Thanks to Damien for suggesting the Clarion hotel and thanks to Pat for booking it (remember Pat, 20 quid budget).

We’ll be in Dublin on Tuesday 8th of January and you can probably guess where we’re going to eat that evening. You got it, Jaipur. So, if you’d like to hang out and watch me spill curry all over myself then drop a comment. Say 7pm in town.

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Do you read both blogs and if so, do you mind the duplication of stories covered on both? Are there specific topics you’d rather I covered, or didn’t cover on either of them? Any feedback you provide will be greatly appreciated. Until I received feedback, I’ll continue to post what I think is relevant, to both blogs. Thanks to Dennis Howlett for advice regarding this matter.

Now onto the article you came here for…

I picked up from TechCrunch this morning that Robert Scoble, one of the most influential bloggers in the world, has been banned from Facebook for breaking its terms and conditions.

Apparently, Robert tried to run a script over Facebook to export all of his contacts in one go. Those of us who know Facebook rather well, know that this will break their terms of use. He would have known that this was likely to end in tears. That said, perhaps Robert was pulling a PR stunt knowing that everyone would end up not only talking about it, but rallying behind him.

I must point out that I like Robert, a lot. I think what he does is brilliant and his contribution to industry is nothing short of fantastic. So, my post isn’t directed at Robert, but the Facebook conversation that’s taking place in the social arena that is Twitter.

If you break the rules, you should expect to be treated like everyone else. Just because Robert has thousands of connections and is very well known to millions, it doesn’t mean he should be treated any differently to anyone else. I have a friend who sent me a text message whilst I was on holiday as her account had been disabled. I just happen to know the VP of PR & Marketing and the VP of Sales so she thought I could exercise my connections in her favour. Her account was probably canned due to the number of event requests she sent out each week – there was a lot, but people signed up to her notifications. I must add that they were very exclusive events too.

Everyone who considers themselves as a ’social media’ guru should know that Facebook is closed and that you’re not permitted to use scripts to remove contacts. So, you should either join the club and abide by the rules, or leave. Right?

Well, yes and no. You shouldn’t break the rules and not expect to be punished. But, we should try to persuade Facebook that being closed isn’t good for industry as a whole. We should be able to retain ownership of our data. If you’re still unsure about what I’m talking about, try to export your friends’ email addresses. You’ll notice that it’s impossible because email addresses are made up of images. To comply with basic industry best practices, email addresses like everything else, should at least be text. To take this a step further, they should come in the form of a Microformat. You’d then be able to download email addresses automatically to a client such as Outlook.

Oh wait, making it easy for people to export hundreds, possibly thousands of email addresses… wouldn’t that make it easy for unscrupulous companies to harvest and then SPAM? You could argue that Facebook is helping to protect the vast majority whilst upsetting the minority. Personally, I think it’s just a matter of time. Facebook only opened it’s doors to non-universities a year ago. The business community has only started to flirt with it since the summer with London boasting the largest geographical network in the world.

What Facebook does well, is very small iterative changes to improve the user experience. You’ll notice that it’s not inclined to make huge changes to the platform – that’s probably because they’ll upset a lot of people if they get it wrong. Given that it’s still early days, getting major changes wrong is more likely. So, perhaps opening up email addresses is on the long ‘to-do’ list and will only be executed when they’ve figured out how to protect users from themselves.

I was one of the first employed by AOL in Europe in 1995, when it was a small startup, so I get the whole ‘walled garden’ thing. I don’t think it’s healthy for industry in the long term. But it is a necessary evil at the beginning to ensure users have a positive user experience within an environment where they are protected.

However, there comes a point in time when you need to knock down the walls. I’m not sure when that time should be for Facebook but one thing is for sure, their decision is not going to be influenced by early adopters. They’ll most likely listen to audiences which include influencers with a lot of connections, who would follow them to a competitor.

I believe it’s a little harsh to automatically ban users from Facebook. This should be done manually after humans have first given a warning and second, made sure that they’re making the right decision. If AOL could do it more than 10 years ago with millions of users, I’m sure Facebook can today given the technology available to staff.

Read some interesting article on this topic

Hear what Robert Scoble has to say

Hear what CentreNetworks has to say

My source: TechCrunch

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Damien, a name that would appear on the list if it was for the fact that it’s his list, was recently awarded ‘Technology Journalist’ of the year and is Ireland’s number 1 blogger. So, he holds a very qualified opinion given that his finger is firmly on the digital pulse. More so, than any newspaper or magazine. I was tipped as ‘One to watch out for in 2007′ by Revolution Magazine, but truth be told, I’m more flattered to have appeared on Damien’s list.

I’m so flattered about making the list myself that I decided to write a post to draw your attention to it. I didn’t write a post when Revolution Magazine listed me, probably because I knew that most of last year was going to be about laying foundations, for both Segala and BIMA, the two organisations with which I can be measured.

I’m looking forward to 2008 because it’s the year for us to open our doors to show the world exactly what we’ve been working on for the past couple of years. If you’re interested in seeing more trust enabled in search results then watch this space.

Well done to the rest of the guys on the list, make sure to show your mothers

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One of my previous posts attracted much needed attention to this topic, as passionate people with great intentions (me included) agree to agree, without actually agreeing on an action plan.

I’d like to call this Ireland Inc. Until we decide otherwise, it refers to both Web and Mobile based networking events.

(On a separate note, I’m hosting a meeting in January to discuss the creation of a new Industry Association. This has previously been referred to as Ireland Inc. also. So, for the sake of keeping things simple, I’d like to call the new yet-to-be-created association, IIMA (Irish Interactive Media Association). This is a working name only. Rather than discuss potential names here, I’d like to propose waiting until the meeting.)

Agenda

• Type of events covered by Ireland Inc.
• Should we create some kind of committee to help structure the build of an ecosystem?
• Should we choose one central hub for most events? Where should it be?
• How do we raise awareness for the central hub of communication to people outside of Ireland?
• Action plan
• Anything else?

Where Jaipur
When 12th February 2007 at 7pm
Cost €30

I’d like to propose keeping the number of people to say, 15? It’s very likely that we’ll get more than 15 people interested in this conversation, so please let me know how you think we should choose who comes to the first meeting.

If you’re interested in helping to create the ecosystem for better networking in Ireland, please register your interest now.

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Actually Sam didn’t attend Le Web this year. I used his name badge instead, which many thought was quite creative, providing a lot of people with a giggle. It was actually a good conversational point.

Thanks to Pat Phelan for the picture. Dan Applequist amongst others uploaded theirs to flickr. Pictures of my badge seem to be making its way around a few blogs too.

It has been a great conference, definitely worth the time and effort. It was great to catch up with people like Mike Arrington, Jason Calacanis, Tyler Crowley and Amanda Lorenzani amongst the many others who unfortunately I don’t have time to name right now.

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I’m heading to Le Web 3 in Paris in the morning so I’ll try to catch up on some blog posts during my relaxing time on the train. Let me know if you’re going and would like to hook up.

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Developed by Enterprise Ireland in association with the Irish Software Association (ISA), Stanford Graduate School of Business is delivering a prestigious programme in the US and Ireland.

According to the Enterprise Ireland Web site

The Growth programme, which offers Irish high-growth company CEOs an opportunity to enhance their ambition, mindset and world class leadership capabilities was launched in October 2006.

I don’t recognize one name on the list of attendees. I’m not saying they don’t deserve to be there. I’m sure they do. I’m just highlighting the fact that not only are the CEOs who I think have potential not on the list, they’re probably not aware of the initiative.

Moreover, I didn’t even know it existed and I’ve been previously invited to present to MBA students in the UK.

Can someone from Enterprise Ireland or the Irish Software Association please publish how they choose the CEOs? I’d like to know what the success criterion was/is.

If you’re a CEO in Ireland, did you know about this initiative? Do you know someone on the list?

Why can’t Enterprise Ireland make it easy for its clients to keep up to speed on the work it’s doing? Why do we have to stumble upon a Web page by accident or hear about an initiative along the grapevine because one or two individuals go out of their way to search and discover.

I’m meeting with Enterprise Ireland before Christmas. It will either be the very last time I meet them, or it’ll be 100 times more productive than I expect based on my past experience with them. As far as I’m concerned, they’re in the last chance saloon.

Source Fergus Burns

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I’m heading back to Dublin for an Enterprise Ireland meeting and would like to extend a warm dinner invite (on me) to you if you’re interested in talking about the usual Web and mobile related stuff. All are welcome but places are obviously limited.

Venue Jaipur, 41 South Great George’s St, Dublin 2
Date 1st February 2007
Time 19:00
Dress code usual scruffy start-up attire

Get in touch if you’re interested, or leave a comment.

——–

Update:

Atendees so far (I’ll be offline from this afternoon 31/1, so this may not be up to date)

• Me
• Sorcha
• Elly
• Paul
• Qamir
• John
• Eoghan
• Mark
• Ian
• Jim (my brother, so no scary recruitment sales pitches!)
  
• I know I’ve missed someone??

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