Patrick O’Keefe

My (former?) friend Jared Smith was recently notified by Facebook that his wall post usage constituted spamming. You can read the whole story on his site.

I, for one, am shocked by this revelation. I considered Jared a close friend, but his reckless behavior in wishing his friends a “Happy Birthday” showed, to me, that he doesn’t care for those that are associated with him. He messed with thunder and now, he must pay the price.

I confronted Jared this evening:

Patrick says: Did you think of me?
Patrick says: Or the children?
Jared says: I want to apologize for actions I may or may not have made in the past.
Patrick says: I mean, you can’t just go throwing around “Happy Birthday’s” like candy or something.
Patrick says: Try not to be so reckless.
Jared says: I have apologized to my family, friends, and the fans, and I would like to move forward.

But, will it be so easy? I don’t think so. Here is how I see this playing out:

One Week Later

Facebook has commissioned former Senator George Mitchell to investigate the mass “Happy Birthday” spamming on their social network. “I’ll get to the bottom of this,” Mitchell pledged.

Seven Years, Eight Months Later

Microsoft’s Facebook unit released it’s Mitchell Report today. The damning evidence came in the way of logs of 57 “Happy Birthday” messages sent by Jared W. Smith of Charleston, South Carolina, over a span of 578 days. Smith’s former ISP, TrammellNet, claimed that Smith had marked the day of a friend’s birthday, in advance, 32 times on his web based calendar. This indicated a premeditated effort to wish those friends a Happy Birthday, clearly in violation of Facebook policy.

Two Days Later

Smith maintains his innocence. Smith’s attorney, Chromey Soften, claims that “the only thing Mr. Smith is guilty of, is caring too much for his fellow man. Justice will prevail.”

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“Managing Online Forums” was reviewed by MarketingSherpa as part of their regular book giveaway. Ken Davidoff of Newsday gave the book a mention on his blog. Douglas Bell of Webmacster87.info and phpBB Weekly reviewed the book on his site. Miranda Marquit of WorkShak reviewed the book, as well.

I recently did interviews with the Alternageek Tech Show (features a review from the hosts) and Inside Digital Media.

Finally, I have a couple of live appearances coming up soon. On May 7 at 2:00 PM ET, I will be doing a live chat interview with Forum One. Questions can be submitted on their website. On May 10 at 12:00 PM ET, I will be going on the phpBB Weekly podcast. So, if you have a chance, please tune in and tell me what you think.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed the book or expressed interest in some way.

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I’m going to be visiting New York City, for a few days, at the end of May and start of June. I have decided to make Monday, June 2, book promotion day in NYC. I am going to do whatever I can, while I am there and specifically on that day, to promote the book. Whether that be giving interviews and/or talking to bloggers, journalists, podcasters, etc. or meeting people, speaking, signing books, whatever. I want to do whatever I can.

With a book like this and one day in NYC, what should I do while I am there? Where should I go? Who should I talk to? I’m totally open to recommendations and ideas. If you know anyone who would fit into the above categories, I’d definitely liked to be introduced to them and would appreciate it.

I am pretty well aware of general book promotion and I know how to use Google, MySpace, Facebook, Meetup.com, et all and how to search for people on there. I can look up newspapers, radio stations, TV stations, etc. etc. I’ve reached out to probably 200+ people at various publications and outlets. We’ve sent out over 100 review copies, we’ve booked 30 plus interviews online, in print, on radio and on television, the book is being promoted through my network, etc. etc. So, I’m not looking for general suggestions like “e-mail the top NYC tech bloggers” and the like.

What I am looking for is very specific information. Specific people I should talk in NYC, specific journalists in NYC I should talk to, specific organizations in NYC, specific venues in NYC, specific in NYC. That’s what I need help with.

I would definitely appreciate any suggestions or ideas. Thanks.

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Have you heard about the sports media/blogosphere blow out that took place on Tuesday night on Costas Now on HBO? If you haven’t, definitely take a look at the segment on Deadspin.

Bob Costas set out to host a show, according to to program’s site, “taking stock of the sports media landscape, including the rise of internet bloggers and sports talk radio.” What a disaster.

They had a live “discussion” (major, major quotation marks around that word) between Costas, Buzz Bissinger, whose work I’ve never read (can’t say I’ve read much W. C. Heinz, either), Will Leitch of Deadspin and Braylon Edwards of the Cleveland Browns.

Right out of the gate, Bissinger launches into a tirade against Leitch. Not only that, but it’s really a personal attack with expletives pouring out of his mouth. I know this is HBO, but I would have really expected Bob Costas to have put together a professional program. This was not that type of program.

Hilarity ensued (for me) as Bissinger pulled out printed blog posts and blog comments from Deadspin and read them aloud. Of course, he pulled out examples that a lot of people would find a little offensive or odd. Deadspin has a certain personality. It’s what they do. Criticizing a particular blog is one thing. But, the problem with Bissinger is he took comments by Deadspin readers to equal EVERY BLOG POST MADE IN THE SPORTS BLOGOSPHERE. Apparently, he’s even serious.

As a sports blogger, I’m sure my reaction to watching this was similar to many others. Bissinger is just so out of touch that your mouth hands open, you laugh and you wonder what you can even say to a person like that. Do you just wait for them to die out and/or become extinct?

Blog comments are like letters to the editor minus the immediate control over what gets printed. Is every letter to the editor nice and vulgarity free? Of course not. Is every print article well researched and written? Of course not. So, then, do bad letters to the editor mean that every newspaper is trash? Does one article in one newspaper say something about every newspaper in the world? It’s insanity to take some of the more controversial blog posts on a blog like Deadspin and then say that this is what every blog is.

Simply enough - one person in one medium does not equal all people in said medium. Makes sense, right?

I thought Leitch handled himself pretty well considering that it was a total set up. He was getting it from all angles and Costas seemed to be enjoying himself, as well, playing Robin to Bissinger’s Batman. He deserves some of the same criticisms as Bissinger here.

The bottom line is that what they should have done is not just had the two extremes, represented by Bissinger and Leitch. Keep them, if you must, but also add a less controversial, widely respected sports blogger. Alex Belth of Bronx Banter is an example of one. And then, get someone in the media, like a beat writer, who blogs and have them on, as well. Peter Abraham of The LoHud Yankees Blog and Tyler Kepner of Bats would be examples. And if you want to get a player, please get one who understands the internet. Also, set some guidelines before you start. For example: “don’t tell your fellow panelists that they are full of anything.”

That would make for a more interesting discussion and I would like to see it.

Must reads: Peter Abraham’s take and Will Leitch’s first and second posts on this at Deadspin.

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My first SitePoint article in nearly 3 and 1/2 years has been published. It’s called Develop Effective Forum Leadership.

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My appearance on WLKF will not be happening tomorrow morning as planned. I believe we’ll probably reschedule and I’ll post something when I have the new date. Sorry for the confusion.

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It’s not really all that meaningful, since the book has been available for almost a month now, but today is the book’s official publication date: April 28, 2008.

Though not in function, it’s still a meaningful day in sentimentality, I suppose. I had the idea for the book in 2003. I signed with my agent, Neil Salkind at Studio B on October 10, 2005. I signed with AMACOM to publish the book on May 4, 2007. And the book is officially published on April 28, 2008.

It’s been a long road and I’m thankful to everyone who has helped me to reach this point. Now, we need to get it into as many hands as possible!

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