“Can I tell you something you really need to know about for this story?” says Ben Martin, CAE, as soon as we say our hellos at the beginning of our phone call. “Are you familiar with the Sarah Lacy/Mark Zuckerberg fiasco?”
How could anyone forget? The incident, reported and recounted in blog posts innumerable, might carry the championship title for the all-time most disastrous conference keynote ever—at least from the backchannel point of view. The date: March 9, 2008. The place: South by Southwest Interactive (SXSW) in Austin, TX. The contenders: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, journalist Sarah Lacy, and Twitter.
