Here at Room 214 we are wrapping up the final few weeks at our current office. We’ve been in this space since 2008, and it’s very exciting to be moving on to a new location. Our new office is will eventually be equipped with fancy new conference rooms, and informal meeting spaces… not to mention room for us to continue growing as a company.

We wanted to pass along a quick photo preview of the new office space as it is being built. We can’t wait for the move!

The Room 214 Dodgeball team goes by the name of “Socially Awkward.” The name seems quite fitting because we are continually destroyed by opposing forces in our dodgeball games. It doesn’t help that the opposing teams are comprised of jiu-jitsu masters.

After yesterday’s outbreak of the hilarious Tumblr blog, Tebowing, Room 214 Co-Founder Jason Cormier had to get in on the fun. Check out all of the hilarious Tebowing photos.

“The only thing constant in this world is change.” – India Arie

The leaves outside the office are in full fall mode. It’s a reminder that time marches on, no matter what you have to say about it. Let the past inspire you, but stay motivated for the future!

Don’t worry – it’s not a throwback to the days when your friends would send you a link to a photo you stared at, only to be freaked out and thrown out of your seat when a screaming zombie appeared. That’s old school. In an age where over 800 million people are active on Facebook, Take This Lollipop taps into collective fears about privacy and personal information in social networking on a much deeper level.

After clicking on the link from your feed, you are directed to a landing page where you can launch the app. The Facebook Connect logo appears, making it clear that the app will use your login and profile information if you provide access to it. There is also message reassuring you that none of your information will be stored, and nothing will be posted without your approval.

If you’re a fan of horror movies, you’ll get a familiar feeling as you are taken down a dark hallway where faint light emanates from a room. Distorted sounds and a broken soundtrack immediately create an unnerving atmosphere. As the camera enters the room, you see a malnourished and disheveled man at a desk.

His scarred face, damaged fingernails and aggressive look gives you the idea that he is clearly disturbed. Maybe you’re not yet scared, and when you see that he is on Facebook, you may feel a sense that this is probably going to be lame. That feeling of false security quickly fades as you see the profile he’s logging onto: it’s yours.

Feelings of dread overcome you and your attention is immediately gripped as you see him hovering over your profile, your posts, your photos and posts from your friends, and there’s nothing you can do about it. As he further trolls your profile, he grows unstable and desperate, unable to decide what to do next. Soon, he knows, and is back to typing: he’s looking up your address on Google maps. For a moment, he is eerily calm as he creepily caresses his screen. If you’re not disturbed yet, you will be: his head turns slowly toward you, revealing a delivish grin on his face.

Next, he appears in his car, driving furiously to your location. Cut scenes show him gripping his steering wheel in anger, at times even screaming and looking very dangerous. He finally arrives at his destination, and as he is shown exiting his car, the final scene shows the camera panning over to reveal your profile photo on his dashboard. Creepy. The app concludes and you are taken to a final screen. The ride is over.

After a few moments and once your heart is beating back to normal, you breathe a sigh of relief: it’s all just a trick, and you’re safe. There is no creepy cyberstalker on his way to pay you a visit. Most importantly, no one’s hacked your Facebook account, and all of the stuff you never wanted the world to see is still private. Or is it? Just kidding — it really is, I promise.

At the time of this writing, over 350,000 users have Liked Take This Lollipop, and Google News locates over 40 articles written about the website. Though who was behind it was a mystery at first, it was later determined to be the work of Los Angeles-based director and experienced digital marketer Jason Zada, the brain behind the highly successful “Elf Yourself” interactive campaign for Office Max.

Though Zada said in an interview with the New York Times that he is not promoting any product or brand, and he simply created Take This Lollipop to entertain and thrill, he has managed to capture the attention of hundreds of thousands of people. If nothing else, by letting his work speak for itself, he has found an intelligent way to further market himself and enhance his reputation as an interactive and experiential marketing expert.

Why it’s smart

• Uses Facebook Connect integration for quick and easy login
• Draws from a user’s Facebook profile and photos to create a compelling and personalized experience
• No brand or product associated, leaving participants curious about its origin and motivations of the creator
• Perfectly timed to release close to Halloween

Why it’s effective

• Taps into collective and individual fears about privacy and information on social networks
• Makes people feel vulnerable: it’s disturbing to see someone looking at our Facebook profile, one of the most personal digital properties anyone can have
• Emotional impression haunts the viewer long after the interactive experience is over
• The cinematography and production value is high, and Bill Oberst delivers a chilling performance as the cyberstalker

Facebook Privacy Settings and Previewing Your Profile

Have you tried the app? If so, I bet you’re feeling like now would be a great time to double-check your privacy settings, even if the cyberstalker in Take This Lollipop was shown as somehow having your password. If you haven’t looked them over in a while, the interface may be unfamiliar because it has recently changed.

In the new Privacy Settings area, you can select the audience that you want your posts to be visible to by default. You can make all of your new posts public, visible only to friends, or even keep certain lists of people from seeing them by selecting the custom option.

Also, from this area you can control how people find and connect with you, whether you want to enable others to tag you, and what applications and websites have access to your profile. For each item in each of the sections, you have extensive control over what you share publicly or with friends, and the level of access you wish to provide to apps, websites and features within Facebook.

You can also control what information from your profile is visible to the public and your friends. To do so, go to your profile page and click on the “Edit Profile” button in the top-right corner under the “Home” link. In the drop-down menus next to each item, you can select who can see that detail of information.

Once you’ve fine-tuned your privacy settings, you can preview your profile to see how it looks to others. On your profile page, simply click on the “View As” button next to the “Edit Profile” button.

You can type in the name of a friend or acquaintance you’re connected with, and see a preview of how your profile appears to them.

You an also click on the “public” link on the preview page to see how it looks to anyone who’s not on your friends list.

Though your profile is all set, you’re still not finished: you still have photos to secure. To control privacy settings for pictures, go to your Photos section and click on the button under the right corner of the thumbnail for a photo album. In the drop-down menu, select the audience you want to share its photos with.

Going through your privacy settings periodically is always a good idea. However, this only keeps people who aren’t on your friends list from seeing your personal information and content you wish to keep private. If someone has found a way to hack into your profile, everything will be available for view. Keeping passwords secure, electronic devices like phones and iPods safe, and logging out of Facebook on public computers is the best way to keep creepy guys in dark rooms from getting access to your account.

Have you taken the lollipop? Post your reaction in the comments – we want to know what you have to say.

“Humanity has advanced, when it has advanced, not because it has been sober, responsible, and catious, but because it has been playful, rebellious, and immature.” - Tom Robbins

Sadly, in today’s world of instant information sharing, it has become easier to appeal to to the lowest common denominator. Most casual social media users are more likely to re-post a train-wreck celebrity video than a thought-provoking article.

Although we’ve seen crappy actors resurrect their careers using Twitter, too many people think with the right viral campaign their brand will become huge over-night. The truth is, you start with a great product, and through dedication to your customers your brand will grow.

I don’t want to paint the world with a broad brush, but at our core, we are all gossip fiends. Every so often I see something so appalling bad — so incredibly awful — that I simply MUST share it with my friends and family on Facebook/Twitter.

If you have posted, discussed, or even clicked Like on any update related to the following examples, you are every bit as guilty. But, let this serve as a reminder that instant celebrity is never a proper foundation for building a brand or social media presence. Stick to hard work and dedication.

Exhibit A: The Sheen Effect

#Winning and #TigerBlood became insta-memes when Charlie Sheen joined Twitter recently. He took a page from Conan’s book after being fired from his hit show. Now he travels the country getting booed out of sold-out comedy clubs.

Exhibit B: Gotta Get Down on Friday

Rebecca Black is the musical equivalent of Top Ramen. In the last two months this video has received nearly 100 million views. The only saving grace for our society in this scenario is the like/dislike differential: 250 thousand likes vs. 1.9 million dislikes. Ouch!

Exhibit C: The Situation Nation

Heading into the third season of his hit show “Jersey Shore,” Mike Sorrentino proved to a room full of real comedians who was the real joke. This is what happens when we let people be famous for lifting up their shirt.

Taking a Break

Given that our office is about to close for a week and we’re all taking time to focus on friends, family, and skiing, I thought I’d take a moment to read up on the impact of taking a social media break. Our friends over at Sysomos took a look at the impact of an internet-free week at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology. The result? Reported increases in quality of life and engagement in activity.

We are addicted to immediacy. Twitter breaks news before news channels break news, and it seems that getting the early scoop and being in the know has become ultimately important. Windows highlighted this constant need in the campaign for their new phone, which shows just how far we’ll go, and how much we’ll ignore, to get updated information.

Figure Out The Important Stuff

Matt Leonard wrote a post for Search Engine Journal about turning off for a while, and observed that, when he checked back in, not much had changed. The same people were saying the same things. As an agency, we spend a huge amount of time sorting through all the noise to find actual insights for our clients. There aren’t that many original pieces of information created every second; you need to know how to figure out what is actually important. Perhaps that’s a lesson worth remembering this holiday season.

So, on that note, a very happy holidays from Room 214. May your Blackberrys, iPhones, and Androids take a much-needed rest.

An iPad is a different story. I remember reading a post by Fred Wilson, who was revisiting his negative opinion on his iPad. He noted that the “iPad makes using a computer less of a commitment” and goes on to explain how, in addition to easily moving in and out of interaction with the device, his whole family share use together, as well as each having their own personal use. Some data from Nielsen supports his personal observations.

I’m interested in how this sharing takes place live, and how this shared aspect impacts the kinds of apps/sites popular on an iPad versus a phone or computer. While Google TV, Apple TV, Roku, Boxee, etc. are including integration that makes my TV social, a shared tablet while watching TV could create a whole other kind of social experience layered onto the TV experience. No longer would I just sit there sharing IMDB and Facebook facts with my friends/anyone who will listen. We could actively participate around entertainment. Send me any examples you see of this happening, as I’d love to get them posted up here.

As tomorrow is election day, the online world is buzzing with political conversations. As we are in the process of working to relaunch and run Politicosphere, I’ve got the intersection of politics and social media on my mind. On that note, I want to draw attention to an interactive map the New York Times put up. This map looks at Twitter buzz around individual candidates’ Twitter handles, including their own tweets, tweets to them, and their tweets retweeted.

If you’re sitting in front of your TV tomorrow night, watching the election results, I highly recommend you practice some media multi-tasking and watch this along with results. It will be interesting to see how big wins, big losses, and tight races pace with Twitter buzz.