First off, kudos to Nielsen for having the IQ to monitor the metasphere and for having the get up and go to write an email to an insignificant blogger, offer a clarification of a situation, and exhibit patience with the mainstream media when and if it presumably jumps to erroneous conclusions.

Earlier this week I wrote this piece about a new Nielsen site called Hey! Nielsen. Using links to some establishment media coverage, my post furthered the notion that Nielsen, via widgets, was hatching a plot to monitor what we do when not on the Nielsen site. In a rather flip reaction to that I wrote something like, "Hey Nielsen, monitor this!"

Today I received an email from Steve Ciabattoni, Sr. Content Manager at Hey! Nielsen. He read my post and took exception to the mainstream media interpretation and my autonomic reiteration. I'm guilty of believing everything I read in the paper sometimes, too. Shame on me. In any event, Mr. Ciabattoni said to me:

We'd be just as concerned as you if the part about the Hey! Nielsen widget were true. Unfortunately, the site you were pulling the story from seemed to be poorly paraphrasing and poorly attributing our official press release, which states:

  "Members will be able to install Hey! Nielsen "widgets" on their desktops or other social networking sites in order to track developments and Hey! Nielsen scores for entertainment they care about even when they are not on the site."

I can almost see how they misinterpreted this sentence, but allow me to clarify.

The Hey! Nielsen widget simply pulls information from the Hey! Nielsen site so that users can keep track of what's happening on Hey! Nielsen via their MySpace page or wherever they might want to install the widget. We are not tracking activity on the sites where the widget is installed. We measure only that the widget is residing on a specific page on Myspace or wherever. Other than knowing that people have installed the widget, it captures absolutely no personal information about the user. It's a one-way file.

You know what? This is what I admire most about the blogosphere: dialogue, people talking, people reading and responding. Thank you Mr. Ciabattoni for being tuned in; thank you for caring enough to correct the record per Nielsen's position. But next time you have a new product launch, call me and a couple hundred fellow bloggers. We'll represent your news more accurately; more fairly; and with a substantially broader reach.

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This just in from CNET News.com in an item about LinkedIn posted by Caroline McCarthy: The business networking site just announced that it now allows its members to upload a photograph to accompany their profiles…

Now there's a surprise, not. But the item is of interest and worth a read for those who care about product positioning and differentiation. Does this option of adding a 'professional' photo of yourself on LinkedIn move the business-minded offering too close to Facebook and MySpace? Is LinkedIn doing something to itself that undoes its unique position or brand? I shutter at the thought?

Nah! I don't think so. But if you think it is a disaster, you're invited to vent here.

I'd say watch for LinkedIn to evolve even more by adding additional optional features in order to compete. Too much of that, of course, and you end up with a replica and most experts I read these days say average people aren't going to sustain multiple profiles on a variety of platforms. On the other hand, it's just as possible LinkedIn will add more unique features that reinforce its business brand as it evolves and competes at the same time. Those are harder to come by, of course. We'll just have to wait and see. Meanwhile, moving to the photo opption at LinkedIn just seems a rather obvious thing to do.

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Help me decide if this is going to be a social media winner or loser. It's called Hey! Nielsen and they say it… is the place to make a name for yourself while trading opinions on TV, movies, music, personalities, web sites and more. Do I care? Do you?

Here's a news release about it which, naturally, doesn't offer a link to the site. I have to do everything. Go here.

Lastly, this was a rather concerning bit of news in the release:

…if users install Hey! Nielsen "widgets" on their desktops it monitors their activities on other social networking sites even when they are not on the Hey! Nielsen site.

Hey, Nielsen, monitor this?

What's your call?

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