A few years ago I belonged to a local health club that had a unique way to keep members coming in to workout. The manager would have contests for members to sign up to do x number of workouts or go y number of miles on a treadmill. Those who complete the contest usually would receive a t-shirt. It was a great marketing ploy because it kept members coming into the club and paying their monthly dues.

Facebook has a similar approach to keep it’s members coming back to the site so they can see the adds on the site. This is how Facebook makes money. Advertising companies go through great pains to research potential customers of their clients so ads created are most effective at getting people to purchase products. This research requires as much information about the target market as you can get. Facebook has one of the greatest market research schemes going in the history of market research, they have people freely hand over their personal information without giving it a second thought. Information surrendered that would get a pollster slapped if they asked the same questions on the street or hung-up on the telephone. How does Facebook do this? Games and quizzes millions of users play for sometimes hours. It is truly amazing what information is gathered about you as you play these games. Then the information is sold in a nice neat package to advertisers.

People who are my friends know I am always trying to throw a wet blanket on their fun by warning them of the risks they are taking with their personal information. Up to now I thought it was their own information they were knocking themselves out to hand over as they do that hit in Mafia Wars, beat their friends’ score in Bejeweled, or get help planting crops in Farmville. When I was listening to This Week in Tech (TWIT) #225, Leo Laporte and his guests were discussing Facebook’s new privacy policy. One thing Leo said that made my jaw drop was these games not only gathered information on the player but, depending on privacy settings, their friends as well. A game created by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) was mentioned and I played it as soon as possible. The idea was to pry as much information out of you and your friends by asking a few questions. Either Facebook changed the conditions of the game or I have fairly good privacy settings. Not much information came out but the questions made me think and hence this blog post.

Should people stop using Facebook? No, I still use it myself and sometimes play the games. I just try to stop when they start asking for too much information. Other games I stay away from. Friends don’t take it personally if I don’t take up your causes, join you in your games, or play along with the many activities offered on Facebook. I am just thinking about my privacy and now yours when I don’t participate. For me, Facebook is a place to relay some stories about me and my family with my family and friends I choose to share with. That is all the information anyone needs to know. One more thing, did you know the default privacy setting for Facebook is all your information can be seen by anybody?

Recently our district unblocked Twitter for teachers after a short battle with our Internet gatekeepers. One of the terms of the peace accord was I would provide Twitter training for district personnel. Bluffton Today Education Reporter Sara Wright asked if she could participate in one training session for a story which I agreed to. After the training, Sara started using the Twitter account she created in the class. One of her other followers was Holly Bounds, a reporter for WSAV television in Savannah, Georgia. Holly produces a show called "My Lowcountry 3" which covers covers the South Carolina Lowcountry including Beaufort County. Holly contacted me through Twitter requesting an interview.

I agreed to the interview but I must admit I was skeptical. Years ago, a television reporter for another station did, in my opinion, a brutal job of editing some comments I made about a controversial topic which got me into trouble. I learned a hard lesson about TV media which I later put to use in the classroom and won an award for but that is another story. Through Twitter, Holly and I set up a time for her to come by the school which turned out to be the day before Spring Break. At least I would be in a good mood.

Now I was expecting Holly to be one of those divas since she produces and anchors her own show. I envisioned her coming in with entourage in tow. Make-up person constantly fussing over her appearance like I see right before "Fox and Friends." A personal assistant with one hand holding a phone up to one ear and texting into a Black Berry with the other. The rest of the entourage would consist of the camera operator and sound engineer. What I saw when she came really surprised me. Holly was lugging a camera and tripod on her own. Could you see Katie Couric jumping out of a CBS car in Alaska and carrying her own equipment to do her interview with Sara Palin'? I know I am not a Vice Presidential candidate but anchors never carry their own stuff or so I thought.

When I enquired about where the camera and sound people were, Holly replied "I'm it." Just to prove I was not behind the times, I saw a crew at the ETV conference a couple weeks earlier shooting an interview. Holly later told me she also has to do her own editing for her show. Talk about a 21st century learning moment, I bet journalists didn't learn much about videography, sound, and editing in the past. The interview with me and our principal went well in my mind. I offered to be on Twitter when the show aired in the evening which Holly said would be great.

Now comes the fun part. I heard stories about how crazy live TV could be. I even experienced this when an attempt to produce a school show through UStream went awry as it spiralled into failure. Well I was about to get a dose of it on a whole new level. One of the features of My Lowcountry 3 is they try to get the views to participate via Twitter and Facebook. Actually, all reporters at WSAV are required to have both a Twitter and Facebook accounts. Questions are posted each day so viewers can give their opinions with the best read over the air. A very social networked show. Today Gabe, the show's studio producer, decided to try something new. After checking in via Twitter and about 10 minutes before airtime I get a message asking if I had a webcam. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach because I knew where this is probably heading. Live interview from my home.

We agreed to use Skype after I replied yes. Little did I know this was the first time Gabe used Skype to broadcast an live interview on the show. I had race and change out of my old t-shirt and into something more presentable while booting up my webcam equipped netbook. A similar scene had to be played out in the studio. People flying all around trying to get this stunt to work with Holly on set maintaining outward professional composure but probably screaming in her mind, "YOU WANT TO DO THIS NOW!?"She may have to carry her own equipment but Holly, I'm sure, has some professional pride as an anchor. Fortunatly everything worked without a hitch. Actually, it must have worked so good they had me on for two segments. Take that Karl Rove and James Carville. I'm sure Sean Hanity and Keith Olbermann don't give you two segments too often if at all. It was an exciting experience I will soon bore more people with.

Lessons to be learned from this experience? One is more practice talking on podcasts or videos. The ahs just kill me when I do too much. The other lesson is build a set in your spare room or garage because you never know when you may have to do a live television interview in your home. At least Holly liked my wife's china pattern.