It *is* mortifying to see the results of a (presumably) serious set of interviews turned into what is fundamentally an anti-intellectual article. I have to say that every time I talk to a journalist I worry that I won't end up sounding like a fool-even if the quote is correct. The best people to talk to are beat reporters who really know the territory. Monica Hesse, by contrast, is a "staff writer" who as a result has written articles with titles that range from "Identity Stolen: Steel Yourself" to "Refrigerator Stuffed Too Full" and "...Can Modern Love Survive a Tale of Two Chairs?" For what it's worth, I see articles such as the one about Facebook as a callout about the importance of a topic and people related to it. When I worry about such pieces, I tell myself that my nonacademic friends (and the PR folks at my University) will be impressed that I was quoted and mostly forget what was said; that most of my academic friends will know how this works and shrug off what sounds silly; and that only a wayward few will parse each quote to understand its deep meaning. Joe Joseph Turow Robert Lewis Shayon Professor and Associate Dean for Graduate Studies Annenberg School for Communication University of Pennsylvania 3620 Walnut Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104 215 898 5842