Talk about something interesting

March 11, 2008 | In Journalism, Technology | No Comments

If you don’t follow the tech community closely you probably missed it. An interview that has implications that were larger than the audience in attendance for it. It involved a Business Week columnist/author and the creator of Facebook.com.

It was billed as an interesting keynote address for SXSW, a conference that brings together technology, music, art and everything else in between. An evolving event that kicked off many years ago that has expanded from a focus on music to what it is today.

The piece of SXSW that seems to be attracting the most attention this year is an interview between Mark Zuckerberg, an entrepreneur with a reputation for being shy and avoiding public speaking. The other, a columnist/journalist who admits to being a friend of “Zuck’s” – Sarah Lacy.

What happened during the keynote address that was set up like an interview was something that apparently devolved into madness. Check out the video from where the interview begins to devolve.

An audience of about 1,000 attendees – with an addition group of overspill – were disappointed with the direction the discussion between Zuckerberg and Lacy was taken – a focus mainly on the business side of Facebook.

The crowd, filled with computer programers, bloggers and developers had little interest in the new models Facebook have developed and a little over 30 minutes into the keynote began to disrupt the discussion and ask their own questions.

Lacy ran into an issue that many interviewers need to keep in mind. She really began to stroke the ego of her subject too much. “I love Facebook,” Lacy said at one point.

She also continually promotes a book she recently wrote on the subject of Zuckerberg and Kevin Rose, another Internet personality who has helped shape the net as we are beginning to know it today. This apparently rubbed the audiance the wrong way as well.

I have never done a public, Jay Leno style interview – most of mine have been more on the intimate one on one angle. It’s obviously a difficult thing to tackle and one she obviously falls short at it.

See Lacy’s response.

I have not read her columns or any other material, I am actually interested in her book and will likely check it out. I sympathize with what she went through during SXSW, I’m one step away from being in her shoes. (Ok 1,000 steps but still). It’s not easy.

Note to the audience, if you happen to read this – you were rude, inappropriate and should be ashamed of the attacks you sent Lacy’s way. To the first questioner – think about that the next time you’re not interesting or make some kind of a mistake. Your wordy question proved how difficult it is to do this.