Hi Wendell,I work at Multiply and just came across...

2009-03-05T19:45:00.000-04:00

Hi Wendell,

I work at Multiply and just came across your post. (I see it's a few months old. Why the delay? I don't know. Perhaps the intertubes have been slow, or such.)

With this particular issue, what you seem to be attributing to Multiply's malice is actually Facebook's... imprecision.

When you add a link to Facebook, it fetches the page and grabs a selection of text on it, to use as a summary. I can't give you a definite answer as to why Facebook picked that particular bit of text, but it's not like that block of copy was written to target Facebook.

If you view a photo album on Multiply and use the "Next" link to flip through all the way to the end of the album, you'll be greeted with a friendly slide that helpfully provides you with convenient links to turn that album into a sweet little photo product. Of the products, Calendars are the first listed, and underneath the Calendar link reads:

"Enjoy this album every month on a beautiful photo calendar. It's easy to include important dates, like holidays, birthdays and anniversaries."

I'm intimately familiar with this, because I actually wrote this bit of copy myself. It was written for display on the upsell slide at the end of an album, absolutely not for Facebook's consumption.

(Also note that photo albums on Multiply are presented using "Ajax" technology, to make the next page in an album load instantly when you click. What this means is that your browser loads the entire album at once, and only pulls in the images themselves as needed. This might explain why the text of the upsell slide appears for Facebook. Still no idea why they think that's the most important part to quote.)

But, hey, if Facebook wants to promote our photo products, that's great, too. :)

Everett

Comments on qualities - communities - literacies: Salesman, Salesman... Why don't you sell me somet...

Hi Wendell,I work at Multiply and just came across...