1. Judith,

I perhaps have a slightly different view of the BusinessWeek Online article.

I think the Tech Beat Team's perspective underscores the value and utility of services like Plaxo or Bebo for helping to address a fundamental problem that all of us face - managing and keeping updated contact information. The team's reaction is very similar to the many MILLIONS of avid users of Plaxo that exist today.

Of course, we have our share of detractors, and we've tried to respond to their criticisms and address their concerns as best as possible. But it should also be noted there are a LOT of people who love Plaxo and use it in their weekly and daily lives.

Many of our members have provided resounding testimonials of how Plaxo has helped organized their lives, connect with friends, family, and business associates, and simply made it easier to stay in touch. I'm guessing the Tech Beat Team are unfamiliar with Plaxo, but I'm confident they would have expressed a similar point of view had they also reviewed Plaxo.

But I also think people who do not see the value of information management services such as Plaxo will likely react with a similar love-to-hate position towards Bebo or any other Plaxo-wannabe services that may appear. So in that respect, I don't think you're missing anything.

While I'm not attempting to draw a complete comparison between Plaxo and Bebo, anyone considering utilizing either service should understand there are some significant differences between our respective services. While this is still a very immature and emerging space, Plaxo is by far the leader in innovation, experience, customer service and consumer-privacy. People should be aware that Plaxo provides one of the most consumer-protective Privacy Policies utilized by any Internet-based service including respective brands such as Yahoo!, Google, eBay, AOL, and Amazon. People should also understand that privacy policies are legally binding agreements between consumers and the companies that publicly publish them.

Also, while I'm not intimate with Bebo's business and privacy practices, I hope they attempt to address consumer concerns in an open, honest, and public fashion as we've tried to do at Plaxo. I would also recommend Bebo at least certify their privacy practices with a respected 3rd party such as TRUSTe as we've done from the beginning at Plaxo. The privacy seal at least provides some level of assurance to consumers that the company take privacy seriously and has agreed to an acceptable level of privacy practices.

And one other distinction worth mentioning between Plaxo and Bebo. Currently, with Bebo, my understanding is you must join the service in order to respond to another member. Plaxo does not require people to become members in order to respond and update a member of the service.

And I'd also encourage you to write that "another story". As you mentioned, there are a number of people who formerly 'hated' Plaxo, only to later reconsider. Very consistently, we've found that people who've taken the time to look past the unsubstantiated speculation and misinformation regarding Plaxo, have found a solid business plan, a bright future, and extremely valuable service that is worthy of their usage and recommendation. I look forward to reading that story as well.

Stacy Martin
Plaxo Privacy Officer
privacy @t plaxo.com

Posted at 8:04PM on Dec 18th 2005 by Stacy Martin

2. thanks for your thoughtful comments and feedback stacy. i subscribe to a number of maillists whose members still espouse strong negative feelings about plaxo and i really don't understand why, since some of these same people give over infinitely more intimate details to other web-based social networking services. and stay tuned for 'another story' sometime in the near future!

Posted at 8:04PM on Dec 18th 2005 by judith