Leibowitz Explores Facebook, Makes Friends
After covering high-tech policy issues for some time now, one thing I have realized is that when FTC Commissioner Jonathan Leibowitz gives a speech, you can always plan getting some useful information -- and a laugh or two.
During a luncheon keynote on Wednesday at the Congressional Internet Caucus' annual "State of the Net" summit, the former Senate staffer and Motion Picture Association of America executive, made some colorful observations about social networking sites.
"I'm embarrassed to admit that I'm new to social networking," he started off. "When I signed up for Facbeook, I wanted to understand the phenomenon better, but I'm having a lot of fun with it."
So far, Leibowitz said he has reconnected with an old high school friend and has received a "cyber heart" from his wife. He also discovered that his father is a member of the online community and when the younger Leibowitz tried to "friend" the elder, it took him two weeks to respond.
"Lots of it is interesting from a sociological perspective," said the Democrat, who has been a commissioner since 2004. "A Republican who never spoke to me in real life friended me on Facebook and has been trying to get me to be a supporter of [House Minority Leader] John Boehner," he chuckled.
Later in his riff, Leibowitz mentioned that he befriended venture capitalist and Barack Obama campaign adviser Julius Genachowski (who was featured on a panel earlier in the day). "That's not a candidate endorsement," he said, explaining that both are sports enthusiasts and Genachowski "tends to school me on the basketball court."
I just "friended" Leibowitz. Let's see how long it takes him to respond.
Update: Six hours after my post, he "friended" me back. Nice work!
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