Okay Geek Farm
Facebook hires PR Company and CNBC Reporter To Spread Lies About Google
Brandon Davenport
So, we just want to say up-front that this is a pretty messy story and it’s really hard to pin-point the exact people at fault, but we know it was Facebook and we know Google was the target. The weapon used to deface Google was PR company Burson-Marsteller, and the scale was massive. Facebook had coaxed blogs, newspapers and newstations to spread blatant lies about Google, and it quickly transformed into an all out assult.
So what happened was this: Facebook hired Burson-Marsteller, one of the best public-relations firms, to pitch very anti-Google stories to newspapers, blogs and newstations urging them to investigate claims that Google was invading people’s privacy. Naturally, everyone jumped on the story and reported the hell out of it, but one lone blogger who received one of the many emails sent out by Burson-Marsteller refused to cover the story, and went as far as to post the emails on his blog. The plan had completely backfired, but in the midst of all this — nobody yet knew it was Facebook. Facebook was still in the clear, until a short while after.
Breaking down the fiasco
What happened essentially was an ireversable mistake by Facebook that will haunt them until they manage to weasel their way out of it, and sadly they will, but we need to take this time to explore what happened.
1. Google is entering the social space, and naturally Facebook sees this as a threat. Google is pushing so hard on social that in fact 25% of Google employees’ bonuses will depend on how well they do in Social.
2. An unknown hired a 3rd party PR company (they used it so they could protect they’re identity) and hired them to spread fabricated assumptions about Google’s “privacy issues”.
3. New spread everywhere across the web, TV and newspapers and CNBC reporter Jim Goldman was caught spreading lies about Google’s new “Social circle”.
4. A blog then exposed that the pitches sent by the PR company were in-fact lies, and that the PR company was Burson-Marsteller.
5. Burson denied any comment on who hired them. Facebook then came clean, announcing they had hired the PR company to do the dirty work, and shortly after Burson came clean as well.
Response from Facebook
No ‘smear’ campaign was authorized or intended. Instead, we wanted third parties to verify that people did not approve of the collection and use of information from their accounts on Facebook and other services for inclusion in Google Social Circles — just as Facebook did not approve of use or collection for this purpose. We engaged Burson-Marsteller to focus attention on this issue, using publicly available information that could be independently verified by any media organization or analyst. The issues are serious and we should have presented them in a serious and transparent way.
Everything about this statement is ridiculous. If anyone is at fault for farming user-data it’s Facebook more than anybody. This isn’t just complete BS, it’s another place in time that Facebook will be railed for years to come. If you have a brain in that little head of yours, you need to know that Facebook is NOT and never has been a fun little place run by Zuckey and friends — it is a company designed to do one thing, make money. Everything you see on Facebook is designed to make money for Facebook, and their most valuable asset is your information. We could get into a debate about that alone, but right now we just need to leave it at Facebook is one of the worst hypocrites we’ve seen in a long time.
