Media in the New Millennium

Image via CrunchBase

posted by Doyle

Most of you have seen it by now: Facebook hired one of the world’s largest PR firms (Burston-Marsteller) to execute a whisper campaign against Google over privacy issues. Irony of Facebook (pot) calling Google (kettle) out on privacy concerns aside, this entire episode was simply sad and continues to be handled badly by all concerned. This isn’t grey. It’s black and white, right and wrong:

• If Facebook, or any client, comes to a firm — especially a large, well-established firm like B-M — and asks that firm to do something like this, the firm should decline the assignment or the business, possibly both.
• Facebook, or any client with a department staffed by (alleged) PR professionals, should know better than to ask in the first place.
• If B-M, or any agency, takes such an assignment and gets caught, they can’t just throw the client under the bus and cash the check. Agencies are hired to advise as well as do the work. (Yes, sometimes individual employees make bad decisions. The company must then step up and make it right.)

The saddest byproduct of this entire mess is the shrugs and comments like “yeah, but this happens all the time. These guys just got caught.”

Sorry, but that’s nonsense. If Facebook has a problem with Google’s Social Circle, just come out and say so. Does anyone (B-M?) believe Facebook couldn’t get coverage by taking a stand? Of course not. They just wanted to play the “See? Everyone thinks Social Circle is bad!” card. If they would have been transparent, the message would have gotten out, the tech/social media community could have evaluated Facebook’s concerns and the discussion would have ensued. Instead, whether or not there is a privacy issue with Social Circle has been lost in the slime.

Sack up, Facebook. And same to you, B-M. I’m not so naive as to think this is an isolated incident, but that does not make it right. It hurt Facebook, it certainly hurt B-M and it was yet another black eye for the PR industry. I’m sorry to see this nonsense continue to happen, and I’d like to see some serious adult supervision to minimize the continued proliferation of stupid.

In the end, it’s easier than ever to do things like this. But the good news for all of us, is that’s it’s easier than ever to get caught. If doing the right thing isn’t enough to keep companies on the high road, maybe the fear of retribution will.

That’s an end that will justify the means.

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