Advice for Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook

Dear Mark & the rest of the Facebook executive team:

I’ve been following with interest the events of the past 72-96 hours involving the dust-up between Facebook and Robert Scoble. (See my blog post of tonight on Utah Tech Watch entitled “Who Owns Social Media Data? Scoble-Facebook-Plaxo Fracas Raises Questions.”)

Wow, what a mess!

Here’s my free advice: You need better public relations counsel. Specifically, outside counsel.

Obviously, I’ve got a vested interest here in that I’m in the PR field, and I own Politis Communications, a small strategic communications agency that provides PR consulting and services.

That said, I’ve worked with technology companies for nearly 25 years (including large firms like Apple, Novell and GTE, as well as other firms in all shapes, sizes and industries throughout the United States and overseas).

And even though our offices are in Utah, I’m a San Francisco native that was raised in the Bay Area. (Heck, I even spent six years of my life living in East Palo Alto just a few miles from your offices.)

For the record, I’ve been searching all over the ‘Net for the past hour or so trying to see if I can discover whether Facebook currently has a PR firm or not.

My guess is no, because if Facebook does, that agency is invisible. And if you do have a current relationship with a PR firm and they’re “invisible” on purpose, that’s a BAD IDEA!

Regardless, Facebook needs better PR advice, whether that advice is from an external source or not.

So, whether it’s with

• me and Politis Communications, or
• a firm down the block, or
• one of the largest strategic communications firms in the galaxy,

good luck in your search.

Because if you don’t get better advice, Facebook is going to continue to screw-up BIG TIME in what matters most — with your reputation in the court of public opinion.

Sincerely,

David Politis

P.S. Should you want to, I’m not hard to reach. My email address is easy: dpolitis @ politis.com, and my office number is 801-523-3730 xt. 11. Buena suerte. dlp

P.P.S. At the risk of sounding like I’m kissing up, I do feel that what you and Facebook have accomplished since its founding in 2004 is nothing short of amazing. And I wish you all the continued luck in the world. But as I wrote tonight on Utah Tech Watch, the Scoble mess makes three major public mistakes in two months. That’s NOT good, and I think you, Facebook and the Facebook members deserve better. Ciao.

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