Facebook bans Google+ ad

THE EVOLVING MELODRAMA of Mark Zuckerberg's Google+ account has taken another turn with one of Google's people blaming his rapid in and out movements on a glitch, as opposed to a privacy lockdown.

Vic Gundotra, Google SVP of engineering, shouted down from his lofty position as Number 4 most popular Google+'er to tell us, "Yes - this was glitch that affected small number of people - those with very high followers and few people in their circles."

Gundotra was responding to earlier stories about Zuckerberg dropping off the Google+ rankings along with a number of Google executives. We speculated that Zuckerberg, that well-known advocate of privacy online, had locked down his account in order to stop others from seeing what he was doing and who were his friends. Oh, the irony.

However, Gundotra's reference to a glitch indicates that young Zuck's closed profile was down to an issue with the Google+ software, rather than due to any action he took. And, by mid-week his profile was open for all and sundry to view once again.

App developer Michael Lee Johnson, conscious of the need to be big on Google+ or be nobody, wondered what the best way to levitate his Google+ circles might be. He hit upon a fine idea: he placed an ad on Facebook. It was a simple thing that was headlined: "Add Michael to Google+."

The copy read: "If you're lucky enough to have a Google+ account, add Michael Lee Johnson, Internet Geek, App Developer, Technological Virtuoso."

If those words weren't enough to persuade Facebook users that Johnson was a must for their Google+, he added a fine picture of himself wearing a jaunty cap.

Because my life's purpose is to be helpful, I scanned Facebook's Terms of Use and Advertising just to see what specific clause might have been besmirched by Johnson's chutzpah.

Perhaps it was Clause 11 in the "Special Provisions Applicable to Advertisers" section: "You will not issue any press release or make public statements about your relationship with Facebook without written permission." Johnson had shamefully declared on Google+ that he was placing the ad.

Perhaps it was Clause 4d of Facebook's Advertising Guidelines: "Ads cannot insult, harass, or threaten a user." He was, some might say, harrassing and insulting Facebook loyalists by his mere suggestion that there might be another place to socially network.

Or perhaps Facebook, its nose feeling tweaked, merely decided to reach for 6a of the same Advertising Guidelines: "We may refuse ads at any time for any reason, including our determination that they promote competing products or services or negatively affect our business or relationship with our users."

Still, ejecting all of Johnson's campaigns seems a touch cruel. Perhaps Johnson will consider an action against Facebook for emotional distress and, well, damage to his reputation.

This he will have to place, so Facebook's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities tells me, in a court in Santa Clara County. For now, Johnson's only public statements have been: "LOL." Oh, and "Facebook. You Suck."

1,460 people currently have Johnson in their Google+ circles. I cannot find Google+'s No. 1 personality, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, among them.