Alec Saunders SquawkBox

There's a growing community of people on Facebook who are proactively looking for ways to promote their goods and services using the Facebook social network.  It goes to the heart of why many small business people get onto Facebook, which is finding new ways to reach an audience for their goods and services. In the last few days I've spoken with limousine companies, multi-level marketing organizations, and educational groups.

One of the common themes is simply "how do I get started?".  Yesterday I chatted with Mari Smith, who is developing a series of classes, offered through the PodClass network, on how to use Facebook in a business context.  She's offering the introductory seminar in the series for free.  Check it out, if you're interested in the potential of Facebook in your business. 

I snorted my coffee out my nose this morning at Rogers Cadenhead's Exclusive: Techbloggers have sold their souls.  I know a few serious journos that won't take an embargo, like my friend Om Malik.  That's his business, and I respect his position.  But me?  If you've got news and are trying to coordinate a launch, I'll take the embargo.  I don't publish press releases.  Most of what I write is opinion. Dropping a press release in my inbox the day the announcement is being made isn't going to do it for me, since I write between 6 AM and 9 AM (that's the reality of writing a blog as a sideline to running a startup).  Unless you've given me a couple of days to muddle over the news, I'm not likely to write about it the day of, and perhaps not at all. 

Sold my soul?  Hardly.  Trying to give readers who honor me with a spot in their clogged RSS feed some value?  Sign me up.