September | 2009 | Welcome to Lisacast

I’m pretty open about accepting friends on Facebook (unless your avatar is Marilyn Manson-esque…just kinda freaks me out.) But, as everyone is complaining these days, junk mail has made it into the real-time web. Generic product-driven replies when adding Twitter friends, “Become a fan of this page” suggestions, as if the value of micromedia wasn’t already under attack.

Could someone please provide a short, concise example of how Twitter is useful to anyone other than teenagers and uber-bloggers? I fail to see how this is even remotely useful to the rest of the world. — TechCrunchIT

My policy if I don’t know someone but they want to be my friend on Facebook? I send them a message first which asks them NOT to spam me. Most people say, sure I won’t. Some tell me they have automatic announcements, so they would remove me if I would like. Candace Breen did this, who has a great radio show for women. I asked her to remove me though, because I can take only so much feminism. I overdosed on it growing up in Marin County. In anycase, she politely removed me. Not true for everyone. Today, I inadvertently offended someone with my method.

I said:

I will add you as a friend, but
Between [name deleted] and You

Do NOT spam me with page fans or game invites, etc.

Thanks,
Lisa

and she replied:

[name withheld] September 25 at 11:22am Report
Hello Lisa,
I’m not into spamming nor time for games, I leave games to the kids,
I have a team of professional people with many talents that bring some sort of value to the table and leave it up to others if they want to network togather or ask questions of others about what they do or if it can help them in their journey.

You have offended me with your statement I don’t need a fb friend that bad or need the negativity in my circle.

I will be blocking you from the team and I would want you to block my name from your list as well.

Have A Fantastic Weekend.

Thanks,
[name deleted]

Ouch. Sigh. Well, what do you think? How do I expand my network without offending someone?

As the weekend warms up to TechCrunch50, 2009, my mind is bubbling with anticipation. One of the lucky ones to get to upgrade my iPhone, I’ve been enjoying faster speeds and more storage. I almost wet myself like an excited puppy when I saw the image/video slider. And now the iPod Nanos have video, FM and a pedometer that transmits wirelessly to Nike. I guess big brother plays basket ball.

Providing coverage at TechCrunch events is always interesting. Jason’s dogs are wandering around on a leash behind him, in bows, something that seems more at home LA than here in SF (here they hold deeper connotations.) Some celebrity is there. MC Hammer. Ashton Kutcher. This year, Penn and Teller. Hoping for some new tricks. Arrington is spotted periodically back and forth through the venue, usually trailed by nervous, pubescent CEOs and his own posse (kickin’ up dust) — truly he can’t stand still for long without being surrounded. It’s packed. Hard to find a seat. A little warm. Wifi spotty. Thinking about that ice cold water in the hallway. Step outside to get it. Run into your next partner or VC making himself some tea, completely unattended. Held hostage in a new city, entrepreneurs from all over the world are rubbing elbows at the parties, and forming alliances. An intense two days, well worth the ticket cost for anyone who wants to do business in the new world.

It’s a good time to get off that cell phone and talk face to face. After all, web innovators care less about the pitfalls and dangers of creation, than they do about potential brain cancer. Solutions to those problems are likely to be found with computing power, both human and machine.