One of these days we may see a real public clash between Facebook and Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) - a huge bidding war, or maybe the launch of a real Google social network that will have the other one fighting for its life. For now, though, we get a silly little PR disaster that's left Facebook looking like it's lost its Machiavellian mojo.
It just got caught up in a dirty tricks debacle in which it looked like it was behind an effort to get influential bloggers to speak out against Google's Social Circle system.
Facebook targeted Social Circle, also known as "Social Search," by hiring a high-profile public relations firm, Burson-Marsteller. In particular, Facebook doesn't like the way Social Circle uses Facebook data in its service and thinks Social Circle is a threat to user privacy. Hearing that last bit makes me think of a glass house for some reason, but whatever. That much has been confirmed -- Facebook has acknowledged it hired Burson-Marsteller to go after Social Circle.
But Facebook has denied it told the PR firm to go about it by doing what it's accused of doing. Blogger Christopher Soghoian says he was propositioned by Burson-Marsteller to have an opinion piece basically ghostwritten for him. The firm has allegedly come on to a variety of technology bloggers with the same idea.
They contacted opinionated and influential people, and in addition to giving them a one-sided story they could investigate themselves, which is the typical PR MO, they volunteered to "assist in the draft" -- just sit back and leave the writing to them. They wouldn't initially disclose to Soghoian who their client was.
I think I might have read something earlier this week from a blogger who actually did take them up on it, though I can't remember who wrote it -- or didn't write it, as the case may be.
But to paraphrase Soghoian's reaction: "Uh ... no." However, instead of just moving on, he put Burson-Marsteller's email up on the Web for public viewing.
What Burson-Marsteller is accused of doing is skeezy, and it smells a lot like a smear campaign. Still, none of what was described above is illegal. And there's no indication Facebook was making up outright false stories about Google. In fact, the message it was trying to draw attention to was consumer privacy protections -- and while Facebook has a pretty spotty record itself in terms of privacy, that is an important issue.
And really, Facebook and Google expect nothing less than total war any day now, so sneaky little tricks are just part of the game. But if you are going to open that part of the playbook -- or hire a company that might go there on your behalf -- it's probably best not to do so in a way that can be so easily exposed
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