- Telling Facebook Lies

The face you're looking at belongs to Shervin Pishevar from Menlow Investments. He was on CNBC today talking about how he loves Facebook and how he see's great things for it in the future. But I think he's lying.

Frithguild, our local legal expert, is a friend of mine. He's also a skilled litigator who has spent much of his career learning about the non verbal cues that people sometimes provide about their veracity. I've always been interested in body language, but Frith has forgotten more on this subject than I've probably ever known. We had a chance to discuss some of these things recently and it was very interesting. But I have a pretty busy intellectual life so like most casual conversations with friends, the points we discussed went to the back of my mind to languor there until they were eventually forgotten. At least they had until I saw this guy.

This guy was a walking example of all the tells, giveaways and confessions that nonverbal communication can offer. His eyes went to all the wrong places. His hands did all the wrong things. If I were trying to show people examples of the cues we discussed I'd say this one was staged rather than done by accident. If I had a tape I'd link it just because I know it would make frithguild laugh like hell.

We all lie to ourselves. Some less often or less convincingly, but being honest with ourselves always takes work. Some of us also lie to others. For those that do that sort of thing, it's usually no challenge at all, but if it is, I imagine that they can't really hide it well - much like this guy couldn't. I think he's an honest guy trying to wear a look that doesn't suit him, and his manner is giving it away.

Oh... and continue to sell Facebook.