Borders - this doesn’t make me smile

I was particularly bummed to see the articles about Borders mulling a possible sale.  It’s never a good thing to lose any bookstore, whether it’s the small corner store rapidly going the way of the do-do bird, or #2 chain in the US.  It’s a losing proposition for authors, publishers, and readers. 

There’s a school of thought that says that it’s ok, more customers will buy books online.  But if you think about it, that doesn’t always work that way.  Think about it.  Any time the retail locations diminish, so does the customers ability to buy the product.  OK, I can’t find a book at my local bookstore, or my local bookstore has gone under, so I have to buy online.  I have a choice - find another bookstore, buy it online, or just go without.  Unfortunately, reducing the amount of retail locations that sell books has been leading to people to make the last decision. 

It’s especially unfortunate because Borders seems to be making a move into social media.  Facebook has a Borders fan page online for big Borders and Books ETC.  Borders NY also has an event page that’s really handy.  I had no idea Alton Brown would be signing books this week until I saw that - thought you should know in case anyone wonders why I am taking Thursday off :-). 

I was depressed enough when the Borders near my house closed.  To think about the chain going away in any way, shape or form is something too horrible to even conceptualize. 

 

Facebook For Dummies LIVE

Tonight was author Carolyn Abram’s signing at the White Plains NY Barnes & Noble.  It wasn’t an ordinary evening for me for many reasons.  First, we don’t do many book signings in tech.  For the most part, outside of celebrity authors like a Kevin Mitnick or key locations like Seattle and Silicon Valley, tech books tend not to draw a crowd.  However, Carolyn pulled a nice group of people, and she wasn’t related to all of them.  Second, due to many difficulties with NYC transit, Mr IT was detoured and I had to bring Little IT and IT Boy to the signing.  I kept asking where that whiny kid came from, only to be told he belonged to me.  Oh well, it was late for him to be out, and he really was a trouper. 

I was thrilled to meet Carolyn.  She’s got a great rep among the editorial staff in Indy.  She was pleasant and very thrilled to be a first time author.  Her family in attendance was just beaming with pride, as cliched as that sounds.   She was quite gracious with Little IT, who was so thrilled to meet an author who used to go to her school.  I think she got that she had the opportunity to be a role model for a little girl, and she ran with it.  For that, I am so grateful.  After that, Little IT kept asking how she could be an author someday.  All in all, it was a great night and I hope Carolyn enjoys every moment of being a published author!

Oh, and if you want to see pictures, you’re going to have to go to Facebook.  Normally, I would double post on smugmug, but this time, it only seems right to house them there. 

 

Facebook For Dummies author event

I would be remiss if I did not mention that Wiley author Carolyn Abrams will be appearing at the Barnes & Noble Bookstore in the City Center in White Plains, NY on March 4th at 7:30pm. Abrams will be hosting a discussion, Q&A and book signing in support of her new book “Facebook For Dummies.” I’ll be there, and hope to see a big turnout for the event. 

 

Dummies Man takes over Facebook

I’m a little late on this one, but I was thrilled earlier this week to see Facebook make “Dummies Man” available as a “free gift”.  This was accomplished to honor the publication of “Facebook For Dummies.”  Our wonderful authors Carolyn Abram and Leah Pearlman are Facebook employees and helped pull this off for us.  Thank you to Louise who sent me one as a gift and to Carolyn, Leah and Blake Ross for making it happen.  It was most appreciated!

 

Scrabulous Not So Fabulous

The news was all over Twitterthis morning…it seems that Mattel/Hasbro has issued a take down order on the popular Facebook application Scrabulous due to what they call a trademark infringement. 

I must confess, I don’t play this game, but I know many (Emilie, Dani, etc) who are totally addicted to it.  Someone on Twitter pointed me to a great blog post by Matt Dickman where he questions this strategy and wonders why it came to this.  While I don’t totally agree with the idea of keeping the lawyers out of the room, as the lawyers I work with are most helpful on these kinds of matters, it does show the kind of open mind that I hope my marketers are thinking with.  We run into this kind of stuff with Dummies a lot, and it is a trademark that we actively protect, while still allowing for some forms of parody. 

The person in the comments who talks about the Dodgers shutting down a fan site is the kind of thing that makes me want to bang my head on my desk.  Hard.  You can’t buy that kind of loyalty and support, and to crush it is the worst kind of marketing gaffe.  If I saw a site like that for one of my products, I’d be emailing them trying to send them all sorts of free stuff.  Oh wait, I have seen those, and that’s exactly what I’ve done.  Because I want to build good will, not crush it.   Here’s hoping to someone at Mattel coming to his or her senses and saving the masses from having to switch back to Soliataire. 

 

Scobleizer banned from Facebook

First, they came for Dummies Man.

Then they came for Robert Scoble.

Who will speak out when they come for you?

 

The return of Dummies Man to Facebook and the Beginning of My Identity Crisis

Some time ago I blogged about Dummies Man’s profile being pulled from Facebook.  I’ve got some good news and bad news about this. 

The good news is that my efforts with Facebook customer service have paid off and the profile for Dummies Man has been reactivated. 

The bad news (ok, maybe not bad, but not good, at least in my book) is that Dummies Man has a new name.  His name?  Ellen Gerstein.  Search for Ellen Gerstein on FB and you’ll see two of me.  One with my beautiful shining visage, the other with D-Man.  OK, there are some other Ellen Gersteins, but they don’t count here.

Here’s how this played out.  I wrote to FB and asked why “Dummies Man”, a character we own, is not permitted to maintain a profile.  This is the note I got in return:

Fake names are a violation of our Terms of Use. Facebook requires users to provide their full first and last names (i.e. no initials). Impersonating anyone or anything is prohibited. Nicknames can be used in the form of FirstName ‘NickName’ LastName, but only if they are a variation on your real first or last name, such as ‘Bob’ instead of ‘Robert’.

If you would like to use this profile again, just get back to us with your real name, and we will reactivate the account for you.

So, in an effort to save the profile, which our intern Joe lovingly created, I got back to them as me, Ellen Gerstein, and asked them to reactivate it.  Then, I went into the rejuvenated account and tried to change the name.  Dummies Man/Ellen Gerstein was a no go.  As was Ellen “Dummies” Gerstein.  And many other variations.  Why?  Because…

Before confirming your name change request, please read the following.

• Your Facebook profile must be attached to your real name.
• You must include your full name.
• Celebrity names, nicknames, or other fake names are not allowed and will not be approved.
• Obscenity, curses, and swear words are not allowed and will not be approved.
• ISn’t~ ThIs <3 AnN0YiNg 2 ReAd? Non-standard capitalization and special characters are not allowed and will not be approved.
• Do not try to combine sentences into one word; Jane Lookatmysupercoolnewnickname Smith will not be approved.
• We review all name changes, so this may take a while.

This is getting really complicated.  Any suggestions for a name that ISN’T necessarily mine that could be used for Dummies Man and not be in violation of FB rules???  And, again, Fake Steve Jobs can be on the site as Steve Jobs, and Dummies Man gets banned?  Really!

 

Work is a four-letter-word

This week is a busy one in IT Land.  My company is involved in our tri-annual division wide sales meeting.  It’s being held at a hotel not far from our offices, but it still presents many challenges in terms of commuting and child care arrangements.  I decided not to stay in the hotel, because I couldn’t bear packing for myself and juggling the kids when I’ll have to do it anyhow on Thursday before we go to Vegas.  It’s six of one, really, but I do enjoy sleeping in my own bed better than any hotel. 

Today was a big meeting day, and I got to present our lead spring 2008 titles in front of the whole group.  I decided to channel El Jobso before a big MacWorld keynote, which gave me powers beyond those of any superhero.  In other words, it went well.  Reps were really excited about our list, especially all those yummy social media books.  LinkedIn For Dummies, Facebook For Dummies and Sybex’s Radically Transparent were three of the titles that garnered the most discussion.  The latter book is particularly amusing, because our business group also has a transparency title.  My counterpart on the business side confessed to spending some time on Google last night looking for good examples of transparency.  I’m surprised he didn’t find me in the hunt, as I was doing the exact same thing.   I led off my presentations with Microsoft 2.0, and author Mary Jo Foley was kind enough to share some of the coolest tidbits from the manuscript that I could share with the group.   I have two more days of this, and then I head on vacation.  Must.  stay.  focused.

It was also nice hearing from co-workers who have read ye ole blog.  I’m hoping more of them jump on the bandwagon and start their own blogs.  Can’t have all the joy to myself, you know…

 

Sharing isn’t always caring

Last week, my babysitter arrived at the house to watch the IT kids.  I asked her if her new purple ski jacket had arrived.  I was greeted with a huge “HUH?” and “How did you know I bought a purple ski jacket?”

Oh, she didn’t just buy a purple ski jacket, she bought two other iteams as well.  From Overstock.com.  And how did I know?  She told me.  Sorta.  It was in her Facebook news feed.

We had no idea how this happened until I saw Charlene Li’s post on her most excellent marketing blog.  Babysitter said repeatedly she never linked Overstock to her Facebook account, nor did she ever click anything that said they would communicate. 

I’ve bought movie tickets from Fandango where they asked if I wanted to share info with Facebook and I’ve said no.  I cannot imagine I would want anyone on Facebook to know what I am purchasing (giving silent thanks that Nordstrom does not do this for I don’t want everyone to know the deals of my last La Perla purchase).  What makes it worse is babysitter did not make this choice, and yet I knew everything she had bought on that shopping trip.  Charlene’s story is funnier (she and her husband actually bought the same thing) but no more less reassuring.

I’m not sure why Overstock is choosing to do this, but I do know that as a consumer I would prefer to have the option of whether or not to share this info with others.  The last thing Mr. IT needs is a detailing of any of my shopping expeditions. 

 

Dummies Man still banned from Facebook

Here’s more on D Man’s big ig from Facebook that I talked about yesterday.  I’ve had a number of people (thanks Kris) say that Dummies Man should give up on the profile thing and create a page.  We’re working on that, but it’s not the same thing.  A profile allows you to do things a page cannot.

 And why, for the life of me, does Fake Steve Jobs allowed to have a Facebook page?  We are Dummies Man, even if he doesn’t exist.  Fake Steve Jobs is someone pretending to be Steve Jobs.  How is that allowed when Dummies Man is banned?  I’m not saying I want FSJ to be removed.  Far from it.  I think he can and should be allowed to coexist with D Man on Facebook, and hey, want not off.  Maybe they could do a spa day together or something?