The past is never dead. It's not even past.
As social media becomes more prominent, it's clear to me that it's unlikely unturned stones from the past will remain unturned. Witness a November 16 L.A. Times article on Brightkite containing quotes by CEO Jonathon Linner on how Brightkite apparently considers college-age women as its core demographic. Controversy erupted today, almost three weeks after the publication of the article, as Brightkite apparently deleted a number of user accounts for what it considers violations of its terms of service after these users made their opinions about the article known via comments on Brightkite. I've been a Brightkite user for some time, but I just found out about the article and the ensuing controversy today.I was not offended by the article, but I was certainly struck by some of the quotes attributed to Mr. Linner. It's not difficult for me to see why some people might view what was contained in the article as patronizing to women, while others might view it as a message that Brightkite's male users are no longer considered a priority. As someone who generally believes that there are usually three sides to every story, that people can be misquoted or have their thoughts taken out of context when being interviewed, and not to mention Mr. Linner issuing a mea culpa, I have no desire to pass judgment on exactly what happened or who's wrong and who's right. What does amaze me is that Brightkite let an article that I think it can be argued might not sit well with many people for various reasons simmer for almost three weeks, and then only responded when the pot was already boiling over. I'm trying to avoid the term 'personal brand' because it's not one I'm necessarily fond of, but with social media giving the average person, especially the CEO of a social media company, unprecedented power to shape messages, respond to controversy, and nip potentially damaging controversy in the bud before it erupts, I would have expected action from Brightkite and/or Mr. Linner much sooner. It is clear that damage has been done to Brightkite's brand. There's never a good time for damage to a company's image to occur, but with so many players now in the geosocial arena, not to mention user dissatisfaction over technical issues with the recent rollout of Brightkite 2.0, the timing can't be good at all for Brightkite.
