Steve Ballmer is My Friend?

By Jake • July 12th, 2007 • View Comments

Fellow AppsLabb’er Rich, just informed me via IM (which is so 1999, why aren’t we Twittering?), that Steve Ballmer friended him on Facebook. Turns out that both Paul (AppsLab poobah) and I were also friended by Steve.

fake_steve_ballmer.png

Maybe the rumor is true, and Microsoft is digging out $6 billion for Facebook (Techmeme coverage). Or maybe Steve wants to kick the tires first and see what the fuss is all about before signing the check.

The BBC ran a great piece about ghost-Facebooking last week. The writer asks, at one point:

But are there really crowds of busy executives hiring others to do the online dirty work for them?

Apparently, since I doubt the real Steve Ballmer wants to be my friend. Robert Scoble has more than 2,200 friends, and his advice to Marc Andreessen was to outsource his blog comments. Valleywag has some advice, but it involves work. Gasp.

So now, the precedent is set. If you need to be in the know and suffer from Too Many Mes syndrome, you can pay someone to collaborate for you. Maybe this is Enterprise 2.0.

Back to Steve, I’m tempted to dub him Fake Steve Ballmer but of course, FSJ (Fake Steve Jobs) already has that moniker for all intents and purposes. Incidentally, I hope he is never unmasked; it’s way too much fun.

Should I accept Steve’s invitation? Anyone else already his friend? How is he as a friend?

Update: Steve’s invitation to be friends is mysteriously gone. I’m sorry I doubted you Steve. Please reconsider.

Another update: A friend in my network has Gengis Kahn as his friend. I don’t think I’ll poke Gengis. This is fun, but I wonder why. Is it too much free time, or is there another motive.

gengis_kahn.png


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  • Jake
    Steve,
    I completely agree, as you might have read in my post on the outing of FSJ. But what happened to you? I still have Eric Schmidt in the waiting room, but you're gone. Was it something I said?
    Jake
  • Fake Steve is moving to his employer's domain to blog there, huh?
    Dan Lyons can blog there but can a fake Steve Jobs? Let's admit it, this won't work! Sorry I wish it would, but it won't for various reasons:

    1. How can you be fake when you are not?
    2. Paid, free, candid, risky, - all contradictory.
    4. Editors
    5. Lawyers

    Dan Jobs, - Steve Lyons, - Deve Jyons, - San Lobs, WHATEVER his name is, will be a total waste of time.
    Now who? Who? Who, remains pure as the driven snow?

    --Ahem, cough, cough, wink ...
  • Jake
    A search returns Steve Ballmer (3) and Steven A Ballmer (1), none with a picture. Steven A Ballmer belongs to the Microsoft network has no link to View Friends. Methinks that may be the real Steve. Anyway, this was fun. I wonder what Fake Steve B's plan was.
    Jake
  • Justin Kestelyn
    Same here. Friended last night, gone today.
  • Jake
    Maybe. He doesn't show in Rich's list of friends anymore, and his friend request has disappeared. Weird. Jake is sad.
  • Florian Schouten
    Maybe he found Rich through the illustrious Larry Ellison fan club? ;)

    http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2401116247
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