To get access to it you’ll need to Confirm our friendship.
...and you'll need a Facebook account.
Robert Dewey
· 2 years ago
How do you know he "ignored" you versus just not getting to your request yet?
Anyway, while it does look like Bill's social network, something still bothers me... Why all the high-school-aged chicks spread out around the US?
Robert Scoble
· 2 years ago
Robert: because he's added people since I did my request. Anyway, I don't know why lots of people are on his friends' network. I assume he's met them in some capacity. His foundation is doing a lot of stuff for education and maybe he wants to keep in touch with some leaders in schools so he can discuss his ideas with them. I have lots of friends in high school too for similar reasons.
Robert Dewey
· 2 years ago
Ah, okay.
I just look for subtle "indicators" such as that - which make me more inclined to think it's some high-school kids messing around. However, your reasoning (school and foundation work) mitigate that "indicator" (as well as the other influential people within his personal network).
Truden
· 2 years ago
He-he :D Funny man. Why do you think that you should have access to Bill's "walled garden"!?
He ignored you... Now think, how many people you ignored (not in FaceBook)
Aditya
· 2 years ago
There's just one Bill Gates in the Microsoft network. It can't be too easy to get into one of the company networks can it?
Besides, he's got people like Steve Case and Ray Ozzie on his friends list. But then so do you. You'd think they of all people would know whether or not the profile was authentic. Assuming of course, their profiles are authentic in themselves.
As far as all the high school kids are concerned, I really can't say much except go with commenter #4
Jeremy
· 2 years ago
I'm sure if 'the real' Bill Gates knew that 'the real' Bobby Scoble was trying to become his friend, he'd sign you right the h3ll up.
He's gotta [still] be crying the blues that you're no longer working for him.
Martin
· 2 years ago
Your much-blogged-about use of Facebook, Robert, is not the norm; most people (who aren't extreme tech geeks) simply use Facebook to keep in touch with, and keep track of, their friends (from school, university, work, whatever). It really is that simple.
Perhaps Bill Gates uses Facebook like most people do, and not as another self-marketing platform. If that is the case, would you really expect Bill Gates to add you as a "friend"? The separation of work and play is important to some people.
JS
· 2 years ago
>Anyway, how do you pick out the real Bill Gates on Facebook?
You can probably eliminate the one where the profile picture shows a pie thrown at his face. :)
JS
· 2 years ago
>Anyway, how do you pick out the real Bill Gates on Facebook?
and more practically, only one of the profiles is a member of the Microsoft network.
LayZ
· 2 years ago
Are you really so delusional as to think Gates actually USES Facebook? I would not be surprised if he has someone managing his account for him, if it is of any use to him. More than likely if he does use it, it's more for research than anything else. And to expect him to add you only reinforces how narcisistic you are. Sheesh. Get over yourself I'm pretty sure that if you aren't part of his work network, his foundation network, his biotech network, or his bridge playing network, he wants nothing to do with you. Rather than thinking what YOU would get out of it,what value would Gates get out of adding YOU to his "friends" list? Once you do that, I think you will find the answer to why he "faceslammed" you.
Robert Scoble
· 2 years ago
LayZ: Actually I know that it actually is him using this account, not an assistant. I can't tell you how I know that, but I do.
And I didn't really expect ANYONE to add me. But I gave it a shot and got FaceSlammed. Several of us are talking about reasons to Faceslam someone so I thought I'd get the discussion going this way.
Keep in mind that Bill told BusinessWeek that he reads my blog. So, it isn't beyond expectation that he'd add me to a friends' network.
Ray Ozzie and other top execs added me, by the way.
Texas Tiger
· 2 years ago
lol, Scoble - did you just coin the word Faceslam?
keshuvko
· 2 years ago
Faceslamming! :) Hmmm it happens... cool...
Though Bill reads your blog, and you added him in the face book, isnt he free to not add you? :)
@LayZ what is narcissism? Is it when the link on Robert Scoble name in his weblog points at his weblog?
FT
· 2 years ago
Hmmmm.
Maybe your face slam was at the hands of one of his assistants.
If that was indeed "the" Bill Gates, i'm guessing he'd have someone running that account for him. Kinda like movie stars whose assistants run their myspace.com accounts.
kikuyumoja
· 2 years ago
Well maybe this concept that you have to add him as a "friend" in order to read his profile is just wrong.
Over at the German equivalent of facebook - studivz.de - things are a bit less restrictive, and in most cases one does not need to add interesting ppl as "friends" just to have them on their network.
I tend to think that facebook is a wonderful proof for the direct marketing approach already mentioned in the Cluetrain manifesto some years ago. Oh, does Bill Gates blog btw?
HavingFun
· 2 years ago
As I noted earlier, I don't have a Facebook so I can't see your video.
But judging from these comments, it appears that though you'll probably get a lot of additional "friends" because of this post, if it is bGates that you've identified, he'll probably never reciprocate now because you've bombarded him with wannabes.
Title of the post is the same as yours. Lemme know what ya think!
Sjoerd Verweij
· 2 years ago
Robert, this exactly the thing I was talking about earlier... a point you have been studiously ignoring. Most people have better things to do, and now that it has been rubbed in your face by someone you actually WANTED to talk to... look at what you do?
Again, as I pointed out in my post on this, it seems to be nothing but myopia on your part. It will be interesting to see what you do with it. Will you retreat even more into you self-imposed bubble, or will you engage the actual argument?
skc
· 2 years ago
I'm curious, what exactly do you think Gates would gain by adding you as a "friend" Robert?
If the answer is "nothing", then at least we have an explanation.
Paul Lockwood
· 2 years ago
Sorry, but as LayZ said I too do not believe Bill Gates personally uses Facebook. If I were him I would be saving the planet, thrashing my Porsche 959, or a thousand other things before personally wasting time on a site like Facebook.
mal
· 2 years ago
Bill doesn't seem 'friendly'. Try Steve Jobs.
Sjoerd Verweij
· 2 years ago
skc: Exactly my point.
Robert: ask yourself this one simple question. Ask yourself, and then put yourself in anyone else's position.
"FOR WHAT".
Doh~~
· 2 years ago
Yeah, just what do you have to say that is of such vital importance that Bill Gates should have the urgent need to add you? You were not slammed, you were just not added, gads, hate to inform you, just in case you were not already aware, the universe, small such as it is, does not revolve around you. He might be just a wee bit busier than you.
LayZ
· 2 years ago
@12 given your track record for accuracy I'm doubtful about what it is you think you know. But hey who knows.
So gates says he reads your blog...I'm sure he enjoys a good laugh as much as anyone. Doesn't mean he wants you as a "friend". I read DailyKoz but he is one of the last people I would add to my network.
LayZ
· 2 years ago
@14 yes that is good example. Others include scoble reminding us no one reads more blogs than he does. Has more facebook friends. Has talked to x amount of CIO etc. Basically its an unhealthy obsession with onesself.
Jordan
· 2 years ago
Texas Tiger:
I'm pretty sure he did. I've been on Facebook for over 4 years and have never once heard FaceSlammed. But that's ok. Maybe it'll become commonplace now!
John Dowdell
· 2 years ago
It would be useful if sites let you expose your "friending policy" to unknown viewers. Me, I use Twitter to listen to coworkers, and reserve Facebook for people I've actually spent time with face-to-face. But neither service easily lets me expose that information to others.
jd/adobe
Robin Capper
· 2 years ago
I feel I've been FaceBook Slammed by Robert Scoble. I read your blog, watch the videos that are relevant but have decided not to bother with Facebook. I don't like it's closed nature. I even can't see the value unless I join and I aint going to spend time on something in which I cant see value. So when I read "To get access to it you’ll need to Confirm our friendship" to me it says "Screw you if you're not in my facebook club." Is that any way to treat readers?
Some Guy
· 2 years ago
I think it's pretty clear that whatever PR flack/flunky set up and handles the "Bill Gates" account on facebook doesn't think your name is prestigious enough to list as a friend. Hell, if I had that job, I wouldn't add Dvorak or LaPorte, either.
Elliot
· 2 years ago
Currently, I don't "ignore" people. I just leave the request there and don't choose either of the buttons offered.
So actually, by your method you can't tell if somebody actually ignored you, or if your request is still sitting in the requests page.
One way you used to be able to tell-- but I don't know if this is still true-- is to request them again. If the request was ignored (used to be "declined"), it would open another request. If they were just leaving your request there and accepting other people's, then it would say you already have an open friend request.
Podesta
· 2 years ago
I think this is just a ploy by Robert to get Bill Gates to pay attention to him, much like all the slamming of Steve Jobs he was doing a few months ago. Robert does not seem to realize that Gates and Bill are super busy. Help a flack who's product is himself should be a low priority and it is. We'll see whether Gates can be manipulated into adding him to his Facebook friends.
Podesta
· 2 years ago
Correction: "Gates and Jobs. . ."
Sjoerd Verweij
· 2 years ago
Podesta: you do realize that just by saying "super busy", you have outed yourself as a Microsoftie, right?
Wolkr Snow
· 2 years ago
Are you trying to get back into Microsoft, now that PodTech is going down?
Michael Walsh
· 2 years ago
Robert, I would like to see the video you put up (after all, you are in the video making/promoting business) but I don't want to add you to my facebook account. That's reserved exclusively for my friends in real life.
Why are you not making the content open and available to all?
Tomi Itkonen
· 2 years ago
Hmm, Bill Gates and the rest really are spending their time in FB and utilizing it somehow? Microsoft acquiring FB can not be that far...
I could not agree with #33 more. I even have a Facebook account, but I do not use it. I have decided not to go that route.
But I am absolutely stunned that you are withholding content. It's not that you do not have a place to mount it other than the proprietary site. Nope, it was a choice you made. Unbelievable!
When Scoble decides to withhold content, it is time to shop for another muse.
dhauser
· 2 years ago
Hey, I wouldn't take it personal, I truly believe Gates doesn't, what a puck-head!
Robert
· 2 years ago
Try Steve Jobs. That guy accepts everybody.
Ed Garay
· 2 years ago
Well, being faceslammed (TM, Robert Scoble) is one of those question/favor situations where we must be prepare to accept rejection.
Perhaps, Facebook is in sore need of multiple roles or levels of friendship:
friends: personal, work, other colleagues: work, industry, other acquaintances: personal, work, industry, common industry, college, other
...with granular levels of interaction and with personal control settings for letting diverse people gain access to our Facebook micro content.
Robert Scoble
· 2 years ago
Robin #33: do you call up the Wall Street Journal and tell them what losers they are because you can only consume their information if you buy their service? Do you call CNN and tell them what losers they are because the only way to get CNN is to buy cable TV?
Do you call U2 up and say what kind of losers they are because they only give you their content if you buy their stuff or pay for a ticket to go and see them in a show?
Facebook is free. It takes one minute to sign up.
I will continue doing content both here, which doesn't require a signup, and there, which does.
If that pisses you off, sorry, but who guaranteed that I'd work for you for free without ever asking something in return?
Rkblogs
· 2 years ago
@48: But what is the value in the "return" do you get ?
Robert Scoble
· 2 years ago
Rkblogs: I have more people I can study and more to demonstrate to my sponsors who is in my audience. The more smart people you have on Facebook the more likely you are to be first on new apps (they come to you through your friends) and also the more people you'll have to interact with in various ways (Google Reader Facebook App gets better the more friends you have, for instance). Plus more videos will come to me. More news and other things that I'm still figuring out.
batona
· 2 years ago
Robert, the difference between you and the WSJ and CNN . . . are you a business here? I thought I have read on multiple occasions that what you post here is for fun.
One usually looks to distribute his work far and wide, not limit those who can view his content, particularly when there is not a business decision to do so. I note that your Scoble Show videos are available without having to register, log in to a specific site, etc. I wonder why that is and your thoughts on Facebook are limited.
Robert Scoble
· 2 years ago
My work already is distributed far and wide. Some of my work I will put on Facebook. If you don't want to pay the "cost" of getting access to that work then don't. Just like if you don't want to see the work of the Wall Street Journal you shouldn't pay the money to get access to it.
I'm experimenting with various things here and there. Some of my content will be behind the Facebook firewall. 500 spots are open. Once I get to 5,000 friends you won't be able to get in.
Podesta
· 2 years ago
Like batona said. Also, you are confusing quantity with quality, Robert. Being a Facebook friend does is not a value-added proposition unless the person has clout in an area you are active in.
Robert Scoble
· 2 years ago
Podesta: I disagree.
Anyone has influence now. The word-of-mouth network is hyper efficient.
And, anyway, I have quite a few pretty influential people on my list too Bill Gates' FaceSlam notwithstanding.
batona
· 2 years ago
So you have influential folks on your Facebook list. Why would you dangle content in front of your blog's readers and then say you can't have access to that content unless you follow me over at another venue?
Robin Capper
· 2 years ago
re #48 No I don't (expect everything for free) and I happily pay for services I feel offer value. I use some other "social" services but they allow viewing, to some degree, without requiring signup. I have no trouble with login-in to use but not log-in to view, other than for security/privacy reasons. Since Facebook is a social site privacy doesn't seem a consideration.
After promoting, as you done brilliantly, "the blogosphere" for open & free exchange of information and it seems a step back to go to a service that doesn't hold that model.
As for Facebook being free... Nothing is free. It demands my time (to set up & manage) and wants to control my information*. I value both.
* I've read it doesn't allow contact export, I don't know because I cant view it to evaluate...
Robin Capper
· 2 years ago
re #48 "but who guaranteed that I’d work for you for free without ever asking something in return?"
If by :"work" you mean:
The blog: Is it work? Do you get paid to blog? I'd have thought the return you get is people reading, contributing rather than members in a private club.
The videos: I'd have thought you worked for compensation (Salary, stocks, whatever) to create value for your customers - being your employer, sponsors, advertisers and viewers. If not who & what are the videos for? What more do you expect in return?
Robert Scoble
· 2 years ago
Robin: i will answer you in a facebook video later today.
LayZ
· 2 years ago
@48 "if that pisses you off, sorry, but who guaranteed that I’d work for you for free without ever asking something in return?"
What do YOU get from have random people "befriend" you on Facebook? Other than fulfilling your wierd psychotic need to tell the world how many more Facebook "friends" you have than everyone else? You're WSJ CNN example is moronic. Both parties benefit monetarily by subscribing. (the subscriber gets something for his money, the subscribee gets money). You do see the difference, right? If not, I can refer you to some basic Econ content on the net as background.
I don't see how your paid content examples are anywhere close to being analogous to Facebook.
What to you lose by NOT posting your videos on Facebook? Other than not being able to say how many more Facebook "friends" you have.
Robert Scoble
· 2 years ago
LayZ: I'll answer you in the same Facebook video. Thanks!
JD
· 2 years ago
Scoble's just one of the guys who doesn't get Facebook, he adds friends that aren't friends for ego drive.
Maybe he's trying to build some sort of community, seems a weird of doing it. Whining about people not indiscriminately adding people they don't know as "friends" is pretty funny.
But then, it's Scoble, he's famously open (publish cell phone, email address, etc). His brain is a massive filter that he wants to hook up feeds of information to so that he can... BE the zeigeist. He embodies it.
LayZ
· 2 years ago
@61. Thanks, but I have my answer with this reply. It's purely an ego thing on your part. Got it.
LayZ
· 2 years ago
@54 "And, anyway, I have quite a few pretty influential people on my list too Bill Gates’ FaceSlam notwithstanding."
Just can't go a day without your insecurity showing, huh?
Robert Scoble
· 2 years ago
Heh! Yeah, I'm so insecure. :-)
The video is up. But you'll need to sign into Facebook to see it. Hope your ears are ringing.
Brandy Karl
· 2 years ago
You seem to take real glee in advertising that you've been faceslamming everyone when you'd invited people to add you just a few weeks ago. It really is a bit contrary, but I'm certain that makes you happy :)
Robert Scoble
· 2 years ago
Brandy: I haven't "Faceslammed" anyone. I continue to add anyone who asks.
Brandy Karl
· 2 years ago
Mystery Afoot: The case of faceslamming via unknown technical facebook issue?
Robin Capper
· 2 years ago
re#59; Where I won't see it of course, why not post it publicly? I'll host it if you like on an open site.
LayZ
· 2 years ago
@66 Thanks for the invite, but I prefer to use Facebook for its primary intent.
Mack Collier
· 2 years ago
Can I have back the 5 mins it took to read all this? Is this really what we have come to; obsessing over whether or not 'Bill Gates' added us to his friend list on some social site?
malach
· 2 years ago
Sounds kinda similar to how I felt when you first joined Jaiku, and I reached out to offer help/a point of contact (like I do when anyone I recognise joins), and got completely ignored...
(I'm over it now... but, you know how it goes - at the time, it felt kinda rude).
Robert Scoble
· 2 years ago
Malach: sorry about that. I don't know how I missed that. But I got a TON of inquiries back then.
malach
· 2 years ago
As I said, I got over it - mostly 'cos:
1) you're too nice a guy to be deliberately rude (from what I've seen), and 2) if someone's does something by accident that I find a bit rude, then there's no point in being offended :)
Annette
· 2 years ago
There is no point being offended when you are face slammed by someone that you have never talked to, never met, or don't ever talk to anymore but did way back when. Facebook isn't like myspace, myspace is a place to friend strangers and it is totally acceptable. Facebook is a place to keep in touch with people you already know OR talk to people that go to the same school as you or are in the same class
Robert Scoble
· 2 years ago
Annette: I've met Bill Gates and presented to him a couple of times and even shared a beer with him at a party.
khaphan
· 2 years ago
I read Roy Osherove's blog about calling you in response to a blog you wrote. You should get a ringtonumber from www.ringtonumber.com so that people can contact you without you having to post your cell phone number. It's much safer and you take calls from all of us :-)
All Comments
...and you'll need a Facebook account.
Anyway, while it does look like Bill's social network, something still bothers me... Why all the high-school-aged chicks spread out around the US?
I just look for subtle "indicators" such as that - which make me more inclined to think it's some high-school kids messing around. However, your reasoning (school and foundation work) mitigate that "indicator" (as well as the other influential people within his personal network).
Funny man.
Why do you think that you should have access to Bill's "walled garden"!?
He ignored you...
Now think, how many people you ignored (not in FaceBook)
Besides, he's got people like Steve Case and Ray Ozzie on his friends list. But then so do you. You'd think they of all people would know whether or not the profile was authentic. Assuming of course, their profiles are authentic in themselves.
As far as all the high school kids are concerned, I really can't say much except go with commenter #4
He's gotta [still] be crying the blues that you're no longer working for him.
Perhaps Bill Gates uses Facebook like most people do, and not as another self-marketing platform. If that is the case, would you really expect Bill Gates to add you as a "friend"? The separation of work and play is important to some people.
You can probably eliminate the one where the profile picture shows a pie thrown at his face. :)
and more practically, only one of the profiles is a member of the Microsoft network.
And I didn't really expect ANYONE to add me. But I gave it a shot and got FaceSlammed. Several of us are talking about reasons to Faceslam someone so I thought I'd get the discussion going this way.
Keep in mind that Bill told BusinessWeek that he reads my blog. So, it isn't beyond expectation that he'd add me to a friends' network.
Ray Ozzie and other top execs added me, by the way.
Though Bill reads your blog, and you added him in the face book, isnt he free to not add you? :)
Keep rocking
http://keshuvko.blogspot.com
Is it when the link on Robert Scoble name in his weblog points at his weblog?
Maybe your face slam was at the hands of one of his assistants.
If that was indeed "the" Bill Gates, i'm guessing he'd have someone running that account for him. Kinda like movie stars whose assistants run their myspace.com accounts.
Over at the German equivalent of facebook - studivz.de - things are a bit less restrictive, and in most cases one does not need to add interesting ppl as "friends" just to have them on their network.
I tend to think that facebook is a wonderful proof for the direct marketing approach already mentioned in the Cluetrain manifesto some years ago. Oh, does Bill Gates blog btw?
But judging from these comments, it appears that though you'll probably get a lot of additional "friends" because of this post, if it is bGates that you've identified, he'll probably never reciprocate now because you've bombarded him with wannabes.
Title of the post is the same as yours. Lemme know what ya think!
Again, as I pointed out in my post on this, it seems to be nothing but myopia on your part. It will be interesting to see what you do with it. Will you retreat even more into you self-imposed bubble, or will you engage the actual argument?
If the answer is "nothing", then at least we have an explanation.
Robert: ask yourself this one simple question. Ask yourself, and then put yourself in anyone else's position.
"FOR WHAT".
So gates says he reads your blog...I'm sure he enjoys a good laugh as much as anyone. Doesn't mean he wants you as a "friend". I read DailyKoz but he is one of the last people I would add to my network.
I'm pretty sure he did. I've been on Facebook for over 4 years and have never once heard FaceSlammed. But that's ok. Maybe it'll become commonplace now!
jd/adobe
So when I read "To get access to it you’ll need to Confirm our friendship" to me it says "Screw you if you're not in my facebook club." Is that any way to treat readers?
So actually, by your method you can't tell if somebody actually ignored you, or if your request is still sitting in the requests page.
One way you used to be able to tell-- but I don't know if this is still true-- is to request them again. If the request was ignored (used to be "declined"), it would open another request. If they were just leaving your request there and accepting other people's, then it would say you already have an open friend request.
I would like to see the video you put up (after all, you are in the video making/promoting business) but I don't want to add you to my facebook account. That's reserved exclusively for my friends in real life.
Why are you not making the content open and available to all?
"New Social Network is Far Out, Developers Say"
http://www.kyle-am.com/new-social-network-is-fa...
But I am absolutely stunned that you are withholding content. It's not that you do not have a place to mount it other than the proprietary site. Nope, it was a choice you made. Unbelievable!
When Scoble decides to withhold content, it is time to shop for another muse.
Perhaps, Facebook is in sore need of multiple roles or levels of friendship:
friends: personal, work, other
colleagues: work, industry, other
acquaintances: personal, work, industry, common industry, college, other
...with granular levels of interaction and with personal control settings for letting diverse people gain access to our Facebook micro content.
Do you call U2 up and say what kind of losers they are because they only give you their content if you buy their stuff or pay for a ticket to go and see them in a show?
Facebook is free. It takes one minute to sign up.
I will continue doing content both here, which doesn't require a signup, and there, which does.
If that pisses you off, sorry, but who guaranteed that I'd work for you for free without ever asking something in return?
But what is the value in the "return" do you get ?
One usually looks to distribute his work far and wide, not limit those who can view his content, particularly when there is not a business decision to do so. I note that your Scoble Show videos are available without having to register, log in to a specific site, etc. I wonder why that is and your thoughts on Facebook are limited.
I'm experimenting with various things here and there. Some of my content will be behind the Facebook firewall. 500 spots are open. Once I get to 5,000 friends you won't be able to get in.
Anyone has influence now. The word-of-mouth network is hyper efficient.
And, anyway, I have quite a few pretty influential people on my list too Bill Gates' FaceSlam notwithstanding.
After promoting, as you done brilliantly, "the blogosphere" for open & free exchange of information and it seems a step back to go to a service that doesn't hold that model.
As for Facebook being free... Nothing is free. It demands my time (to set up & manage) and wants to control my information*. I value both.
* I've read it doesn't allow contact export, I don't know because I cant view it to evaluate...
If by :"work" you mean:
The blog: Is it work? Do you get paid to blog? I'd have thought the return you get is people reading, contributing rather than members in a private club.
The videos: I'd have thought you worked for compensation (Salary, stocks, whatever) to create value for your customers - being your employer, sponsors, advertisers and viewers. If not who & what are the videos for? What more do you expect in return?
What do YOU get from have random people "befriend" you on Facebook? Other than fulfilling your wierd psychotic need to tell the world how many more Facebook "friends" you have than everyone else?
You're WSJ CNN example is moronic. Both parties benefit monetarily by subscribing. (the subscriber gets something for his money, the subscribee gets money). You do see the difference, right? If not, I can refer you to some basic Econ content on the net as background.
I don't see how your paid content examples are anywhere close to being analogous to Facebook.
What to you lose by NOT posting your videos on Facebook? Other than not being able to say how many more Facebook "friends" you have.
Maybe he's trying to build some sort of community, seems a weird of doing it. Whining about people not indiscriminately adding people they don't know as "friends" is pretty funny.
But then, it's Scoble, he's famously open (publish cell phone, email address, etc). His brain is a massive filter that he wants to hook up feeds of information to so that he can... BE the zeigeist. He embodies it.
Just can't go a day without your insecurity showing, huh?
The video is up. But you'll need to sign into Facebook to see it. Hope your ears are ringing.
(I'm over it now... but, you know how it goes - at the time, it felt kinda rude).
1) you're too nice a guy to be deliberately rude (from what I've seen), and
2) if someone's does something by accident that I find a bit rude, then there's no point in being offended :)