Side Effects Include...

The news headline I saw this morning wasn't exactly an attention-getter: "FDA Asked To Restrict Drug Marketers' Use Of Social Media".

While that headline doesn't seem too alarming in and of itself, it does have some important implications for us as consumers.

The news is that a consumer advocacy group is asking the FDA to prohibit pharmaceutical companies from advertising on social media platforms that don't allow them to fully explain their drug products.

For example, let's look at how birth control pills (which ironically celebrated their 50th anniversary this past Mother's Day) would be affected.

The target demographic of these pills are typically frequent social media users, so social networks like Facebook and Twitter would be a natural fit for advertising.

However, Twitter's 140 character limit per tweet means that a birth control pill company would most likely have to split all of the necessary medical information about their particular product into multiple tweets.

But if a consumer only happens to read one of these tweets, they run the risk of using a medicinal product without having all of the information.

This is why the FDA is looking into banning pharmaceutical advertising on social platforms that have word limits like Twitter.

And although I do agree this possible new restriction is probably in everyone's best interests, I think the health care industry should also burden some of the responsibility and adopt more social media usage to help keep consumers informed and up to date on issues like this.

Zuckerberg Checks In To Foursquare Headquarters

With Foursquare racing past the 40 millionth check-in mark a few days ago, it's time to state the obvious: Geolocation is here to stay awhile.

And when you're as hot of a commodity as Foursquare is, you're likely to have a few suitors looking to buy you out.

So, it wasn't much of a surprise that Facebook was possibly looking to add Foursquare into its online empire. We knew Facebook was looking to add some sort of geolocation feature to its site, and on Sunday appeared to have started the programming process to make it happen.

And the latest news suggests that this possible Facebook-Foursquare union is more likely than originally thought.

Over the weekend, Mark Zuckerberg met with Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley, although what that meeting consisted of or led to is unknown.

I myself would like to see Foursquare avoid Facebook's Internet takeover.

Unfortunately, the truth is Foursquare probably won't survive on its own, so if they're looking to sell, Facebook has the money and the influence to make it happen.

Bunnies Hopping Into Offices

While browsing the web this morning, I came across a hilarious bit of web-related news: Playboy recently announced they will be launching a safe-for-work website.

And while I'm personally not a Playboy patron, I would imagine that for those who are, this has got to feel like buying Oreo cookies without the creme filling: What's the point?

The site, called The Smoking Jacket, will provide content that bunny-enthusiasts can peruse without worrying about getting in trouble with the boss.

What this "content" will be has left to be seen, but it will probably be in the same vein as their Playboy iPhone app, which was surprisingly released despite Apple's strict rules against sexually explicit material.

So if you're really one of those people who reads Playboy for the articles, you can now browse this formally red-flagged site without getting a pink slip.

A New Level of Online Addiction

Two of the most addictive substances on earth might be coffee and nicotine, but with 400 million users, some would argue that Facebook deserves to be on that list of addictions as well.

But when it comes to wasting hours and hours at a time online, the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft (WoW) is at the top of the list. WoW has over 12 million monthly subscribers, most of whom aren't afraid of spending the night in front of their computer screens to succeed.

In fact, I personally know at least 4 people who flunked out of college due to spending too much time on World of Warcraft.

That's why I'm interested (and a little afraid) of the news last night that Blizzard, the maker of this Internet fixation, will be integrating its service with Facebook.

This is huge news in the gaming community, who can now have their WoW and other Blizzard game updates post on Facebook.

And although it's too early to tell how World of Warcraft players will respond, I'm sure that anyone who is already addicted to the online game will have an even tougher time getting that multiplayer monkey off their backs.

Certifiably Pointless

Since the dawn of wall posts, tweets and blogs, we've seen the social media "experts" and "gurus" claiming to know everything there is to know about the social networks that have kept us glued to our computers for the past few years.

And back in September 2009, the International Social Media Association was formed with the intent of giving these experts certification in social media.

But the problem I've always had with social media gurus (certified or otherwise) is that they claim their expertise in a field that is not only relatively new , but also constantly changing and evolving.

Apparently, I'm not alone in my criticism and this little experiment in certifying social media has ended with the dissolving of ISMA last week.

This echoes the harsh truth that social media can't be structured, controlled or certified the way engineering, accounting, or even PR can; by it's very nature social media is meant to be the no-rules, ever-evolving field that it is.

Now don't get me wrong, as someone who considers himself a social media professional, I do believe social media can and should be studied intensively...but that doesn't make me or anyone else a guru or expert.