CBC News now has its own Facebook page, and you’re invited.

If you are on Facebook, just visit the CBC News Facebook page and click the button on the top right that says “Become a Fan” of CBC News.

According to Jon Dube, director of digital programming,

Doing so will add a link to the CBC News page to your Facebook profile, and let you participate in the conversations on the page and new features that we may add to it down the road.

Among other things, we hope you will use the page to post your suggestions for how we can improve CBC News, as well as to share and discuss interesting news stories you hear or watch on CBC or read on CBCNews.ca.

So far it’s mostly a headline distribution and discussion mechanism, but who knows what it will turn into?

(To my surprise, seven of the first 10 user comments on the announcement on the CBC News Editor’s Blog were pretty negative - to which I say, “what’s the harm?” Facebook is not exactly expensive, is it?)

I should point out that this is the officially-sanctioned CBC Facebook entity. A couple of weeks ago, Tod wrote about a different Facebook CBC fan page. That one is unofficial. This is the official one.

Google Facebook (oops) recently added the ability for people to indicate they’re a fan of certain shows, products, and companies.

So, since you’re a fan of the CBC (aren’t you??), be sure to
add yourself as a CBC/Radio-Canada fan now!

If you’re a host and dream of becoming an icon of Canadian broadcasting, turns out it’s pretty simple to do — at least on a computer. And one ex-pat now living in the U.S. has done just that. Steve Barker, who now calls Portland OR his home, made this George Stroumboulopoulos icon for his Mac computer.

Now, whenever he clicks on that icon, it takes him directly to the video streaming file of The Hour.

Talk about branding. Imagine how many times a day this guy sees Strombo, which serves as a fantastic reminder. An icon right on our listeners’/viewers’ desktop. You can’t buy that kind of advertising.
This is a cool idea. It wouldn’t take us much time (a day, max) to make icons for our top radio and TV shows and put simple instructions on how to link the icons to the streaming or podcast file of the latest episode.

Anyone? Bueller?

Oh come on, you knew it had to happen.

When CBC Television sold off many of its props from the Toronto broadcast centre last June, bargain hunters and CBC employees (er, not that the two are mutually exclusive!) picked up plenty. And now, some of them are getting sold on eBay.

These two bizarre foot-high statues were, the seller claims, used on a Kids in the Hall episode. The auction ends Friday in case you’re interested.

You’ve gotta admire him. Bryan Pearson (not pictured here), owner of the Astro Theatre in Iqaluit, has been quietly running a not-quite-legal rebroadcasting, uh, “service” — oh hell, I’ll say it, a pirate station — carrying CBC Radio for 13 years now.

He started it when CBC dropped Saturday Afternoon at the Opera from its AM broadcast. “That’s the only show that I listen to religiously,” he told a local paper. “So I got pissed off and bought a radio transmitter and a satellite dish.”

Pearson used to operate the station from his home, but later moved it to improve the signal’s reach. Still, on rainy days, some people in Iqaluit have trouble picking up the signal. It operates on only 1.8 watts of power, although the actual broadcasting licence he has is for 1/600th of a watt. “The same as your toaster,” he lamented.

Pearson says he’s never been hassled about the station, despite it being illegal.

CBC Radio now has a new station in Iqaluit, at 88.3 FM. Pearson says he’ll leave his station running anyway.

Sometimes, CBC signs come in handy for more than promotion…

Photo: “CBC recycled” by CAZASCO

CBC Edmonton staff recently set up bleachers for people who wanted to stop by and watch the FIFA Under 20 World Cup a while back. CBC Edmonton is located in City Centre Mall.  (Photo: simonerose)

According to the CRTC, in 2005 CBC had an average of 10,730 employees.

A whopping 2,413 of them have Facebook profiles and have joined the CBC network (and who knows how many more haven’t joined.) That’s 22.5 per cent of the entire staff, and climbing.

Yet for all those 2,413 members, the network page itself is a wasteland: two discussion topics, and 17 wall posts.

(By way of comparison, that’s less activity than the group I set up for the CBC.ca softball team, of which there are 12 Facebook members.)

Now, there’s also a CBC group on Facebook (a group is different from a network) with 345 members. And, to my unending dismay, its full title is “CBC (Canadian Broadcast Corporation)” - it’s Broadcasting, kids! But that group has a meager three discussion topics, 11 photos and 86 wall comments.

Which is pitiful.

Now, CBC’s audience is much more active – the fan group “I Heart CBC!” has 3,199 members, 48 photos, 57 topics and 291 wall posts. The group “I love ‘The Hour’” has 2,596 members, with 43 topics, 50 photos and 355 wall posts.

Granted, there are more fans than employees – and thank God for that! But why is the group and network we created for ourselves so barren?

CBC’s audience is busy on Facebook, and we’re pretty good at encouraging them to be (see the Great Canadian Wish List.) Based on raw numbers and personal experience, CBC employees do use Facebook, frequently. But we suck at representing the CBC itself.

Granted, it’s better to have an audience that talks about us than for us to be talking about ourselves (hey wait, what am I doing right now?) But I read in yesterday’s Globe that increasingly, corporations are using Facebook to talk up their companies and attract young talent – for example, the Ernst & Young Careers group alone has 8,485 members. (The same article does give the CBC credit for its YouTube video promoting what a great place it is to work… it appears to have been posted by one Tod Maffin. It’s also available via the CBC.ca/jobs site here.)

Should CBC make more of an effort to promote the corporation online? How? And whose job is it – the employees, or someone in Corporate Communications?

-PG

Is it just me, or is this video somewhat disturbing on a number of levels?

Photo: “CBC fangrrrl” by becky b.

So Microsoft has a new 3D RSS reader (nerd input: uh, why?!) that shows off some of their technology. CBC recording engineer Peter Cook noticed that buried deep within the Microsoft web site was a page that demonstrated what this technology looks like — and the image they used for the demonstration is a shot of the CBC Radio 3 podcast.

The Flickr user “girldiplomat” uploaded this pic yesterday. Which got me thinking… do you have any pics of someone in a CBC shirt in an unusual place? If so, send me the photo’s web address or email it to tod {at} insidethecbc.com.

Photo: “me and my CBC” by girldiplomat