There's been a huge fuss over the Randi Zuckerberg complaint when someone reposted a pic of her brother and family members in the kitchen of someone's house playing some new Facebook app on cell phones. She posted the image on Facebook, then someone else who thought it was public re-posted it and then Zuckerberg made a fuss.
I have to conclude that Randi Zuckerberg is a marketing genius for pulling off this obvious publicity stunt. Exactly why anyone ran the story as being anything other than that is shameful.
First of all nobody cares about Randi Zuckerberg, do they? Okay, she's the sister of Mark 'THE Facebook' Zuckerberg, known generally as The Zuck. So that's something. What else? She used to be Facebook's marketing director. She apparently has a band. She also needs to promote a miserable Silicon Valley reality show called Start-Ups that arrived with a thud (she's a producer).
She obviously needs publicity and this eye-roller gets it. But you only have to take a look at this lame photo to ask yourself how she managed to get ink from everyone from ABC News to c|net after her tweet which read: "Digital etiquette: always ask permission before posting a friend's photo publicly. It's not about privacy settings, it's about human decency."
It wasn't like some nude photo or sex tape. It was a group of people around a non-descript kitchen looking around or at mobile phones. If there was anything "indecent" about the photo it was the sheer and overwhelming banality of it.
Anyway, the shot got Randi more publicity and "conversation"—mostly about her—than anything she's tried to date. Check out her idea of a possible grabber on her Twitter photo feed. Yawn.
Instead with the kitchen shot and a complaint she gets headlines such as:
Zuckerberg's Sister Unhappy When Facebook Photo Goes Public— ABC News
Randi Zuckerberg's Facebook Photo Shows That Anyone Can Be Flummoxed By The Network's Privacy Settings— Huffington Post
Zuckerberg family pic stirs Facebook privacy debate— CBS News
A Zuckerberg Christmas Photo Tests Online Privacy— Businessweek
It just goes on and on with the Chicago Tribune, all sorts of local TV stations, and most tech publications taking the bait.
It's awesome. Here's my headline:
Publicity Stunt Alert: Lame Photo Creates Internet Stir
Kudos to Randi. Good one.
You can Follow John C. Dvorak on Twitter @therealdvorak.
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