I was very privileged to have the opportunity to speak recently at the Commonwealth Club of California, one of country’s top public affairs forums. I faced pretty tough competition that evening, with former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich speaking at the club at the very same time. Still, I managed to draw a respectable crowd to The Dark Side of Social Media: Privacy, Manipulation and Terms of Use. I spoke about the issues that compelled me to write my novel, as well as the eerie parallels between the book’s fictional presidential campaign and the contest unfolding between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. You can listen to the audio here. I’d like to thank Sarah Granger for her fantastic questions, as well as the Commonwealth Club for hosting Sarah and me.
One more thing: During Q&A, I referred to a well-known (in some circles) quotation about the ineffectiveness of traditional advertising. I had not prepared for this, so I pulled the quote from the recesses of my memory and I erroneously attributed it to F.W. Woolworth, founder of the Woolworth Company. In fact, it was another American retail pioneer named John Wanamaker who is credited with the following: “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” My bad.
SAM