Just a few years ago, sociologists were warning that the Internet was diminishing social interaction (and social capital). Now, 500 million friends later, Facebook (and myriad other social networking sites) has turned that around. In the process, it has changed the way we communicate. When is the last time you spent an evening watching television without catching a few commercials that mention the companies’ Facebook page? If you’re in the communications business, how often are the communications products you produce  used on a Facebook page?

For anyone trying to communicate a message, Facebook (and its predecessors and challengers) has changed not just the rules of the game, but the playing field. It has contributed to one of the biggest changes brought by the Internet: Turning public communications into a two-dimensional field, transforming passive audiences into participating networks. The Internet has presented twin challenges and opportunities: How to use it as a communictions tool, rich in potential with large, segmented markets — and how to use it as a listening tool. How people feel — about everything, it seems — is out there, like low-hanging fruit ready to be plucked. The question of course is how to harness that information, and analyze and present it in a way that will be helpful to those seeking to communicate a message. We’re learning more about each other, or at least getting more raw data about each other, and Facebook is a big part of that. 

Zuckerberg is the second-youngest  person in Time magazine history to get the annual designation. The youngest was Charles Lindbergh. There are a lot of differences between these two pioneers, but one thing in common. They both made the world a smaller place.

In his New York Times article this week, John Tierney says the story has all the makings of a Hollywood blockbuster — full of sex, intrigue and murder. Seems that some producers are already interested. We can’t wait to see the movie.

Going in, there were some reasons not to expect any semblance of balance. For starters, the film was based on what is generally regarded as a one-sided book. Strike one. And Hollywood is not exactly known for fair and balanced depictions of the business world. Strike two. And the screenwriter was Aaron Sorkin, who generally likes his characters to wear white hats or black hats — no shades of grey allowed. Strike three. Nope, that one turned out to be a foul tip.  In fact, Sorkin went on to hit this one clear over the fence.

To begin with, the script had all of the nuance that Sorkin generally leaves out ( ie West Wing). The characters in this film were textured, with strengths and flaws, mixed motives and mixed emotions. The script displayed Sorkin’s strengths (including witty, pointed dialogue and a fast pace) without the long monologues that characterize so much of his work. 

The characterization of Napster founder Sean Parker may have been unfair and definitely imbalanced — I guess someone had to wear a black hat —  but it provided a platform for Justin Timberlake to prove he can act. 

It’s nice when Hollywood realizes it doesn’t need sci-fi, violence, or improbable plots to produce a winner. What really engages people is an interesting story. Whether or not the depiction of the legal battle over Facebook is accurate (my guess is the deck was at least tilted against Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg from the outset) it is absorbing, at least as fiction. Just goes to show: Give the people an interesting tale – and surround it with clever dialogue and excellent performances — and you can get people’s attention and hold it.

But the AFI did a good job narrowing it down to 100, and their top 3 picks tell us a lot about what it takes to reach people. The big lines they picked out all say something about what makes a great line great — not just in a film, but in a speech, an article or any communications vehicle.

The AFI’s top 3 choices were:

1. “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.” The producers of Gone With the Wind had a hard time getting that one past the censors in 1939, but I think what makes it so memorable decades later is the way it expressed Rhett Butler’s core value. He was deeply in love, but nothing was more important to him than maintaining his self-respect. It wasn’t even a close call for him.

2. “I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse.” This line, originally in The Godfather novel, summed up the character of Don Corleone as played by Marlon Brando. He was always willing to negotiate, always willing to cut a deal. But he had the power to make sure he got what he wanted, at a price he was willing to pay. Bargaining session over.

3. “I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. Instead of a bum, which is what I am.” Brando again, this time up against the mob in On The Waterfront.  The line (delivered by Brando to Rod Steiger as his brother in the film) expressed the frustration of a character struggling on the docks after glimpsing the prospect of fame. But the line’s real meaning didn’t become fully clear until later in the movie, when the Marlon Brando character “ratted” out the crooked union boss, after his brother was killed. It was when the Brando character testified against the mobsters who were running the docks (and who had killed his brother) that he showed he did have class, he was a contender — and no longer a bum doing the mob’s bidding.

All three of these lines were great, I believe, because they expressed the characters’ core values — what they really stood for, what mattered to them, what they did give a damn about. Just like a speech should.

The hit TV show Dancing With the Stars invites celebrities to compete with some of the world’s best professional dancers.  That is unless you’re a writer.  According to young-adult author Ally Carter (author of the Gallagher Girls series) executives at the ABC show don’t seem to view writers as celebrities.

Carter writes in her blog that the show has invited athletes, television journalists, models and people simply related to famous people to the dance floor…but no authors.  She says she would like to think the lack of authors is just an “oversight” rather than “an out-and-out snub,” but Carter urges ABC to consider the impact writers, too, have on popular culture.

Who knows, maybe they’ll be calling the White House Writers Group sometime soon…

That’s exactly what Deborah Fallows – wife of famed journalist James Fallows – describes in her recent interview on NPR and writes about in her new book Dreaming in Chinese: Mandarin Lessons in Life, Love, and Language.  When Fallows accompanied her husband to China, she had taken a few semesters of Mandarin. But when they arrived, she found it a real challenge to communicate.

Fallows is no stranger to foreign tongues. She earned her Ph.D. in linguistics and speaks half-a-dozen languages.  But she learned there’s an art to mastering a tonal language in which one syllable can have many, many meanings. And more often than not, Fallows felt she was mastering the art of miscommunication.

In one humorous anecdote, the author describes her effort to order “take-out” – or “dabao” from a Shanghai Taco Bell.  She tries every possible tonal combination, but the server couldn’t understand her request. He finally retrieved three other employees from the back, and Fallows continued to repeat dabao, dabao, dabao to them.  Finally – finally! – one of the men said “ah, dabao!”  And, just like that, she struck the chord and got her tacos to go.

For Fallows, hitting the right note was a cultural journey. But in communications, being on-key is everything.  You just can’t afford to be tone-deaf.

What is especially impressive about Parsons’ win is that his character was not originally planned as the series lead. Rather, he was the break-out character (a la Kramer on Seinfeld, or Dwight on The Office). But his characterization of Sheldon stole the show. Some even say he has made geekiness cool. If so, that’s the acting equivalent of splitting the atom.

Thomson’s home run was one of the most famous in baseball history. More than anything else, I think, what gave it such appeal among baseball fans is that it demonstrated that, in baseball, it truly ain’t over till it’s over (as Yogi Berra would say). The Giants had been trailing the Dodgers by 13 1/2 games on August 11. While the Dodgers seemed to try to coast after that, barely playing .500 ball over the last month-and-a-half of the season, the Giants won 37 of their last 44 games, including their last seven in a row.

Even with that extraordinary streak, the Giants just barely edged their way into a tie with the Dodgers, necessitating a three-game tie-breaking season. (That was before league playoffs became an annual event.) On the afternoon of October 3rd, the two teams found themselves tied at 1 game each. The Dodgers had a 4-1 lead going into the 9th, causing a lot of Giants fans to leave in despair. (Although I’m sure they all claimed later to still have been in the stadium when history was made.)

But the Giants rallied to pull to 4-2 with runners on 1st and 3rd. That brought up Thomson, who hit the 1-1 pitch over the fence and into baseball history.

It’s hard to imagine anything like that happening in any other sport. Oh sure, teams come back in football, basketball, hockey. And it can be quite exciting. But in all of those sports, teams that are trailing don’t just face their opponents. They face a clock. In baseball, the game doesn’t end until one team records 27 outs. It could go on forever.

I think that’s why Thomson’s home run was so celebrated — it signified baseball’s never-say-die spirit.

Perhaps it signified something else as well. The post-war belief that anything was possible, and nothing was impossible.