I got an interesting message on Facebook from a friend who I haven’t seen/spoke with since college. I was able to sniff out a blatant Phishing attempt from the onset based on the fact that my friend is a native English speaker.

Here is the conversation, with my friend’s name redacted (for obvious reasons):

Friend
hey
how are you doing

Me
okay – how are you?

Friend
am not good at the moment..i and my family are in some deep mess at the moment

Me
I’m sorry to hear that

Friend
we are currently stranded in London uk,went there on a short vacation and we got mugged at a gun point last night…scary!

Me
Yikes!

Friend
am dead serious..i was hurt on my head,writing you in tears now as we speak,all cash and credit card was stolen off including cell phone,it was a brutal experience

[ Pause ]

you there???

Me
Yes

[ Pause ]

THIS IS IMPORTANT. LET ME CHECK ALL OF MY BANK ACCOUNTS. ENHANCE. ENHANCE.

Friend
we are freaked out here,have been to the embassy and the police they are not helping issues at all i was ask to come back in three weeks time

Me
Well, shit – if you need to come back in three weeks time, I’ll have even more time to sell stock and make sure you can fly everyone back first class. Should I liquidate my 401k and cash in savings bonds?

Friend
thank you much..any way i could get money fast so i and my family can sleep good tonite

Me
You must have been hit on the head pretty hard — it’s almost like you completely forgot that English is your mother tongue. That mugging knocked the smrts out of you.

Friend is offline. Your messages will be sent to her inbox.

The leaps in valuation are dizzying. At its current on-paper price, Facebook’s value is somewhere between that of Ford ($55bn) and Visa ($63bn). But that’s still less than a third of Google’s value, Facebook’s arch-rival in the battle for domination on the internet.

This is as good a read as you’ll find about the current state of start-ups.

“The network isn’t crazy about you tweeting. They’re not sure that’s cool,” O’Brien recalls being told. His response was simple: “Tell them I would be thrilled if they shut down my Twitter account. I’d love it if that got out. You think PR’s been bad up till now? Wait till you take away my Twitter account.” Today O’Brien laughs at the old-media disconnect of that moment: He is approaching 2.5 million followers.

… which leads me to my second point: I also can’t wait for the day when Social Media Marketers are paid what they deserve for possessing a unique skillset, not paid like interns or part-time college students who fit the profile of a “Facebook user.”
Here’s the Craigslist posting that inspired this rant, posted in my own city!

Social Marketing/Digital Media (Hwy 40 and Lindbergh)

Date: 2009-11-17, 3:03PM CST
Reply to: job-anhhy-1470469986@craigslist.org

Looking for an outgoing, positive person to take our Company into the techie, communications world of twitter and facebook. Can you set up a facebook wall, maintain it, twitter, etc? Send a few sentences by email to us describing your abilities. Please, no attachments. Part time, could lead to full time. Looking for a high energy team player.

• Location: Hwy 40 and Lindbergh
• Compensation: $12/hr
• This is a part-time job.
• OK for recruiters to contact this job poster.
• Please, no phone calls about this job!
• Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

It’s really insulting, but, at the same time, not surprising. People who put out ads like this are also the kind of people who think that they can get away with paying $150 to a neighbor or distant relative for a website that looks like it was designed in Netscape Communicator 4.2.

How does your organization view Social Media? Are you getting the resources you need? Do you even have a budget? Let me know in the comments!