Anyone needing a crash course in copywriting - focusing, in particular, on the power of words - need only spend a little time with young children. When it comes to ’selling’ them on dinner… or chores… or various other activities… using the right words can make all the difference.

I was reminded of this today when it came to preparing dinner for my kids. Not wanting to debate the merits of crumbed chicken breast with a 6 year old and a 4 year old, I decided to pitch the meal in such a way as to yield the most positive response (i.e. them eating the meal without argument).

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The New York Times has launched the beta version of its own social network application, TimesPeople.

TimesPeople currently operates as an add-on for the Firefox web browser and allows users to share articles, videos, slideshows, blog posts, comments on articles, and ratings and reviews of movies, restaurants and hotels. Future versions are not expected to require the Firefox plug-in.

This is one smart move on the part of The New York Times. The move will surely encourage readers to stay on the New York Times website longer and promote sharing of The New York Times content (rather than other Internet content). Other traditional media companies would do well to watch closely and possibly emulate the move.

Sources: Vasanth Sridharan , “NYT’s TimesPeople Social Network: Another Good Idea From The Times”, Silicon Alley Insider, June 18, 2008, TimesPeople

If you plan on creating a marketing application for Facebook, be warned: Facebook is cracking down on apps it regards as facilitating network spam.

Scott Himmel, co-founder of Facebook application “My Restaurants” found this out the hard way.

Essentially, “My Restaurants” allowed users to share information about restaurants in the U.S. The application allowed users to send Himmel a message whenever they wanted to add a restaurant to the application. After Himmel added all these (every 4-5 days), the application would send a message back to each user notifying them that their restaurant had been added.

As a result, 50-75 messages were sent by the application every 4-5 days. This volume of emails captured the attention of Facebook, which gave Himmel three warnings before kicking his app off the network.

While many applaud Facebook’s intention to rid the network of spam, some are concerned that its efforts may inadvertently deter developers from creating legitimate, helpful applications. Not only will this harm the businesses of small developers, but it may ultimately undermine Facebook’s popularity. Somehow Facebook needs to eliminate application spam whilst continuing to encourage the development of applications that add value to, and entice users of, Facebook.

Thankfully for all concerned, Scott Himmel is now changing “My Restaurants” to prevent it from sending so many messages at once.

Source: Vasanth Sridharan, “Facebook’s Anti-Spam Campaign Claims An Innocent Victim”, Silicon Alley Insider, June 18, 2008