Whenever I give speeches or write articles about internet marketing strategies such as blogging, social media, etc. I always try to make a point to my audience that “the internet never forgets”.
What does that mean? It means that EVERYTHING you do and say on the internet will eventually be found, for better or for worse.
Case in point:
Recently, my daughter and I participated as “extra’s” for a movie called Last Ounce of Courage. It’s the story of a small town mayor who fights the commercialization of Christmas. My daughter is a pro on movies sets, having been an extra in a number of movies over the years. She was very impressed by the friendly nature of the director, producers, and staff. She even got to meet an actress she really likes named Jenna Boyd. Overall, it was a very interesting experience, and we’re excited for the movie to come out at the end of the year to see if we got any “screen time”.
One person I don’t remember meeting was Steve Deaver, who is listed as the Unit Production Manager on IMDB.
Today on Mr. Deaver’s blog, he stated “the movie is going to suck big time”. Here is a screen shot from the post…
WOW!
Even if he believes it’s true, I can’t believe someone being paid for a job would diss their client like that.
I don’t know exactly how the business hierarchy of a movie production works, but if I was the person in charge, I’d be calling this guy on the carpet.
Possibly, this guy never expected anyone connected with the movie to see this statement.
The problem is, he forgot that the internet never forgets.
Now, don’t YOU forget…
My Perspective 
I think I will write a blog about this blog that is about another blog. That way it will be a meta-meta-blog post. Wait no, that would be silly… kind of like firing someone over a blog.
By: Jabberwocky on April 23, 2008
at 11:59 am
The internet never forgets. But we as human beings seem to forget this.
The internet is a place where you can never really know who is behind a post, and whose interests they are pushing.
That is the downside of the internet. There has been an unfortunate tendency of people to use it as a public relations tool, getting people to write positive reviews and fake testimonials to raise their online profile and credentials.
On the other hand there are all kinds of people with all kinds of nefarious motives making disparaging or just plain silly remarks. They might be competitors or just someone who is jealous or bears some personal grudge.
It is really disappointing to see the internet being used to create buzz or as a tool for disparagement.
The problem is that is that the debate over this type of comment often gets hijacked by free speech rhetoric. I am all for free speech and the right to publish fair comment.
However is a lot of commentary over the net which is driven by commercial imperatives, someone with an axe to grind, or exercising poor judgement.
From what you have written your daughter’s credentials and talent speaks for itself. A little detective work can sometimes uncover who the author is, but a lot of people like to hide behind the cloak of anonymity.
I have mixed feelings about this when it comes to human rights issues, but it seems cowardly to use anonymity to post such comments as this.
The best that we can hope for is that people have the common sense to dismiss this kind of commentary as lacking in credibility or someone exercising really poor judgement. Both things happen with a surprising degree of frequency.
I wish your daughter the best of luck with her career. I am sure she will have her critics, particularly if she is talented, but the print media at least allows for some accountability (even if it lacks journalistic integrity).
By: adele pace on March 10, 2010
at 3:00 am