I didn't get a chance to blog about this but last week I spent a good portion of Thursday and Friday in a yet-to-be-opened Hollywood restaurant hosting TV and film stars at an Oscar gift suite! My very first Oscar-related event, ever. I grew up in LA and many of my friends have, over the years, attended parties, stood along the red carpet viewing area and even volunteered as Oscar seat fillers, but for me, this was my first time doing anything "Oscar".
Naturally, because this was work-related so I had to turn down my natural, "OH MY GOSH IS THAT SO AND SO" for a more mature, corporate-styled, "oh my gosh is that so and so" whenever a famous name or face made their way to the Norton booth. My job was to talk very briefly about the importance of being protected when you are online from viruses, hackers, and identity theft and then figure out if the celeb owns a PC or Mac and provide the appropriate goody bag with free stuff in it. The best part was having the celebrity pose with a box of our software and then, pose again with me! I hope to be able to get some of those photos to share with you soon.
I think the most interesting part of this was discovering that for famous and non-famous people alike, we all have things to fear and protect ourselves from on the internet. One woman (who I must admit, I didn't recognize but is a star of several dance-oriented films) told me she's had her MySpace page hacked numerous times, had several fake MySpace and Facebook pages set up in her name and now has a full time agency dedicated to managing her online brand. Another TV star (whom you would recognize from her role on several top network shows) told me she was so frustrated by the online issues in managing what is said or shown, that she's taken down her website and her social networking pages, since it became too much work.
And, since I know you are curious, the mix of PC to Mac ownership was about 50/50. 