I just received this email.

I will be doing a live streaming video show at about 2 p.m. Pacific Time to talk more about this issue. That show will be at http://www.mogulus.com/robertscoble.

Hi Robert,

Jerry
User Operations
Facebook

OK, so I’ve been released from my NDA. I was alpha testing an upcoming feature of Plaxo Pulse — this feature has not yet been released and now that my account has gotten shut down it’s not clear whether it will be released. It is a Facebook importer that works just like any other address book importer.

What does it collect?

Names and email address and birthday.

Why those? Because it’s trying to connect Facebook names with names in its database.

For instance, it learned that of the 5,000 people in my Facebook account about 1,800 were already on Plaxo.

It did NOT look at anything else. Just this stuff, no social graph data. No personal information.

Why do this?

I wanted to get all my contacts into my Microsoft Outlook address book and hook them up with the Plaxo system, which 1,800 of my friends are already on.

It’s ironic that you can import your Gmail address book into Facebook but you can’t export back out.

I’m getting dozens of emails asking for my script. See, there’s a ton of people who WANT to be deleted from Facebook. So far Facebook has been denying them, saying it’s impossible to delete everything you’ve ever done from Facebook. Well, if you go over to Rodney Rumford’s blog you can see that’s totally hogwash. Facebook CAN totally delete you from Facebook IF IT WANTS!

Well, I will talk to the developers about that later today. Suw makes the same point in a Seesmic video, by the way.

Me? My account is still down and haven’t heard back from Facebook yet. Since it’s just about 7 a.m. here in California, I expect it’ll be a few more hours before I hear back.

Facebook claims it is a “utility.” Well, I like how Kara Swisher put it. Hint: “utilities” have due process and don’t just shut down someone’s account without a warning. You should see the comments on my last post. Some people didn’t even knowingly break the rules and never got a good answer for why their accounts were shut down.

Oh, and Jimmy Wales (the guy who founded Wikipedia) wrote me and said, about my attempts to get my own social data back: “This is the kind of thing that I would consider to be a *benefit to our customers* rather than a *threat to our business*.”

Anyway, it’s interesting being in the middle of a Twitter storm. Hundreds of messages about this issue have been written since I first posted last night.

If you are trying to contact me on Facebook, please don’t. My account has been “disabled” for breaking Facebook’s Terms of Use. I was running a script that got them to keep me from accessing my account. I’m appealing. I’ll tell you what I was doing as soon as I talk with the developers who built what I was using and as soon as I talk with Facebook’s support (I sent an email in reply to the one below, but haven’t heard back yet).

I run this stuff so you don’t have to. :-)

UPDATE: Rodney Rumford, who runs the FaceReviews Blog about Facebook says that all traces of me have been already removed from Facebook too.

UPDATE2: Tonight I learned about DataPortability.org and signed my name to that effort.

I am working with a company to move my social graph to other places and that isn’t allowable under Facebook’s terms of service. Here’s the email I received:

+++++

Hello,

Thank you,
Facebook Customer Support

There’s only a few more ScobleShows before it closes forever. If you missed the news and my reaction last month, it’s worth recapping that Rocky Barbanica and yours truly are leaving PodTech (our last day is January 14th) and then we won’t be doing any more ScobleShows (old ones will stay up for your viewing pleasure. Translation: Google still brings a huge amount of traffic). We’ll have something new to announce on January 16th, but in the meantime we’ve been busy cleaning the pantry and bringing some fun “final shows” to you.

Here’s one, with Mike Butcher who runs TechCrunch UK. The sun never sets on Mike Arrington’s empire now.

Anyway, it’s been quite a run. Thank you to Seagate, my sponsor last year, we got hundreds of interviews and millions of viewers. Every company who got on my show for free should send them a thank you note for helping you get the word out and for covering my expenses and keeping me from charging a dime (compare that to leading industry conferences who charge you $18,000 to get on stage).

Seagate is also sponsoring next week’s CES BlogHaus which has about 500 people signed up for it, yikes! Here’s highlights from last year’s CES BlogHaus.

For the rest of the show we’re sponsored by AMD which is enabling us to do live streaming video starting tomorrow at 2 p.m. from Doug Englebart’s house and next week at CES.

Thank you to both of my sponsors. I really appreciate the support you’ve given me and PodTech and it won’t be forgotten.

OK, first, for those unlucky few that are going to CES (Consumer Electronics Show, aka “big gadget fest of the year”) for some reason, here’s some good posts to help you prepare:

1. Paul Kedrosky tracked how much higher the hotel prices are.
2. There’s a few events for bloggers, too.
3. Michael Gartenberg says to bring good socks AND listen to Jeremy Toeman’s advice.
4. M3 Sweatt works at Microsoft and has lots of good advice.

My advice? Stay home and avoid the two-hour taxi lines.

Here’s how.

First, if you’re one of two people who don’t addictively visit Engadget and Gizmodo every 15 minutes you should start. Now.

They are already going nuts with CES pictures, vids, rumors, and more.

I heard that Engadget has more than 10 people walking the floor for you. Why? So you don’t have to!

In fact, last year I kept Engadget on my cell phone WHILE I was walking the show floor. Why? Those crazy people find all the cool stuff and then when you see it on Engadget you rush over to get your hands on the cool geeky toy.

But, don’t stop with Engadget and Gizmodo. There are a ton of other sites that are going to be at CES too.

Here’s some:

1. CrunchGear.
2. GearLive. (Uploaded hundreds of videos last year alone — all from the BlogHaus).
3. SlashGear.
4. PCMag.
5. CNET News.com.
6. Geek News Central.
7. G4TV.

I’m sure there are many others. You can use Google News to follow CES news, for instance. But, here’s your chance. If you’re going to CES and want people to know about your coverage, post a link here!

Other ways to survive CES without getting off the couch?

1. Drink lots of beer. It helps you get through all the stupid gadget PR posts.
2. Get multiple screens. That way you can watch all the interminable streaming video (yes, I’m going to be doing live video from around Las Vegas too) and you can see if anything gets interesting without reducing your productivity too much.
3. Make sure you don’t miss all the CES Keynotes. It’s Bill Gates last CES. They are usually on in the evenings. I’ll post the URLs of the keynotes when I learn them (if I can).
4. Follow Twitter. Use a Twitter search engine to follow CES. If that one doesn’t work, try this one.
5. Have credit card ready so you can be first to Amazon.com.
6. If you can’t afford to buy new toys tell all your friends you’re waiting until next week to see what Steve Jobs is bringing out at MacWorld.

Anyway, good luck, and let us know how gadget week is going.

For me it starts tomorrow with an interview with Doug Engelbart. Inventor of the mouse. Among other things. We’ll be streaming that live sometime after 2 p.m. Pacific Time and we’ll use that same URL to stream live video from the CES Media Center Express starting Saturday morning at about 10 a.m. (Pacific) and all week long will be updated with both live and recorded video (if we can get a cell or wifi connection we’ll stream live video from the show floor).

I’ll just say “ditto” since his predictions have been darn accurate in the past.

Remember the learnings I put up yesterday. What was one of the key themes that I learned in 2007? That if you want traffic you must cause the metaphorical equivilent of a traffic wreck, right? Remember my seven Amazon Kindle videos? Here, let’s look at them again. Note which one got the most views: the one where I was a real jerk. This isn’t by accident. Human beings are attracted to conflict as stories.

UPDATE: This post is in reaction to this post by Scott Karp which was in reaction to how Gawker Media now pays its bloggers.

Me and Mike Arrington shaking hands at a party? No audience attention.
Me and Mike Arrington yelling at each other at a party? Audience gathers around.

Now you know why we find ways to argue during panel discussions. :-)

Amazon Kindle video #1. Unboxing. 10,961 views.
Amazon Kindle video #2. Kindle first use. 8,389 views.
Amazon Kindle video #3. Walking around with Kindle. 1,395 views.
Amazon Kindle video #4. Mike Arrington on Kindle. 10,223 views.
Amazon Kindle video #5. Books vs. Kindle. 13,708 views.
Amazon Kindle video #6. Me being a total jerk to Amazon. 88,134 views.
Amazon Kindle video #7 (Interview at SF State University). 31,432 views.

So, out of these seven posts which one got the most participants? Got me seen as a thought leader? Increased the intelligent discussion? Promoted good feelings? Increased my readership of smart people? Improved my relationship with companies and sponsors? Impressed my friends? Got the kinds of results I wanted?

I can tell you that #6 didn’t help me much at all in any of those areas. Yeah, it got a crowd going, but is that really what we want when we’re producing media? After looking back at it it’s not the kind of audience I want. I want participants, not audience. Why? Well, in 2008 you’ll see that participants are who advertisers and sponsors REALLY want to reach. Even those that buy page-view-based advertisements.

Anyway, Gawker Media is studying the wrong metric, but I’m happy that they aren’t figuring it out yet. That means my new thing has a BIG chance to get going in 2008 (more on that on January 16th). Of course it also means that I’m going to get thrown under the bus on Valleywag even more in 2008 than in 2007 (which will be hard to do, cause they threw me under the bus dozens of times in 2007).

For those who read just the headline: I’m going in another direction in 2008 — I’m going to try to do more posts and videos that make you more intelligent, not take advantage of your “slow down on the freeway when there’s a wreck” instincts.

Starting Thursday. We’re having lunch with Doug Engelbart, inventor of the mouse and smartest guy I’ve interviewed.

Everyone is doing these 2007 wrapups, which are great ways to get more traffic to old posts. I should probably do one of those for my video show, but I have something else on my mind. I’ve put a few over on my link blog, but only the very best ones I’ve seen.

2007 was an incredible year for me in terms of life teaching me lessons. The lessons came at me fast and furious, so here’s some that had an impact on my life.

1. Having a new child in the family is a real joy. My only regret? Every day is going by so freaking fast. Neither Patrick nor Milan will ever have another day just like today. Neither will you or I, for that matter.

2. I lost a few good friends this year. Lesson? Today might be the last. Make the best of it and make sure your insurance is up to date (which we updated recently).

3. Pay attention to the “unimportant” people in your life. Last year this goofy guy walked into the CES BlogHaus. I introduced him to a few people and did an interview with him. He wasn’t famous. Didn’t have a blog. Hadn’t started a business or done anything that anyone would qualify as “important.” But between January and now he’s become a New York Times best selling author and he’s gotten me onto CNBC and the New York Times. All cause I paid attention to him back when he wasn’t “somebody.”

4. If your company doesn’t have a story to tell watch out. Keys I’ve learned? Every employee better be able to tell the story. The story better be reflected in the pitch the CEO does. Mike Arrington better understand the story if you want him to help you out (and Mike is just a metaphor here for any journalist or blogger). Your VCs better understand the story. The story better not change. For instance, the story behind Channel 9 at Microsoft hasn’t changed in four years. It was a community and an openess project that helps people get over their fears of Microsoft just like how Lenn Pryor was scared of flying (a pilot told him to turn on channel 9 on United Airlines). Does your business have a simple, compelling, story? My next thing will.

5. Are two employees of yours pulling your company in two different directions and messing with your story? You’ve got to solve that and solve it fast. Make one of those people work for the one who is closest to your business’s story. Don’t have a story? Fix that and fast. It won’t end well.

6. Everytime my ego tells me I’m important for some reason bad things happen in my life.

7. On the other hand, everytime Loren Feldman or Valleywag beat up on me good things happened in my life. Including even this past weekend. We’ll talk at CES about the latest good thing. So, bring it on in 2008!

8. If Marc Canter wants to take you out for a meal, go. The dude knows the best restaurants in tons of cities around the world AND knows how to make each one an incredible experience.

9. Revenues cover up a variety of sins. No revenues? You better be freaking perfect.

10. The one who has the most friends on Facebook, Twitter, Upcoming, Yelp, Plaxo, Flickr, etc does NOT win the game. But, the one who FOLLOWS the most people on each of those DOES have a better life!

11. When people were courting me to join them invariably they’d pitch me with “do you want to make a lot of money?” I always hesitated on that question. Why? I know lots of miserable wealthy people. The right question? “Do you want to have a ton of incredible experiences and great friends?” Now THAT I can say yes to, and do often.

12. If people are loyal to you, reward that loyalty. That’s why Rocky Barbanica and Shel Israel are two great friends.

13. When your wife asks you anything about stuff like whether or not she should go back to work, or whether she should buy a new jacket, or have her mom come live with us (which just happened) the ONLY correct answer is “do whatever makes you incredibly happy.” I’ve said that quite a few times this year and it’s ALWAYS paid off. Luckily I married a woman who always makes the right choice, so that’s easy to say.

14. It’s easy to build an audience by tearing other people down. It’s far harder to build one by building them up. Why is that? Humans love messes — it’s why we slow down on the freeway when there’s a big wreck. Building up people and companies is a lot more fun long term, though.

15. When my audience has said I’m wrong they are right at least 90% of the time (and probably more).

16. The more I read, the more interesting my life becomes.

17. Learning to swim through noise is one of the best skills I’ve learned in the past few years. Got me ready for Twitter. As I type this post there is a new Twitter arriving on my screen every two to 10 seconds!

18. Dealing with continual partial attention is a skill that psychologists and other mental health professionals will be studying for years. I’m learning that it does destroy productivity, which is why I force myself to do at least one video everyday. That turned out to be a brilliant decision (thanks to Andrew Baron of Rocketboom for telling me that). Thanks to Linda Stone for bringing continuous partial attention to my attention. Speaking of Linda, her dinners had a deep influence on me.

19. The world of media is undergoing deep changes that few people really understand. Everytime I show people my cell phone and explain it’s now a TV station their mouths hang open — they can’t believe that I can send video to the world from a cell phone. For free.

20. The two things I got most excited about (iPhone and Facebook) have ended up being the two biggest technology stories of 2007. I’m seeing less and less utility in Facebook, though, and what’s funny is when I met some people in the London Underground they said the same thing. So, Facebook will probably be the story of 2008, too. Will it keep its users? Will it find a good business model, etc etc?

21. Blogging is still a fad. Heheh. But now it’s a Twitter fad. A Tumblr fad. A Pownce fad. An Utterz fad. A Seesmic fad. A Kyte fad. Bring on the fads!

22. I’m not a good manager. The one employee I didn’t screw up this year was Rocky and I’m too scared of him to mess with him! :-)

23. Living life in public +is+ weird.

24. The best clients are ones who believe in you from the start and don’t need to be sold. That was true back in the 1980s when I worked a camera store counter and it’s true today with Seagate and, now, AMD who is sponsoring our CES shows.

25. There is absolutely no way to thank everyone who participated in this grand experiment this year. One thing that does is create a karmic imbalance that pressures me to step up my stuff for you next year.

26. If I do something really idiotic, it gets viewers. If I do something really smart, it gets participants. Ask anyone who has been linked to by Digg and they’ll tell you the difference between a drive-by reader and someone who sticks around and participates. That said, being an idiot did get me in that famous Bubble video! :-)

27. If your business is being run right the people who bring results to the boardroom table are probably getting more and more responsibilities. If they aren’t that’s a sign that the business isn’t being managed well and the right things aren’t being measured (or reported).

28. The worst thing I did all year is not answer your emails.

29. When your audio sucks on your video nothing else really matters.

30. There’s nothing worse than an A-list blogger who thinks he/she knows it all. Yes, I’m looking in the mirror.

31. I did six Amazon Kindle videos. The one where I was a jerk got 10x more traffic than the other five, where I was much fairer.

32. Everytime my wife tells me to do something (or not to do something) and I don’t listen to her bad stuff happens. It’s amazing, but true.

33. Whenever someone says that they are unsubscribing (or unfollowing on Twitter) my subscriber and follower numbers go up (and I’ve compared to my friends and they also say the same is true). Me? Maybe if you aren’t making some people mad you aren’t being interesting enough?

34. I didn’t exercise enough in 2007.

35. I wasn’t nice enough to enough people. Everytime I treated someone rudely they went to Valleywag or Uncov or Fake Steve Jobs and told the world what a jerk I was.

36. No matter whether I did something idiotic or brilliant Dave Winer kept being my friend. So did Buzz Bruggeman. Chris Pirillo. Jeff Sandquist. Shel Israel. Rocky Barbanica. Teresa Williamson. Francine Hardaway. Loic Le Meur. And a bunch of others — this list could go on for pages.

37. I miss my friends from Seattle. Chris Pirillo. David Geller. The Jeung’s. Steve Ball. Buzz. In 2008 I’m gonna come to Seattle more often to reconnect.

38. The interesting stuff that’s happening is going on outside the valley. What I find is interesting is that everyone assumes that things like Twitter and Facebook are happening only in the Valley or in San Francisco. That’s not true, just watch http://www.twittervision.com to see how wrong that assumption is. I want to go to China, Russia, and India in 2008 and I bet I’ll get to at least one of those places.

39. Big mistake? Not spending more time working on posts. The ones where I thought about the post for hours turned out great. The ones I banged out really fast without thinking too much? They are the stupid ones.

40. Not spending enough time with Patrick/Milan — they both bring such joy to my life when I hang out with them. Not to mention that Patrick is quite a geek and is figuring out stuff that I haven’t yet (I don’t play World of Warcraft, for instance, but he’s getting to be darn good at it). Gotta go.

I’m sure I’m forgetting about 1,000 other lessons I learned in 2007, but there is a limit to the length a blog post should be.

Happy New Years to each and everyone of you!

It’ll be interesting to see what lessons I learn in 2008. One thing for sure: you’ll get to learn from my mistakes as I make them! (And you’ll get to throw metaphorical fruit at me for doing so. Heheh). Take care and see you in 2008!

Australia is censoring the Internet so that kids won’t have to see objectionable material. Sounds good, right?

I’m just surprised that the Bush administration hasn’t tried something like this here before Australia got a chance to do it.

Sigh.

The librarians have some questions.

Our rights are under attack, but gotta protect the children, right?

I have two children and I’d rather raise them with freedom of speech than some government deciding what they can and can’t see, thank you very much.