DISQUS

In her blog she did mention that she used a false name, so if Facebook shut down her account for that then they're in the right - although I agree that they should have some kind of verification process before just closing an account. But the real issue is that if there are several accounts with the name "Lindsay Lohan" and photos of the same person are fake clearly all but one of them (or all of them) are fake, so why aren't they doing something about that?

Ooh, pretty. Very clean, and I like that it's lighter than the previous design. Looking forward to reading in this new theme :)

Wow, it's crazy to me that one company would do this, and reading everyone's "me too" comments is even crazier! In Chile there is very much still a culture of hierarchy and little internet use. I have had conversations with people where I say "use our website, you will get more clients for free, and they will like you because you're going to them," and the person on the other end of the phone says "no, I couldn't do that, the owner of the company is away until next month, and I can't make a decision like that on my own." Some still don't seem to realize that having a presence online is just like handing out your business card at a social event - relating yourself to your company, which people like! Thank goodness for the companies and employees that do get it.

The book job sounds like a lot of fun, the water purification and car jobs sound like hell. I can see how that kind of background encouraged you to get into what you're doing today, which is obviously something you love.

As far as the superheros go, I've included a link to Helperman - a real life superhero :) Enjoy!

Interesting post. At Needish we try to not only find people the answers to their Needs in that minute but also create a database of information for the future. So that next time someone in San Francisco needs a moving service or someone in New York is looking for an apartment they can see not only recommendations from other people but also what companies are joining that conversation and offering good service.

It is a LOT of information, and I'm getting used to the idea that I can't know all of it, but it's out there for whenever I need to access it.

Just wanted to add to what others have said - very useful post. Some common sense tips that anyone can do that will be very helpful.

The same thing was happening on my personal blog, so I just took down AdSense - I don't really make any money from it anyway, so it doesn't affect me that much. I'm just glad someone told me about it! You'd think they'd improve recognition of context, this isn't the first time ads have conflicted with a blog's content.

I've seen this one making the rounds as well, a very funny video from Sarah Silverman about getting out the Jewish vote in Florida: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgHHX9R4Qtk

Am I the only one who got excited thinking this was about a guide to sites dealing with the slow FOOD movement? Oh well. Clever title and good tips!

Great post, even though I don't like peanut butter :) This is something that I really need to start focusing on. I think I've given myself enough time to get into the flow of the conversation, and now I need to thnk about how to measure what I'm doing. I'm learning that this is the really hard part! Thanks for this reminder.

Yes. Even if I've already confirmed or denied the invite within Facebook. Annoying...

Great point about the audience not getting to do whatever they want. I think it's easy for people online to feel like the internet is theirs and they should be allowed to act as they want, but different sites have different purposes. I wish more people would keep that in mind the next time they cry "censorship" when really it's just a case of certain postings not being appropriate for certain places.

It will be interesting to see how Pepsi moves forward from today, if they can grow from the feedback they could have a great thing going here.

@Joe Dager, it all depends on how you use Facebook. I, like @Julie Baker, keep Facebook almost exclusively for personal things. And you can bet I have pictures of my dog :) You can have pictures of your dog as a professional user as well, it's even encouraged because it shows that you're really you and not some little corporate drone!

Chris, as far as groups go, I usually join friends' groups to show support, but if after a while I realize I don't feel strongly about the message I'll remove them. I'm not usually very active in groups, so for me the question isn't so much whether or not I've been active but rather whether or not I think that by reading the title of the groups I'm in someone could get a feel for who I am and what I believe in - whether it's that I do in fact have more foreign policy experience than Sarah Palin or that I think my high school was better than your high school, the important thing is that I agree with what I'm putting out there.

Overall some good points to consider. But this question seems a bit irrelevant: "Why should I pay for something that might turn out to be useless or obsolete in a few years time?" The same question could be asked not only of other music forms - cassettes, CDs, etc - but of all technology. While I fully agree that there are some technologies that look as thought they'll become useless far too quickly, and Lala may be one of them, if we let the fact that things will become obsolete hold us back, we'd never move forward.

You can also check out needish.com! You can either post privately, to get recommendations from people you know in real life (without having to individually call them all) or post a public Need and get tips from other people in the area as well. We're just getting started, but everyone's invited to post their Needs for babysitters or anything else :)

Corvida, I too am a new community manager, and it's hard to figure out what exactly people want in order to give it to them! I'm not in the position of a known blogger or other tech figure, so I don't have those possible misconceptions, but I still have days when I sit here wondering how I can bring more value to people. I think it's something that really broadens your horizons outside of the internet as well in terms of learning to listen to what others are talking about.

Haha, thanks for the perspective, Stan. Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in the hype!

And who's in charge of these floating nations? The highest bidder as king, or is it some kind of utopian collective? First palm tree and country-shaped islands, now this!

And this is part of the reason I don't have an iPhone. Here in Chile the same 2-year contract is required - at prices similar to the US ($70/month), which is a lot considering salaries are much lower! I may still be swayed, but at the moment I'm sticking with my 3-year old basic Nokia.

Interesting idea. So many times you put off contacting someone, and eventually enough time passes that it seems awkward to e-mail them out of the blue. I don't know that I would always take advantage of being told I was losing touch with someone, but I can see it helping occasionally. And the tips of what to talk about makes me laugh - can we really not come up with our own e-mail topics?

Hi Steve, just wanted to clarify the Needish concept a bit - the idea is that companies send you their best offer for your commercial Needs, while your friends and other community members can give you recommendations and other help for all your Needs. Have you had a chance to look at it? I'd love to hear your feedback. Thanks for the mention, let me know at emily[at]needish[dot]com if you have any questions!
Emily Williams
Needish Community Manager

Great post! It's very easy to get stuck in the trap of needing to "keep up to date" and "learn more" rather than actually doing things, trying things, possibly making a couple mistakes along the way but learning through experience rather than reading. Thanks for this reminder that we should be out there doing rather than observing!

Hi Chris and everyone. This e-mail looks great, but I have a question: what kind of title should go with an e-mail like this? As a community manager at a start up, I find myself in the position of sending out e-mails to people I've never talked to about a company they've never heard of. I feel like the text of my e-mail is along these lines (I hope!), but I get stuck on the title. If I put "Needish" they have no idea what that is. Something like "New company, more clients" looks like spam. "Hey X, what's up?" is unprofessional. I'd love to hear your opinions, thanks in advance for any help!

Thanks for the tip, Stan! Going to do it right now.

It's also apparently arriving in 10 Latin American countries that same day. Here's the link (in Spanish, but country names are the same): http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/528063.html I was kind of surprised to see that Estonia would be getting the iPhone before us here in Chile - glad that's not the case!