The Social Media Mindset: Just who is in control of Facebook?

Friday, April 3rd, 2009 | Internet News, Social Networking Sites | No Comments

An interesting post in Slate reads differently from what you may be thinking; it’s not the creators, the executives, or even the purse-holding accountants – it’s the users. Slate author Edmond Lee argues that it’s the same users who have signed up for a free account and use Facebook bandwidth to create personal profiles, upload pictures, and network on personal and professional levels that are really calling the shots. His biggest example: the recent uproar among Facebookers over the change in Terms of Service. Unless you’ve been unplugged from every media source you’ve heard about it: the calamity Facebook caused when they changed their terms to say that they basically assume ownership over every piece of personalized material you upload to their servers; you can upload but you can’t ever delete the content. Outraged, and likely perplexed (why do they want to keep the picture of me and my sister in our backyard???), Facebookers raged against the machines. Quick to defend Facebook’s stance, CEO Mark Zuckerberg attempted to put out the flames by explaining that the terms merely reflected an information-sharing security measure.

Let’s spin it old school: say I leave behind a few personal items at my parent’s home and later return to throw out some items and take a few others with me when I leave for college. My parents, worried that their trash may be picked through or that the objects will be stolen from my dorm room, forbid the items to leave the house saying they’re just looking after my [information-sharing] security. Granted, my parents aren’t in the business of raising children for money but the principal is the same. They provided me a free service (a space to call my own) and during this time I added my personal affects to this space. Now that I’m ready to take my personal items elsewhere they’re claiming control.

Three days later Facebook changed the wording back to the original terms.

Slate’s position is that this step backwards was a huge transgression on the part of Facebook and that the company is “doomed to fail”. LOL! “By heeding to the objections of its grumbling users, Facebook has essentially painted itself into a revenue corner.” ROFL!

I respectfully, and wholeheartedly, disagree. Social media – from a networking or marketing perspective – fundamentally is ALL ABOUT the user and it always has been. Sure, it’s a business and it’s got to turn a profit but Facebook isn’t having any trouble turning huge profit numbers and its business model is not in jeopardy now simply because they listened to their users. If ever there was a sign for the positive effects democracy can bring, Facebook has shown us in a new-age sort of way.

Facebook’s business principal is growth, then revenue. They invest time first in learning the behaviors of their users and then turning it into a profit. Perhaps that’s why it’s overtaking MySpace in terms of growth, flying right in the face of MySpace’s business principal: money first! Facebook hasn’t stepped backwards; they’ve leaped forward and businesses looking to make a profit and keep happy customers have some homework to do when it comes to customer service, client retention, and brand management.

Tweet This Post 

Tags: facebook, facebook terms of service, facebook tos, Social Media Marketing, social media networking, social media profit, social networking

SMM – Social Media Marketing, joins the family of SEO & SEM

Sunday, March 2nd, 2008 | Internet Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization | 1 Comment

Social Media Marketing, the new media Web 2.0.

Social Media Marketing has been coming on strong for some time now. This is a wonderful new area of the web. The struggle I have seen with many people is understanding its business impact. As marketers it is difficult to get your head around such a viral arena. On one hand SMM brings reach because it is so prolific. The number of pages and profiles coming online make the early days of the internet pale.

Reach Dilution

My first question is how to leverage this reach for marketers when on first glance it appears to expand the reach opportunities in advertising and at the same time dilute the effectiveness of advertising. On the other the target of SMM advertising, the relevance of the audience goes up exponentially.

Demographic Targeting

I like this revolution of adverting to the original onset of Search Marketing. At first it was an educational sale and a tough one at that. The impressions of Search Engine advertising are so small compared to the cost per thousand, CPM, model it is staggering. At the same time the value delivered by SEM and the return on investment make it one of the best media buys in the industry. This is because the SEM audience is predisposed to your product or offering by nature of the search terms entered into a search engine. SEM is no longer tenuous media, in fact it has joined the ranks of mainstream and any serious marketing is obligated to this space.

The Me Too! Effect

Will SMM make the same transition? The jury is still out on that one. The flood of rapid entrants into this media makes it appear so. These entrants may have learned that SEM is now mainstream and many marketers have missed the boat because of a wait and see position. So now these same marketers are flooding into the space espousing it’s virtues.

No Silver Bullet

The truth lies somewhere in between for SMM however. It is time consuming and and arduous endeavor. But if done correctly it can rival the best that Madison Avenue has to offer in results.

Stay tuned for SMM tips and how to make your SMM program a success.

Tweet This Post 

Tags: Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, SMM, Social Media Marketing