A friend of mine got engaged awhile back and changed her status from “single” to “engaged.” A few weeks later, I saw in my news feed that she had gone from “engaged” to “it’s complicated.” Naturally, I wondered what was up, so I called her. She said that since she was getting so many wedding advertisements she decided to change her status.

I recently ended a serious relationship, and naturally changed my status from “in a relationship” to “single.” I decided not to opt out of posting this to people’s news feeds, partially as an experiment. A couple of my friends responded, which was nice.

I know several people who simply don’t post their relationship status, and I think this will become more common. Not because we don’t trust each other, but because contextual advertising can pour salt in the wound or just be plain annoying.

But how long did people see the heartbreak icon? Who saw it? Who would care that I wouldn’t be able to tell in person anyway. My ex changed her status a few days later and it stung a bit to see. That’s just human nature I suppose. But suddenly the news feed is moving so slowly, it seems her post will never go away. Check out the ad I got on Facebook shortly thereafter:

With my status set to single, I now receive a deluge of ads for dating women 30 and over. I’m all for contextual ads, but when it’s that blatant, it’s a real turn off for me.

In other news, a friend survived a complete Facebook breakup in which his ex de-friended all his friends on Facebook. That’s pretty harsh, especially since I was one of them. But you gotta do what you gotta do to move on, I suppose.

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Andy Swindler Categories: Marketing, Social Media, Web

Bill Alter, a leader in the corporate real estate world for more than 50 years, recently passed away. This means a lot to me personally. I’ve only had the pleasure of meeting Bill on a couple of occasions, but his legacy has greatly affected my professional life. The Alter Group’s steady patronage, partnership, and friendship over the past eight years are things that, like Bill, can never be replaced.

I wish I’d had the opportunity to know him better. He was a pioneer and mentor to many. My favorite Bill Alter quote has always been, “Think big, then put on your overalls.” I owe a lot to Bill Alter, his family, and the institutions they’ve created. I’m sure he will be missed by all and I hope that my own work continues to support his legacy.

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Andy Swindler Categories: Entrepreneurship, General

Check it out. Andy is playing percussion for an original musical, Sing Dammit, written by Jason Lord and directed by the one and only Katie Hawkey.  It opens this Friday, August 8, at the Cornservatory (4210 N Lincoln) and plays Fridays until Sep 12.  Andy is playing all the shows except Aug 29.  Come check it out, we’d love to see you.

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Andy Swindler Categories: Fun, General

Lollapalooza was generally a raging success this weekend. My favorite was Radiohead on Friday. They rarely disappoint.

Someone who did disappoint, however, was AT&T. It’s one thing to be caught off-guard by a city hosting an event that brings 75,000 people together on one day. It’s quite another when you are SPONSORING that event. Talk about bad marketing. It was difficult to get a call through, and I got a pile of text messages at the end of the evening from friends all throughout the day telling me where they were 6 hours ago. Great. Overall, AT&T has been okay, but I doubt I’d be with them were it not for the iPhone. To their credit, it did get a little better throughout the weekend, but not much.

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Andy Swindler Categories: Marketing, Technology