The blogger, Chris Soghoian, who was approached by Burson to post the negative story on his blog posted the following email from the company:

“Google, as you know, has a well-known history of infringing on the privacy rights of America’s Internet users. Not a year has gone by since the founding of the company where it has not been the focus of front-page news detailing its zealous approach to gathering information -– in many cases private and identifiable information — about online users.”

Facebook representative, Dan Lyons, told The Daily Beast that Burson was hired because,

“First, because it believes Google is doing some things in social networking that raise privacy concerns; second, and perhaps more important, because Facebook resents Google’s attempts to use Facebook data in its own social-networking service.”

It’s odd that Facebook would target this rather obscure Google feature that was launched back in 2009. Also why would they do this instead of airing their grievances in public? No matter what the motives were or how you look at this, this was not a good move at all by Facebook. True enough, the company may have been clueless about what the PR firm was doing. This brings up some takeaway points for you.

Do not try to make yourself look good by making your competitor look bad. As we have seen from this story, that usually backfires horribly. Second, when you pick a public relations firm, stay on top of what the firm is doing. Don’t blindly assume that they are doing the right thing or are using positive means to get what you want done accomplished.

So what do you think about this story? Did Facebook have the right to go planting negative stories about it’s competitor? Will this change your opinion of Facebook? Leave your comments in the comment section below.

This application will be helpful in noisy situations when a person could not text. For example if you were driving in a state where it is illegal to text and drive, a system that converts your speaking to text could be beneficial. If you are talking to someone that could not see, you could type your text in and the phone would convert your typing into text. This system would also be useful in a meeting when you could not talk but you could text. You could type your message in and it would convert it to speech.There will be a feature on the phone that will automatically convert a conversation from speech to text if a caller is in a noisy situation which makes it tough to have a phone conversation. Of course people could just say, “I can’t talk right now, may I call you back.” Then again no one does that. Everyone tries to handle whatever cell phone call they get right when they get it instead of using some common courtesies.

This could also be beneficial for people that record podcasts. Of course we would have to wait and see how this application actually works before we could give any tips about that.

Except for being able to communicate with people that could not see, I do not understand how a text to speech function would be more beneficial than just texting a message or letting the call go to voice mail and you handle the call when you get done with the meeting. I guess people really feel like they have to be accessible at all times.

What do you think? Would a system like this be beneficial for you? Would it make you break down and finally buy an iphone (if you are one of the few that have held out)? We would love to hear from you. Leave your comments in the comment section.

The opportunity to view the ads will be open mostly to people that play the Facebook games. Zynga (think Farmville), Crowdstar, and Digital Chocolate are among the publishers that will be participating in this service. It will be interesting to see how this works out both for Facebook and the advertisers.

Dan Greenberg, CEO of Sharethrough had this to say about Facebook’s move: Facebook’s move represents “a step away from interruptive advertising.” Greenberg also said that his network will not deliver traditional advertising. He says his company will deliver branded entertainment. He says that he wants to serve advertisements that consumers will actually want to watch and share with their friends.

The idea to give consumers incentives to watch ads is a solution for the low click through rates on Facebook’s banner ads. This moves comes after Facebook expanded the Credits program. Consumers may now purchase real world items in the Deals section of Facebook. When Facebook first started the Credits program you could only use the credits to buy virtual goods.

So what do you think about this recent move by Facebook? Will you be likely to explore using this to promote your own business? Do you think this will increase the views the ads get? Would you watch an ad that popped up while you were playing one of your games on Facebook (I know you play them)? Do you think the ads will disrupt the flow of the games? We would love to hear your thoughts and comments about this new move by Facebook. Tell us what you are thinking. Just leave a comment in the comment section below this post.

With this new send button, you can now share things privately with your Facebook friends. You have several options. You can send things via email. You can send things via groups. You can also send things directly via email on Facebook. When you use this button, it sends a copy of the link using the method you selected. Like I mentioned before, this is PRIVATE. This button does not share what you have shared on your Facebook wall. People have complained about this in the past. They did not like all of their activity showing up on their personal Facebook Wall. The button will send a description of the link, the link itself, and the title of the link to the people you click on when you click the send button.

I think this is a great addition for Facebook. I think it will make people be more open to sharing things on Facebook since they will not have to worry about what they share showing up on their personal Facebook wall. Right now the only way to get a send button is to go to http://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/494/ and follow the instructions posted on the website. What do you think about this new feature that Facebook has just launched? Are you going to add it to your site? Do you think it will help people feel more confident about sharing things via Facebook? Will it make you feel more comfortable sharing stuff on Facebook? Share your thoughts and comments in the comment section below.

Founder Maxell Wessel, dubbed NuevoStage a Groupon for concerts. Like Groupon, NuevoStage relies on the participation of the buyer in order for shows to get booked. Wessel discovered that thousands of venues in the United States have performance spaces that are not being used at least one night a week. This translates into lost cash for the venue.

The way the new service will work is that artists will be able to search for venues with open nights. They will be allowed to create a listing for a potential show. They will be able to promote the show using the various social media sites they belong to. Fans will be asked to buy a ticket to the show using their credit card. If enough fans purchase a ticket, the show will proceed as planned. If there is not enough interest, for example if only three people buy tickets, the show will be canceled and the fans will not get charged for the show.

There are still some bugs to work out. There needs to be verbiage in the listing indicating that the show is not a definite. Also the bands will need to have enough lead time so they can actually prepare for a live show. The notice about the show not being definite would need to be repeated as often as possible so the band does not wind up with angry fans.

It is important to note that Wessel is focused on lesser known acts. This seems like it will be a win win for all parties. The venue will get a live band and the artist will get a paid gig. The site is still in private alpha and is scheduled for launch this summer.

What do you think? Musicians, do you think this will be a good way to get gigs? Music fans, would you support your favorite indie band if something like this went live? Leave your comments in the comment section below.

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