Alex Reid

On Wednesday, LOFT — a brand owned by Ann Taylor Inc. — posted pictures of a typical catalog model in the brand’s new silk cargo pants on its Facebook page. Soon after, several fans began complaining that they wished the fashion company had posted photos of “real women” to display their goods.

In response, the very next day, LOFT posted several photos of their employees wearing the same clothes. The female employees were picked from the company’s design, styling and marketing staff and their body types ranged from size 2 to 12, and heights from 5?3? to 5?10?.

Fans were instantly pleased that they were being listened to, even if some ironically didn’t think the clothes were flattering on the “real women”.

This is a great example of how companies should be utilizing the Internet, not just using the web to distribute information, but remembering that communication is a two-sided street – you have to listen, not just talk, to have an effective conversation.

We are losing our privacy slowly every day and not because of the government or big business. We are losing our privacy because we, as individuals, are the ones eroding it.

I call it ‘Little Brother’ and this New York Times article sums it up very well. It’s one of the leading reasons I started doing reputation management for artists.

“… the truth is that for a great many people, the permanent memory bank of the Web increasingly means there are no second chances — no opportunities to escape a scarlet letter in your digital past. Now the worst thing you’ve done is often the first thing everyone knows about you.”

Last November, a mob of excited teenage girls awaiting rising tween pop star Justin Bieber at a planned mall concert performance grew unruly and police were called in. Unable to control the crowd which saw one girl hospitalized after a stampede in the mall, police ordered Bieber’s manager to update his Twitter account with an announcement that the concert was canceled.

Police claim Scott “Scooter” Braun delayed this order by 90 minutes while Braun’s lawyer says he did so within 7 minutes. If he did post any update, it’s been deleted.

Last week, Braun turned himself in to the authorities on two misdemeanor charges – reckless endangerment and criminal nuisance. He faces a year in prison if convicted. Will Mr. Braun be the new “Birdman of Alcatraz“?

The overwhelming comments floating around the blogosphere is that this is outrageous on so many levels. While I understand what a publication ban is, newspapers have been ordered to print apologies or public notices, rarely does this cover ordering a private citizen to update a social status update. If this goes to court without a reduced sentence, it will answer the core question of whether this is legal and/or if this is a realistic demand.

Secondly, police couldn’t control a crowd of teenage girls? If these were anti-war or police-brutality protesters, history has proven that most police departments would have little hesitation to bring order. What an embarrassment for the Nassau County Police!

Third, what fan follows an artist’s manager or agent? If ordering someone to update their social status update was even legitimate, the direction should have been put to the star himself.

(ps. Did police think that the manager controlled the star’s Twitter account?)

The International Telecommunications Union reports that there are 4.6 billion cellphone subscribers world-wide, a trend that outpaces Internet connectivity rates.

It should be noted however that “subscribers” don’t equal “people” as some individuals have multiple phones. For example, both Israel and Italy have 1.3 cellphones per person. It was nearly a decade ago when Motorola found in a study that one in ten subscribers had a second cellphone for engaging in “extramarital affairs or clandestine business dealings”.

It is the developing countries that are seeing more cellphone usage because of its price thanks to steady competition (far better than Canada); the study says 57% of people in those countries are using cellphones.

Ouch! This Winnipegger got thrown out by his love because of some sultry text messages he didn’t even send; his phone sent them.

This must be like when your phone dials someone while it’s in your pocket. Note to new phone owners, especially those with Virgin Mobile, remove your pre-defined text messages. Also, this says a lot about what market Virgin Mobile is targeting: booty call?