Below the Fold

Facebook is the New Corporate Intranet (and Other Things I Want to Mention but Would Rather Not Discuss)

Glenn Beck is an Insensitive Prick – Beck told his national radio audience that “a handful of people who hate America are losing their homes in a forest fire today,” referring to the wildfires that started in Malibu. First of all, one of those people, Steve Dark, is a conservative who loves America and goes to church every week – or at least he did until his church burned to the ground.

So what does that mean, Glenn? Does God hate America, too? Steve and his Malibu neighbors are looking forward to your answer.

Facebook is the New Corporate Intranet – Why not? Create a Facebook Group, set it up as “Secret” – so it’s not visible to search, only invited members can participate and the group is invisible on members’ profiles – and voila, instant Intranet. Members can post, discuss and share information, even upload photos or host audio or video podcasts (and don’t forget the ability to create custom applications.) Simple to be sure, but for some companies simple is good enough. Goodbye HTML, hello FBML.

Social Media is Not Just About a Set of Tools – Will someone please tell this to Ragan and PRSA? Please, before they hurt somebody? It’s often those who profess to know the future that turn out to be the most shortsighted.

Twit This: Twitter is Good for Something – I know, hard to believe, but San Diego PBS station KPBS used the popular micro-blogging tool to keep residents in touch with the latest wildfire news via their mobile phones. If you do crisis communications, Twitter is a great way to spread the word.

I Gave it an Honest Try, and "Cavemen" is Just Not Funny – I wanted to believe, ABC, I really did. But…damn.

The Audience is Still Smarter Than Us (and Generous) – I don’t know if professional photographer Alex Miroschnichenko’s decision to brave the Santiago Fire in Orange County and distribute his images for free was simply a random act of citizen journalism, but it was a significant act of citizenship.

New Glasses Don’t Make You Any Less Bald – Hey, it was worth a shot. At least I still have time to grow a beard and dress up as Phil Gomes for Halloween (sorry, I know I shouldn’t make fun of a guy about to get married, that’s supposed to happen after the wedding.)

 

 

 

After the Fire...

Driving home to Orange County under a blood orange sun, surrounded by the ashen smell of a million people’s pain, I thought about the randomness of it all.

Ray Siposs, a video producer based in the San Diego County town of Vista, was okay but unsure when he would receive the almost inevitable evacuation order. Steve Dark already lost his neighborhood church in Malibu, and had yet to assess the damage to his house. My sister was enduring another day of no power, phone or Internet service, though the fire threat had subsided. My former business partner’s uncle had yet to be accounted for, though with the full evacuation of Lake Arrowhead, we’re sure he at least made it off the mountain.

And me? Just another day of paradise by the wild fire’s light, shaken but not stirred by an Orange County fire that got within a few miles of home, leaving only raining ash and frayed nerves in my humble corner of the OC.

Nothing breaks the spirit of a Californian like a fire. Earthquakes are a piece of cake – no warning and over before you know it, assess the damage and move on. But fire starts quietly and then grows, moves and acts as if with conscience. It can change instantly and speed up or slow down, teasing you with a schoolyard bully’s joy.

For most of the country the fires are over now. The President felt our pain, the governor defended his response, and Qualcomm Stadium will host football again.

But for too many of us – those who lost homes, those who had to evacuate, those who didn’t know what would happen and those who took in the tragedy with every smoke-filled breath – the fire, as the song says, still burns.