratulating Jobs un successful iPhone launch on AlGore.com, and promises Jobs cabinet position if he runs in 2008: “Secretary of Technology.” First step: military communications equipment will have new slick interfaces but no radios.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Steve+Jobs, Al+Gore, socialmedia, Bryper, Tom+Foremski, Press+Release,astroturfTarget Social+Media+Top+5

Episode 32 of PRobecast,Topaz Partners’ weekly PR podcast is up:

Rob Capra , Adam Zand and I discuss:

1. A recap of the latest Social Media Cub event in Boston, with Forrester‘s Josh Bernoff, Dan “Fake Steve Jobs” Lyons of Forbes, and Steve Restivo of Wal-Mart
2. Paper press kits: dead or alive? Discuss. Hat tip to Paul Gillin and David Strom of Tech PR War Stories.
3. New VC Report puts Boston ahead of Silicon Valley in Web 2.0 investments. So there.
4. Dan Rather sues CBS. That takes courage.

Comment below or email bmoc@topazpartners.com
Audio: Leave a comment at +1-781-404-2419, or Skype doug.haslam

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Technorati Tags: Media, Public+Relations, PR, PRobecast,smcboston, socialmediaclub, Forrester+Research, Josh+Bernoff, Dan+Lyons, Fake+Steve+Jobs, Forbes, WalMart, Press+kits, Paul+Gillin, David+Strom, Venture+Capital, Dan+Rather, CBSWeb+2.0