By Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk

by Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk, president

I hear and read stories about social media every day. While it’s always an uphill battle, I do my best to stay abreast of the latest happenings, changes and even silly memes and stories. But it’s rare that something this funny and ridiculous is sent to me by a friend, colleague and former client.

Will the real Ward Council please stand up?

I’ve known Ward Council for a number of years. In fact, he is one of the first people I met with when I was starting bbr marketing back in 2009. I can’t remember how we were introduced, but I’ve enjoyed getting to know him and watching his firm grow. We even did a bit of work together a few years ago. So needless to say, I can confirm that he’s a real, flesh and blood human being. One of the good ones too. He’s also got a great sense of humor, a trait I relish in colleagues and friends.

So recently, he was thinking about starting a blog and discovered that you had to have a Google+ account to use BlogSpot. So, he created one. Or so he thought. It seems that Google+ doesn’t think he’s a real person. He gets this from time to time. An attorney with the last name of Council, really? (I seem to remember I even commented on that fact when we initially met. I’m sure one of many in a long line of people who have made a similar, expected observation.) So he responded with the requested links to prove his existence, assuming a real person would take a quick look and realize he’s bona fide. But no! He received a 2nd note from Google+ denying his account and his existence.

So being an attorney and a darn good writer, Ward crafted the following letter. I haven’t laughed this hard in a while, so I highly recommend you take the time to savor it like I did. And if you feel inspired to share it with others, I encourage you to do so. Feel free to add your own stories in the comment section too. Enjoy!

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June 17, 2013

Dear Google+, 

I am in receipt of your e-mail notifying me that you have rejected my appeal of your initial determination that I am not a real person. I see no way to communicate with you through an e-mail, and the only way that I have identified to communicate with you is through uploading files, so I am creating this letter to upload. 

When I received your first e-mail informing me that you did not believe I am a real person, I thought: “OK, fine, they have some sort of computer algorithm that spit out an unthinking computer-generated reaction. This will be settled easily enough. When I submit documentation to them, someone with a brain will look at it and the issue will be immediately put to bed.” Not so!

As you suggested, I provided to you links to two established online identities: the website of my law practice and my LinkedIn profile. I thought that providing you with these two websites that have been on the Web for more than five years each, referring to me by name throughout them, accompanied by pictures of me and biographical information, would be overkill if nothing else. Heck, you are the people who keep copies of the entire Web going back who knows how long, and you can readily verify that these sites have been on the Web copiously referring to me by name for years, right?

Receiving an e-mail from you notifying me that your initial determination that I do not exist was confirmed by the experts at Google+ after their careful review of the website of The Law Office of Ward Council at www.wardcouncillaw.com and the LinkedIn profile of Ward Council of The Law Office of Ward Council (emphasis added) has left me flabbergasted and speechless. Well, maybe not quite speechless. I am going to have some fun with this. Here are some creative, outside-the-box ideas that I am sure would never have occurred to you: 

1. Why don’t you “Google me?” If you search for the term “Ward Council,” you will see that my aforementioned law practice website will be the top result of your search and that my LinkedIn profile will appear high on the second page of the search results. If you get really fancy and search for “Ward Council attorney Atlanta,” immediately following the link to the website of a DUI lawyer that you are promoting, you will see not only my website and LinkedIn profile, but you will also see several other unrelated third-party websites that reference me. 

2. Why don’t you type my name into the search field on “Google images?” In the second row you will see my smiling face, the same picture that is on the aforementioned law practice website, and readily recognized as being the same person whose photo appears on my LinkedIn profile. 

3. Why don’t you check how many people have on an unsolicited basis been trying to add this fictitious “Ward Council” to their Google+ circles before this fictitious character even had any interest in Google+?

I think as a next step I will post a copy of this letter on Facebook and LinkedIn, and ask my Facebook friends and LinkedIn connections to send you e-mails verifying that they know me to exist (as well as suggesting they might want to consider shorting your stock). However, I do not have an e-mail address to provide to them. Can you please provide me with an e-mail address to which my friends and connections can send you e-mails in support of my existence?

I will also send a copy of this letter to The Wall Street Journal, just in case they find this subject to be an amusing one for the feature that they run in the middle of the bottom of the front page. 

I am really at a loss. Please do send me an e-mail with some specific suggestions for persuading you that I exist, as I feel like I have already provided you with what should have been more than satisfactory evidence. 

Sincerely, 

Ward Council (REALLY, DAMN IT!)

In case you want to download this letter as a PDF, you can do so here. Ward Letter to Google+ June 17 2013