Writing Boots

On communication, professional and otherwise.

The danger of having young people make decisions about privacy

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Three or four years ago I asked a recent college grad what she and her friends would think of someone who didn't have a Facebook or MySpace page (this was back when MySpace was still big).

She looked utterly confused for a moment, scratched her head, and said, "I guess I'd assume they had something to hide."

So it's not a surprised to see where baby-faced founder of Facebook has declared privacy "no longer the social norm."

I remember when I was his age, braying obstreperously that my life was an open book.

Somebody should have said, "Yes, but you're 25, and most of the pages are still blank."

Or as my dad used to say, "Old people are quiet because old people have more to be quiet about."

Did he go to Princeton? Dude, his NAME is Princeton!

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You want your child to have all the educational advantages and all the best connections, but alas, he or she often winds up a glassy-eyed C student covered in tattoos whose main interest and only legitimate skill, despite all those years of viola lessons, is riding a skateboard down a steel banister.

So do what you can early on, and give your baby a name like one I ran across in my Vital Speeches reading last week: Princeton N. Lyman.

With a name like that, the youngster will become the first glue-sniffing skateboard punk on the Council on Foreign Relations.

When it comes to companies and storytelling, the conflict is the rub

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In my reading for Vital Speeches of the Day, I came across a good speech by Peter Steinfels, the religion columnist for The New York Times. He explains a difficulty of writing on religion: "Religious leaders are uncomfortable about acknowledging conflict among their faithful or within their teachings."

For serious media, no less than for radio or TV trash talkers, the first bridge to be built is that to readers and viewers. Like it or not, a major element of that bridge is going to be conflict. It is a truism that readers and viewers are not interested in learning that New York’s commuters made it to work again this morning—unless, that is, the commuters were struggling against a snowstorm or escaping a fire or trapped in a crime scene.

Whether we do reporting, punditry, analysis, or criticism, those of us in the media traffic in stories. And a major element of a good story, as you will learn in Creative Writing 101, is conflict. We focus on conflict not only because readers or audience crave it but also because they deserve it. The conflicts that they face or wish to avoid are important to them, precisely what they want to know.

I'm going to use that passage, especially the part I've bolded, with corporate clients who want great stories, but without the conflict.

Sorry, darlings. There are no such things.