buzzbishop
on - last edited on
It's all about offering preferential treatment to one network over another or, free advertising. While Facebook and Twitter are the dominant social networks, they're not the only social networks. There is LinkedIn, Orkut, MySpce, Friendster ..
Okay, let's be real - there are two main places people are sharing experiences online: Facebook and Twitter.
It's odd the government would take this sort of action, long before the web was worldwide, France had it's own little internet that was continuously promoted on TV, Minitel. So the French get that being connected to each other over a series of tubes is a good thing. They've appreciated the digital connection since 1981, sacre bleu!
To clarify, if a TV or radio show wants to do a story on the popularity of Facebook, it can mention Facebook by name. However, a TV or radio show is no longer allowed to solicit followers by saying things “Like us on Facebook” or “Follow the latest updates from us on Twitter.” [source]
My 'day job' is a radio broadcaster. I host a morning show in Calgary where plug in to the social web as a way to make radio more interactive and relevant to the younger audience. To give away prizes we will have Facebook Friend-zy's where people can like a prize and be entered to win it. We have turned out Street Squad into a Tweet Squad giving random prizes from Tweetup locations on the weekend. I mine the social web as a way to interact with the audience and pre-test topics to see if they have traction before I bring them to air.
In France, all of that is now illegal.
No, this is not a joke. It’s a real regulatory ruling, citing article 9 of a French government decree issued on March 27 1992. [source]
Even more puzzling, it seems, is how the news has been greeted en France. It was reported and then disappeared. There was no outrage, no mass movement to the streets by the youth like we saw in Egypt and Iran. Just a simple "c'est la vie" and then back to the Mintel console.
