I’m a huge fan of user generated content. I think the greatest copy, ideas, and criticism can come from your own users. However, there is such a thing as going too far.

Last night at some point, http://www.skittles.com switched its page to become a constant feed of a twitter search for skittles. Almost immediately, people began talking about all sorts of random, not-skittles related stuff, just to appear on the page. I even sent a message about prefering M&M’s to skittles (which I do).

You just can’t put unfiltered user content out there. Sorry. I learned this lesson the hard way years ago. Back when I was at Pseudo, I had to do an interview with Dick Morris, who at the time was embroiled in quite a scandal surrounding the Clinton white house. We had this fantbulous idea of showing the live chatroom on a plasma screen right in between the two of us during the interview.

As you can imagine, the room was filled with things that weren’t appropriate for anyone to see, much less the target of them – Dick Morris himself.

The ONLY way to do this kind of content is to very, very cautiously moderate. You don’t need only positive statements going out, actually, if you want to really show what your users are saying, you should include some negative statements. But you absolutely need to be able to block messages like this:

PMansellSheep: fighting the cult @ XENUXENUXENUXENUXENUXENUXENUXENUXENUXENUXENUoYOUoJUSToLOSToTHE

I don’t understand why Skittles didn’t know better, and why they haven’t taken the page down yet. There’s a warning that you need to be an adult…but when the first comment is “skittles sux,” does being over 18 matter? In my case with Pseudo, we yanked that chatroom screen down before I was 10 minutes into the interview.

Over the summer, a lot of concerts did a deal with Verizon where you could text a message to have it shown on the big screen. Those messages appeared quickly, and looked “live,” but they were heavily moderated. And I know this cuz, um, I sent something inappropriate to see if it’d get through. I had to try, I almost ALWAYS try. I sent “scream if you love porn,” which I thought would be fun. But nope – lots of “Scream if you love linkin park” and the like, but no joy for me.

There is also the question of privacy, something people have been talking about a lot lately. Is my Twitter appearing on Skittles going to be seen as an endorsement? Do they actually even have the rights to do it (I need to dig through various terms to figure that out – expect a follow up post when I have time to do that). I can’t block it…at least I can block myself from appearing in Facebook’s social ads. But this is a whole other thing, and not one I’m entirely sure I’m comfortable with.

All that said, would I have ever written a blog entry about Skittles today if they hadn’t done this? If “any press is good press,” then Skittles has done a fantastic job at that – everyone’s talking about them on Twitter. Not talking about the candy, of course, they’re talking about the mess on the Skittles homepage. In what probably took them 10 minutes, they redid their website to something that people can’t stop talking about. Well done for that.

In the long run, is this going to make me buy more candy? Absolutely not. But I will be pointing to this as an example of UGC gone bad for years to come.

So for that, thanks Skittles!!

I’m sure some folks are wondering why I’ve been talking on twitter about looking for a new apt in SF.

Well..this is why.

Last week, on my birthday (won’t ever forget that bday!), I gave (what ultimately turned out to be) three weeks notice. My last day at MySpace will be 11/21, this upcoming Friday.

Since I gave notice, I’ve begun the transition thing. I’ve been reaching out to developers who work on the MySpace Platform to let them know who they will be working with moving forward. If I haven’t talked to you yet, don’t worry, I will – every single developer I’ve worked with, large and small, will have a new contact name at MySpace before I leave. If I haven’t contacted you yet and you’re antsy to move forward, just shoot me an email to sbergman -at- myspace and I’ll get you hooked up.

I love MySpace, and have had a wonderful time working here. It’s hard not to get inspired when I spend so much of my job working with people in startups. I’ve spoken here about the one I used to work for, and there’s a feeling in the air at a teeny new company doing something original that is very exciting. I was burned when my first startup went bankrupt, and didn’t want anything to do with that world for a while. If nothing else, I wanted job security! But…the project is right, and I’m mentally ready to do this again.

I believe everything happens for a reason, and this all came together too perfectly not to be right. A friend introduced me to a friend, who introduced me to the guy starting the company, and it all went from there. Very natural, and just felt like the right thing to do. The company I’m going to does not have a name yet (closed beta of it will come out soon), so for the sake of this blog I’m going call it Operation Turtle. The Turtle is something completely new, something that nobody’s ever really seen before, so I can’t answer it with a quick two word description. It’s enabling a new form of “social interaction,” but that doesn’t really mean anything. I’ll get more specific when I can.

It’s fun, it’s new, it’ll help you connect with new and old friends in a whole new way, it is NOT a social network…although I could make a pretty good argument that a site can’t be JUST a “social network” anymore. All sites have to have content, first and foremost, then social networking features integrating that content – like MySpace has Applications, music, games, celebrities, etc. The social improves the base product, but the base has to be there. “Create a profile” doesn’t quite cut it anymore. A profile is only one feature to what had better be a larger product. I’d love to give examples, but let me leave my current position yet. Suffice to say that there are some some stellar examples of companies with a business that has integrated social networking features and/or user generated content. Operation Turtle is social, but has a very unique twist with the content.

This is a tiny industry where everyone moves in the same circles, and always end up working together again. I’m always amazed when people I worked with 15+ yrs ago show up again asking if we can work together. I love it, and without a doubt, pre-existing personal relationships always result in a better, stronger product. So don’t forget me!! I know I’m going to want all of your feedback on Operation Turtle once you get to play, all of your opinions are very important to me.

I can also promise that I would never leave a job I love at MySpace to work for a teeny company with no live product unless I totally believed in what they were doing. And I really do. This stuff is the bomb, and I can’t wait to show it off.

I have always jokingly said to people that I’ve followed the ‘largest community online from company to company, from Yahoo to AOL to MySpace,’ and I fully believe Operation Turtle belongs on that list. I don’t think small, and wouldn’t want to work on something that doesn’t have the potential to change the world.  Mr Turtle will show everyone an entirely new way to communicate. And I think people are going to love it.

So, here I am in in SF this weekend looking for an apartment, and I am quite happy to report that I found one. What can I say, I’ve moved 6 times in 4 years, three of those moves cross-country, so a “simple” move from Los Angeles to San Francisco is hardly a major problem. At least, not a problem at this phase, I’m sure I’ll be bitching enough as soon as I have to start packing. This was the easy part.

The apartment is in a fantablous location, right over Whole Foods in SOMA, by the entrance to 101 (which is perfect for escapes to south bay, to family in Novato, or to my old vet in San Ramon – so psyched to go back to them!!). It’s also close to bus and bart; although a lot of stuff looks like it’ll be within walking distance…my new office included.

My lease starts December 5th, so now I have to do the ‘paperwork’ side of moving. Turn utilities off here, on there, move car/home insurance, and so on.

I need to find movers, which I haven’t done on my own in a long time (all the cross-country moves have been company relocations), so if anyone has recommendations on a short haul moving company, would love to hear them!

Lots of stuff going on, but all good, and I’m very excited for what lies ahead. I will miss you Tom, but how could I resist the call of the Turtle?

I’m leaving SF tomorrow, but will be back soon enough. This last week at MySpace is bound to be sad, I really am going to miss everyone, but I’m excited by what waits for me here in San Francisco. So, shortly after turkey day, I will become a resident of San Francisco.

And I’m starting to really like the sound of that.

If you know me, you know I’m a little Broadway obsessed. And if there’s any musical I’m fixated on, it’s A Chorus Line (previous entry on it here). A Chorus Line is closing on Broadway, and is only running here in LA for another month or so, but that won’t stop me from listening to it constantly, or referencing it endlessly. After all, why would I stop now? I’ve been at it since I discovered the record at the age of 5.

The other day at work, I was listening to A Chorus Line on my iPod. I was getting punchy, and set my status on MySpace to “Stephanie thinks everything is beautiful at the ballet.” It’s a line from a song in the musical, but not exactly one of the most popular, or most well-known lines to people not obsessed with the show. So, imagine my surprise when I got an ad on my homepage for the musical in LA:

Sometimes I think ad targeting is creepy – I wonder how on earth it knew whatever about me.

But sometimes? It just makes me giggle.

And I’ve also discovered that when I’m tired I talk like a LOL cat. Go fig.

MySpace Applications are now live!!! There are sooo many cute ones to play with (and some really useful ones too). Go check it out, have fun, and look at what’s been stealing my life away for the last whoever knows how many months

MySpace Apps. YAY!