When CauseBOOK was going from the "paper-napkin" sketch to what we call the "heads-down" hard work of coding it up for Public Release, the useful and purely pragmatic "integration" with Facebook was always part of the plan. The reasons for this were simple, and we detail that in the thread in this Forum titled "The CauseBOOK/Facebook Integration."
In honest-to-goodness humility, we have been building technology for thirty years, and we have made our mistakes. Still, we have also rocked our marketing technologies world - in techie-land, they refer to this as being "disruptive." And as a Team (CauseACTION is a by-product of that original Team), we have never been afraid to zig when everybody else was saying you had to zag. And just because something "hadn't been done before" was never a reason not to try to deliver what we believed was a better, smarter solution. Hence, the CauseBOOK/Facebook integration, as we detail it in the other thread.
That said, we recognize that we live in an (understandably) cynical and skeptical America in 2020. It can be more than just confusing (and a routine pet-peeve with us) - "issue" is cover for broken and screwed up; "relationship" is synonymous with sleeping together; "misremembered" is cover for lying; in a business conversation, you have to be sure to qualify just what kind of "partner" you're referring to, and then make sure you are careful with an out-loud suggestion to "hook-up" next week.
And so, when we make reference to our "integration" with Facebook, some people have expressed their confusion. I get it.
So for absolute clarity -
- CauseACTION and therefore, CauseBOOK is an independently-owned company and product. There are no outside investors, IOUs, or silent partners. There is zero connection to Facebook in this regard.
- As with any software product (which CauseBOOK naturally is), we use licensed software tools to build and maintain CauseBOOK. That "product" (CauseBOOK) is entirely owned by Richard A. Lepoutre.
- As with all such software tools, we have obligations to make proper and licensed use of those tools. This is a world we have lived in for decades. As the CauseACTION Team Leader, I also hold a Registered intellectual property U.S. Patent. I only mention that so that you know that we understand our responsibilities and obligations better than most.
- One of those "tools" is the Application Interface that allows CauseBOOK to connect with Facebook for cross-posting to Facebook and to permit CauseBOOK Subscribers to send CauseBOOK Registration Invitations to their Facebook Profile "Friends." As you would imagine, this commits us to "proper use" and terms that are extensively detailed by Facebook.
A special note to this thread...
While this is the limit of our relationship with Facebook today, we know Facebook quite well from another completely different perspective.
In 2012, CauseACTION's very public, national challenge of Facebook's failure to control the many thousands of pedophiles who were actively exchanging illegal images and videos on Facebook was known as the "Stop Child Porn On Facebook" Campaign. Aside from garnering nearly two million social media Followers (many of them past Victims and Survivors) this terrible problem was the subject of a very carefully researched, four-day expose by our friends at World Net Daily and a very courageous, young journalist, Chelsea Schilling. You can read the investigative piece here for those of you who may be interested in this terrible social media reality.
There are three things to note about this investigative piece...
First, it is not easy to read for many. Please be aware of that.
Secondly, and relevant to this thread, the WND story was reproduced in its entirety and with complete attribution back to WND by The Huffington Post. I am reliably told that this is the only time in the history of these two ideologically opposed publications that this happened. Thank God.
Third, while we were a real burr in Facebook's saddle, especially since this all occurred just as Facebook was launching its IPO, it was not acrimonious. We pressed very hard, from Capitol Hill to many meetings over two years with Facebook's most senior corporate management. They didn't like it, and they were way too slow to take it more seriously, but they came to respect us. They knew we were genuinely concerned and knowledgeable.
I trust this helps any of you who may have needed clarity on this subject.
