. . . top Gannett publicist pal Tara Connell even closer. The betting has now started on whether she accepts my Facebook friend request. (Fear not: I'm not really radioactive!)
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Frenemies: Keep your friends close and your . . .
. . . top Gannett publicist pal Tara Connell even closer. The betting has now started on whether she accepts my Facebook friend request. (Fear not: I'm not really radioactive!)
20 comments:
Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."
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ReplyDeleteThis is approaching the level of stalking, Jim.
ReplyDeleteWe call it social media in the blogosphere.
ReplyDeletePriceless comment, Jim.
ReplyDeleteI admit it: I'm afraid to be your FB friend, fearing of retribution in oh-so-subtle ways. ("Top of the layoff list for that jerk!")
ReplyDeleteI'll consider it if one or two more people from my site join. Strength in numbers, and all that.
Yeah, I'm a damn coward.
C'mon people, don't be afraid. All the managers read the blog as well. And who cares if you become his friend? They can't control you on your own time. And if you let them, then I feel sorry for you. I was let go last round, and I haven't looked back sad since. THERE IS MORE TO LIFE WHILE IN - AND AFTER - GANNETT. And it is good.
ReplyDeleteEven if I am not your friend, I will be able to see all of the people who are.
ReplyDeleteAnd the culture of this company suggests that those who are friends with the company's enemy number one, are not around for long.
I suspect that you'll get very few "confirms" for those of us who are still employed.
Whoo-hoo! I'm No. 1 at something!
ReplyDeleteI think it's funnier that Craig Dubow has a Facebook account. At least we know what he does all day while he sits in his office.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very touchy subject for me. I'm a financial contributor to this blog and support what Jim is doing with it. But I'm still working for a Gannett property as a mid-level manager and frankly, I don't trust Gannett to ignore the fact that I'm a friend of Jim's on a social networking site. So for the moment, I will decline Jim's invitation.
ReplyDeleteOnce the culture changes with a replacement of upper management, I'm axed in a RIF or if the company simply folds, I'll happily add Jim as a friend at that time.
Keep in mind that individual profiles can be set to different privacy options. Jim can set his profile so that only his friends can see who he is friends with (so assuming Tara reacts to his request like most of his others, she won't know that you're siding with the "enemy"). More appropriately, you would have to be his friend in order to see his profile, including wall posts and what not.
ReplyDeleteLove reading the blog. But this just seems childish and distasteful to me.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure, Jim, you don't mind at all when people tell you the way they see it.
I wonder, does being your friend violate my non-disparagement agreement?
ReplyDeleteSet those privacy settings, Jim. Also: Facebook users, you can block specific people. Like TC if you're afraid.
ReplyDeleteI'm way ahead of you; it's done!
ReplyDelete---But this just seems childish and distasteful to me. ---
ReplyDeleteI must say that targeting Tara Connell in such a way -- such as urging people here, many of whom are rightfully angry and unemployed, to join her Facebook and who knows what -- is a first step towards things no one wants.
It's childish, vaguely nefarious and even dangerous.
The "blogosphere" doesn't mean anything goes, Jim, and one of the responsibilities of being a popular blogger, which you are, is knowing when to set limits and recognize the power you wield.
We've already had numerous posts removed here because of ugliness, at least one threat of gun violence (whether real or imagined), and opening the door to spam or harrassment on facebook or anywhere else just goes too far.
Of course you haven't advocated any of that, but the danger is very very real. "Social media in the blogosphere" doesn't mean belittling people in public spaces.
I'm not some neophyte. I'm someone who has been around the Internet, the web, message boards and all kinds of interactivity for almost 20 years. I know the power and freedom of the Web; I also know the perils.
But this just seems childish and distasteful to me. And quite dangerous.
Dangerous?
ReplyDeleteTara can ignore Facebook friend requests if she wants.
She also could decide to friend everyone who identifies as a Gannett employee. As could you, or me, if we do desired.
None of that is childish, vaguely nefarious or dangerous. It's what Facebook does! You're free to associate with whomever you choose.
Please elaborate more on how friending someone is "dangerous." I'd really like to understand your way of thinking, Craig.
... please make that "if we SO desired."
ReplyDeleteThe undeserved horror at the lack of etiquette in singling out one Gannett vice president who has a personal social network page doesn't hold a candle to the deserved horror we have to see attached to our stories at the Asbury Park Press every day.
ReplyDeleteEspecially since they stupidly laid off the moderator, the personal attacks, vulgarities, name calling and slander including that against named people in the stories, often children, are truly what's horrifying.
I say this is a mild, very mild, taste of Gannett's own medicine. If Tara doesn't like it, she should remove the story comments function immediately at our online editions.
A couple things about this post:
ReplyDelete1. Big waste of my time and Connell's; we both have better things to do. But as long as the company refuses to deal with this blog, I'm going to do what my Gannett editors taught me to do: be persistent.
"Don't stop now, when you've got your boot on their neck," was how I recall John Hanchette telling us in Little Rock, where he was a managing editor. (GNS won its Pulitzer Prize for work JH and two colleagues did on the Pauline Fathers.)
2. I didn't go looking for Connell's Facebook page; the website served it up as a suggested friend -- a result of information Connell entered herself (unless she's loaned her PIN to someone). I learned a long time ago that anything I type into the Web is subject to discovery.