A couple weeks ago I decided to ditch my Facebook page.  Deleting my Facebook page meant handing the pages I was an admin for off to my brother.  Recently, i was informed of a tool which is now available for Facebook page admins.  Apparently these days you can approve or deny anything someone wants to post on your page before it is posted, just with a couple clicks of the mouse.  

This news resonated with me as it was one of the reasons I decided to sever my relationship with Facebook.  On Facebook you can be whoever you want to portray yourself as.  Now with this tool, companies can filter user reviews and comments revealing strictly uplifting content.  Deawoo could suddenly be the best car on the market according to fingers on Facebook.  If the tool is misused, there is a very good chance you will end up with many disgruntled customers.

With power comes responsibility.

Ever wanted to reminisce about your favorite games, songs, or items from your past or childhood?  BuzzFeed is working with Facebook in order to make that happen.  Facebook has the ability to log endless information about the present events and trends on everyone’s minds, but does it have it for the past?

Recently Facebook has installed the timeline layout which allows users to scroll back all the way to when they were born.  The only thing is that it doesn’t have much information about us in that time of our lives because Facebook was not around then.  There was no way for us to post about the things we loved.  This is where BuzzFeed came in and saw a chance to expand on what Facebook has started.  They have begun installing buttons on a few posts asking questions such as, “What was your favorite computer?” or “What toys did you play with as a kid?”.

BuzzFeed believes that this will allow people to once again experience things they enjoyed in there earlier years.  They expect to see an increase in social sharing traffic since many people enjoy sharing stories and talking about the past and the popular things they remember.

Ever wonder how a so-called “social network” website is making so much money?

I mean think about it… There’s no charge to join, no subscription fee, no new hardware or software to buy… How on earth are they pulling in millions and millions of dollars??

It’s simple really. ADVERTISING.

Facebook charges companies to place ads on the site. Ya know, those annoying things that are the side panel of every page, yeah those. Facebook has created a quick and easy way for companies to target their ads. By collecting all kinds of data about its users (through profile information, places they visit, likes, etc.) Facebook can place ads in just the right place at just the right time. Because of this pinpoint accuracy, advertisers flock to them for ad space!

That’s how they make money. They charge for ad space, and thousands of companies are willing to pay large sums for it.

So don’t overlook the potential of selling ads on your site!

Last week, Facebook and current CEO and creator Mark Zuckerberg made it official along with the SEC to have Facebook stocks be sold to the public. Though this maybe the most anticipated IPO (initial public offering)  in the history of the stock market, there is a lot of speculation of how this will affect Facebook. The stocks will most likely not be available to the public until May, but the $5 billion has been raised to allow Facebook to put their stocks up for purchasing.

Facebook already has huge popularity and has been one of the most successful businesses of the 21st century, so why the change? Mark Zuckerberg answers that question with this:

“There is a huge need and a huge opportunity to get everyone in the world connected, to give everyone a voice and to help transform society for the future,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, in a letter that accompanied the filing. “The scale of the technology and infrastructure that must be built is unprecedented, and we believe this is the most important problem we can focus on.”

Facebook already has 800 million users across the world (that is about 1/7 of the world’s population) and Zuckerberg wants to expand even more! The big issue with Facebook going public will be that advertising is going to be the main money maker for Facebook now. That means Facebook is going to have a more YouTube-ish look to it. This may not seem like a problem to us here in the US, but that is because most users of Facebook in America have personal computers, laptops or tablets; but, across the world the majority of users have mobile devices and advertising on mobile devices is much harder to accomplish and still have that social media effectiveness of Facebook that they have always had.

With that said, I personally see this as a very mature move for Facebook to go public. It is the right move for them, but it might have happened a little too late with the current stock market. Time will only tell how effective this move will be for the current leader of the Social Media Market.

David Fischer

A Different Kind of Advertising

Users swarmed to Facebook back in 2005 because of its selectivity and clean look.  Unlike the flashing banners and confusing formats of Myspace, Facebook was uniform and surprisingly easy to navigate. One of the reasons why the social media monster, Facebook, is different than other social media sites is its advertising. Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg allegedly hates pop-up ads and obnoxious promotions which gives the vice president of marketing and former Google executive, David Fischer, the difficult task of selling ad space without discouraging users. Fischer has risen to the challenge by creating ad ‘experiences’ that engage readers by relating to them personally.

What Does Sponsored Mean?

Take a look at the right side of your Facebook page. There’s a column under your live feed titled ‘sponsored’ that pays Facebook’s bills.  This section highlights any status updates or likes that your friends make about a company and combines them with an ad straight from the company.  For example, under my sponsored section it says, “Justin P. likes Chevrolet” and there’s an ad for the Chevy Game Time app below it.

The Most Effective Form of Marketing

However, this month Facebook will start putting their sponsored stories directly into your news feed. So for the first time, companies can pay to be at the top of your page and at the forefront of your mind.  This strategy is to try and reproduce the most effective form of marketing, word-of-mouth.

Considering the fact that 85% of Facebook’s revenue last year was from their online advertising, I would say it’s working quite nicely.

What do you think of Facebook’s advertising technique? Will sponsored stories in your news feed get you more interested in brands that your friends endorse or just annoy you?

Do you have your own social media network page? Of course you do. It has been the craze of the millennium and billions sign on to use these websites everyday. Facebook.com has been the most popular social media over the past few years; however, on June 28th, 2011 Google Inc. launched their version of social media called Google+. Immediately a buzz surrounded the social media globe as many suspected that with the entrance of corporate powerhouse (Google) into social networking that it would soon over take Facebook as the leader in Social Media. Now over six months in to their campaign, Google+ still sits behind in the rankings compared to #1 Facebook and I believe (along with others) that is exactly where Google+ will remain for a long time.

Google is entering into the social media game a little too late. This is not like when Facebook overtook MySpace as number 1. Why? Well when Facebook entered into the battle over number 1 with MySpace, Zuckerberg took information management to the next level which MySpace simply did not have the vision to do. The change Facebook made compared to MySpace was huge, but the proposed ideas Google+ are making are simply not “BIG” enough to smite Facebook. Google+ will never gain enough respect to surpass Facebook because Google Inc. will always be seen as the search engine corporation. In marketing terms (as taught by the great Dr. Powell) “It is better to be first than to be better.” This means that since Facebook was the first at enhancing and mastering information sharing they will always be the go-to network even if someone can better their ideas (much like people believe Google+ has done).

Still don’t believe me? Here’s a quote form the Kanzuru Blog called “Why Google+ Will Never Surpass Facebook – Sorry Google Shareholders, it is not the next Facebook Killer” or as seen on technorati.com  under the title “Why Google+ is not the Facebook it Thinks it is.” The article says, “People will always see Google as just that: Google. Google is merely about information and passing information from one person to the next, from one point to another. This is all about marketing 101 – branding.” The article continues by going on to say, “Google is an information or “search for information” brand, not a social networking brand. Google+ does not have all of the quirks that made Google, “Google” when it came into the business of transferring information. Google was in and of the same – it was it’s brand but it was also it’s action, and it’s essence.” Though Google is a huge corporation and undoubtedly has created some of best innovations of the 21st century, it will never become the number 1 social media network it wants to become. Mainly, because Facebook is just better.

Here’s the link to the Kanzuru Blog that I used my quotes from:

http://onekanzuru.wordpress.com/2011/07/18/why-google-will-never-surpass-facebook-sorry-google-shareholders-it-is-not-the-next-facebook-killer/