This is one of those important posts to forward to your marketing team, agency partners, and to Facebook themselves.
While there’s been plenty of coverage about user privacy concerns, attention on Facebook’s changes on brands hasn’t been adequately covered, this analysis is intended to unravel what’s at stake –and what brands should do. I’ve spoken to a handful of brands and their representatives to learn what’s eating at them.
Summary: Facebook has quietly launched ‘Community Pages’ Hampering Brands
Facebook has launched several new policies and features since the F8 Conference ‘Crusade of Colonization’ which has resulted in a large backlash from media around user privacy. It’s not clear if beyond the vocal media if users will leave the site in droves. Perhaps more importantly, Facebook launched “Facebook Community Pages” (read the official post) a feature that aggregates content from wikipedia and Facebook wall posts. Think of it as a cross between Wikipedia with user comments –sometimes unwittingly. These changes cause confusion for users, diminishing control for brands, and strains on the already torrid relationship between Facebook and brands.
Motives: Facebook Must Go Open To Increase Monetization Inventory
Facebook continues to leap ahead of their competitors in terms of innovation, however that often comes with risks to their community. Here’s why they are making these moves:
- At Facebook, Innovation Means Asking For Forgiveness Later. This is a pattern. Facebook believes in their vision and launches innovative products (by innovation, I mean features others have not dared to do first) and then asks for forgiveness later. They often move faster than their community is ready, from going for .edu to public, exposing wall posts features, to Beacon, they push forward in the name of innovation.
- Aggregation is a Cheap and Effective Way of Creating New Content. It’s a brilliant model to repurpose existing content from other sites, as it’s low-cost for Facebook. However, the downside is that content aggregated from Facebook members wall pages may not have been intended to be created as public.
- Resulting in More Content Inventory for Advertising Opportunities. Facebook knows that in order to compete with massive Google, they need more content to be public. As a default, most features and content types are now being published in public, and you’re seeing why they’re aggregating existing Wikipedia content to drive up SEO and advertising revenue. They must be open to win the end game of monetization.
Matrix: How Facebook’s ‘Community Pages’ and Privacy Changes Impact Brands
| The Change | Description | Impacts to Brands | What No One Tells You |
| Community Pages | In the spirit of Wikipedia, Facebook launched a feature that aggregates content from Wikipedia and public wall posts from users | This has created confusion among users as many iterations of a single brand may spread from ‘official’ Facebook pages to now community pages. (see example from Arbor Day) Additionally, this causes angst among brands who were told to invest. | Facebook struggles with being public, so their strategy is to aggregate the public web into Facebook. Yet expect brands to revaluate spending time and money in Facebook as trust has been broken. |
| Aggregation of Wall Comments | Content from users public wall posts may be aggregated to Community Pages. However users may not: 1) Know the content is public, 2) It’s being aggregated out of context | There are a few embarrassing examples of people’s content who are being aggregated such as “My Stupid Boss” as well as content being aggregated on Community Pages that are not contextually relevant. | A search powerplay for Facebook. Facebook’s betting on more public content by aggregating existing content, which in the long run will influence brands to come to Facebook as SEO scores increase. |
| Wikipedia Aggregation | Wikipedia content about any topic (including that of a brand) is now being fed into Facebook Community Pages | Less control for brands. Brands already struggle with updating and keeping accurate their Wikipedia pages, now the content will be spread to more locations. There appears to be a nod that Facebook will allow this content to someday be community edited. | To be successful, brands must keep their Wikipedia pages fresh and accurate. Expect savvy brands to ignite their advocates to manage this as Wikipedians have a general disdain against brands. |
| Logo Usage | Facebook Community Pages aggregate in corporate logos onto these webpages, often without brand content. | These real logos may cause confusion for users as they could mistake Community Pages to be the official page over Facebook pages. Legal department sending questions to the social strategist who’s not in control. | Expect embarrassment and frustration for social strategists where the Community Pages have more followers than Facebook pages. |
| Lack of Commenting Ability | The Community Pages only aggregate content (some which is out of context) and do not allow for two way dialog in the form of comments | Brands that have incorrect content on Community Pages, or brand detractors are not able to respond directly. | This will cause frustration for brands as they try to respond into the aggregated wall post section from their own Facebook Page, causing continued confusion. |
| User Privacy Woes | There’s been much written (read the Q&A with a FB exec) about the privacy woes as more content is public, with complicated privacy toggles and controls. | As users become frustrated (albeit, a small vocal amount), trust in Facebook will diminish, and brands will also lose interest in investing in Facebook. | Although consumers say they care about privacy, but in most cases, don’t expect them to do anything about it until it impacts their personal lives. |
| Communication With Brands | These Facebook Community Pages (as I’m told) were not communicated in advance to brands, and they were generally caught off guard | Partnerships are built off trust, and trust has been diminished by this recent move. I’m told (but can’t confirm) that Facebook has generally responded in email and sent a link to a web form and answered a Q&A (Which I’ve read, but will not publish) to brands. | Further degradation in trust as communication is not met both ways, brands will seek other opportunities. Such as investing in community platforms on their own sites. |
| Advertising Impacts | More advertising inventory has been created by Facebook as Community Pages already have ads on them (once you’re logged in, see right nav). | For brands that are not active in Facebook, they may see this as a “highjack” model in the recent criticisms of Squidoo, Get Satisfaction, and Wikipedia. They’ll be forced to participate as communities rally around their community pages. | The savvy brands are already active in Facebook, and those that are hesitant will continue to approach with caution (now that trust has been broken). If Facebook continues with Community Pages, expect this increase in inventory to offer increased revenue streams. |
Facebook has Diminished Relationship with Brands
For the last few years, Facebook has told brands to invest in their relationship through advertising, Facebook Pages, and connecting with applications –yet recent moves erode the relationship.
- The Trend Continues: Power Shifts Away From Brands. Nothing new, more of the same: power continues to shift away from brands, read how some colleges are ‘freaking out’ by the lack of control. However what’s different is that in the past the ‘Groundswell’ as an unstoppable force from customers, brands weren’t expecting their power to be eroded from their media partner, Facebook.
- Brands Frustrated As Community Pages Outnumber Official Page. Facebook must become more open, and expect community pages to continue to be created. (see Tweet testimonial) I’m told that Facebook will migrate community pages to your official Facebook page, but more community pages are continuing to be created.
- Burning The Bridge To Revenue Island Will Take Considerable Repairs. Because these Community Pages were launched without the consent or preview from brands, skepticism has emerged on trust of these new features. If the long term strategy of Facebook is to generate revenues from brands (I know of a 7 figure deal in the works that could be re-evaluated) due to these changes. It’s important that Facebook go back to the core values that communication foster trust, which fosters relationships, which fosters partnerships, which fosters revenues moving.
What Brands Should Do:
Although I like what Dave Fleet has had to say, there’s little advice has been offered to brands, here’s how companies should approach these changes:
- Work as a Collective. Nothing like using the power of community in order to influence a community that has power of you. Brands should connect to each other to both share intelligence, develop a common voice. Start with GasPedal’s Peer to Peer ‘Social Media Business Council‘ and the WOMMA trade organization, you’ll also find like-minded marketers in Marketing Profs, who may also offer an SMB perspective the others do not. By joining with your peers and approaching with a common voice, brands will be able to force their hand. You’ll have to work together.
- Monitor Your Brand on New Assets. If you already have a PR agency gleaning insights or have a listening platform in place, turn the listening devices towards Wikipedia and the newly minted community platforms. Setup alerting systems as changes on Wikipedia will now impact Facebook Community Pages. We’ve listed out the listening vendors in our latest report, Social Marketing Analytics.
- Spread Bets, Bring Community Closer To You. With power diminishing, brands shouldn’t place all their bets in just a few social networks. Instead, conduct socialgraphics to find out where your customers are, then invest in other networks. Furthermore, start analysis on building your own community off your corporate website for customers, advocates, and lifestyle communities. Give customers a choice to interact with others on your own properties rather than relegating to Facebook alone. Look at vendors like Mzinga, Awareness, Lithium, Kickapps, Telligent, Jive, Pluck, Liveworld, and beyond.
- Develop An Advocacy Program Now. I strongly insist that advocacy programs are key for today’s brand. They may have access to update Wikipedia pages, influence prospects, and become brand advocates when companies are unable to scale. Use this advocacy program checklist to get started now. See how vendors like Zuberance, Expo TV, and in some form, Bazaarvoice can spur forward advocates voices and aggregate.
I’ve spent a few days sorting this out, and reading as much as I could, however if you’ve got more to add, please leave a comment with your observation, or suggestion for brands below. Update: I’d like to thank LaSandra Brill, a strategist at corporate who was a great source of information. I rely on her for her perspective, and I think you should too, follow her on Twitter. I like how Peter Friedman has made clear points on how Facebook must live with their world, both in comments and his latest post.
Update May 27th: Roy Young, the head of Marketing Profs, has conducted a survey of users and marketers about Facebook’s changes in privacy, which are related to the community pages changes. Their findings indicate that trust has eroded in Facebook, and Marketers were more concerned over privacy than consumers. The most important findings is that marketers will ‘somewhat increase’ their investments in Facebook in next 3 months.
Nice article. It does seem as though Facebook is being rather careless with their “relationships.” I don't know how long they can continue to be that way without getting a bad rap and people looking for alternatives. While they are “big” today they may not be tomorrow. . . who will come out with the next “great web destination”. . . I'm sure there will be one sooner or later, just as Facebook came about so will something else, thus it's always wise to build those strong relationships and maintain them for the future, but that doesn't seem to be the case with Facebook today. . .
Nice article. It does seem as though Facebook is being rather careless with their “relationships.” I don't know how long they can continue to be that way without getting a bad rap and people looking for alternatives. While they are “big” today they may not be tomorrow. . . who will come out with the next “great web destination”. . . I'm sure there will be one sooner or later, just as Facebook came about so will something else, thus it's always wise to build those strong relationships and maintain them for the future, but that doesn't seem to be the case with Facebook today. . .
This is a great, valuable read. I'm curious how long it stays relevant as I'd expect this to change far sooner than Facebook's privacy policy. Facebook's biting the brands that feed them, creating a lot of confusion and extra work for the same marketers that are the source of Facebook's revenue. Meanwhile, there's no clear value for Facebook's users either. It may take a bit but I'm betting that this one aspect of FB's latest updates will change considerably.
This is a great, valuable read. I'm curious how long it stays relevant as I'd expect this to change far sooner than Facebook's privacy policy. Facebook's biting the brands that feed them, creating a lot of confusion and extra work for the same marketers that are the source of Facebook's revenue. Meanwhile, there's no clear value for Facebook's users either. It may take a bit but I'm betting that this one aspect of FB's latest updates will change considerably.
David
Facebook is constantly changing, making my job never-ending. The privacy policy will likely help users to better understand how their information is being shared beyond their Facebook Wall but the precedent has been set: Facebook wants to be more public.
David
Facebook is constantly changing, making my job never-ending. The privacy policy will likely help users to better understand how their information is being shared beyond their Facebook Wall but the precedent has been set: Facebook wants to be more public.
Success yields scrutiny and criticism, we saw the same thing with Google and before them, Microsoft.
Facebook's sphere of relationships is complicated just like a large enterprise software company, it's clear they're not thinking out all the impacts to their ecoystem players.
Success yields scrutiny and criticism, we saw the same thing with Google and before them, Microsoft.
Facebook's sphere of relationships is complicated just like a large enterprise software company, it's clear they're not thinking out all the impacts to their ecoystem players.
Great summary. I agree that these confusing moves by Facebook highlights the need for comprehensive listening strategies for brands. At MutualMind we have found great interest from clients in monitoring wider social media in general and Facebook search and wall posts in particular. /Babar/
Great summary. I agree that these confusing moves by Facebook highlights the need for comprehensive listening strategies for brands. At MutualMind we have found great interest from clients in monitoring wider social media in general and Facebook search and wall posts in particular. /Babar/
Yes, Facebook wants to be more public, but it also wants brands to create pages and in turn advertise them. And it wants people to create their own community pages and provide more content. It can achieve its goals plenty well without doing this kind of scraping that you find common among domain squatters and other scammers.
Yes, Facebook wants to be more public, but it also wants brands to create pages and in turn advertise them. And it wants people to create their own community pages and provide more content. It can achieve its goals plenty well without doing this kind of scraping that you find common among domain squatters and other spammers.
Insightful as always Jeremiah… Facebook seems to have a consistent policy of “beta testing” things by implementing first and then amending after/if there's a negative public reaction. But the impact to brands is taking second place to the fear of the personal issues. It's good that you're highlighting the negative impact to the brands as well. Facebook seems to have opted for the “data is our money” over the “treat the brands well” model for now. It's a bad call from here.
Insightful as always Jeremiah… Facebook seems to have a consistent policy of “beta testing” things by implementing first and then amending after/if there's a negative public reaction. But the impact to brands is taking second place to the fear of the personal issues. It's good that you're highlighting the negative impact to the brands as well. Facebook seems to have opted for the “data is our money” over the “treat the brands well” model for now. It's a bad call from here.
Great post, Jeremiah! Very helpful. Every company/brand should evaluate where its going and whether it is a good long-term strategy to attach yourself to Facebook. It always amazed me that Facebook wasn't focusing more on building long-term meaningful relationships with brands…
Great post, Jeremiah! Very helpful. Every company/brand should evaluate where its going and whether it is a good long-term strategy to attach yourself to Facebook. It always amazed me that Facebook wasn't focusing more on building long-term meaningful relationships with brands…
“Best Testing” is the new form of asking for forgiveness. Relationships with brands shouldn't be trifled with, they have a long term memory.
“Best Testing” is the new form of asking for forgiveness. Relationships with brands shouldn't be trifled with, they have a long term memory.
It seems like these Community pages will become irrelevant, especially since they are a messy hodge podge of information. The aggregation of content should lessen the impact of the pages, much like a page with bad content showing up in Google searches.
This is virtually putting the activity of brand community management for all brands into the hands of FB, a task they are not capable of properly managing or maintaining. As such, people will go elsewhere to find more reliable information.
Google has a new feature in the search results showing, “What people in your community have to say about ___ (keyword).” This is an annoying feature that proffers no value on any of the searches I've conducted. I don't care what those people have to say. I do care, however, what certain trusted people have to say about certain issues, but not everyone with a Twitter or Facebook account.
I think the aggregated content and the dilution of quality will render these pages junk, like Squidoo or BlogLog.
It seems like these Community pages will become irrelevant, especially since they are a messy hodge podge of information. The aggregation of content should lessen the impact of the pages, much like a page with bad content showing up in Google searches.
This is virtually putting the activity of brand community management for all brands into the hands of FB, a task they are not capable of properly managing or maintaining. As such, people will go elsewhere to find more reliable information.
Google has a new feature in the search results showing, “What people in your community have to say about ___ (keyword).” This is an annoying feature that proffers no value on any of the searches I've conducted. I don't care what those people have to say. I do care, however, what certain trusted people have to say about certain issues, but not everyone with a Twitter or Facebook account.
I think the aggregated content and the dilution of quality will render these pages junk, like Squidoo or BlogLog.
Community Pages may turn into Facebook Wikipedia, which would appease brands who want to edit and audit content. Don't be surprised if they launch Q&A features in short order.
Messy now (as it's aggregation) but as they allow for more control, they could become more popular.
Community Pages may turn into Facebook Wikipedia, which would appease brands who want to edit and audit content. Don't be surprised if they launch Q&A features in short order.
Messy now (as it's aggregation) but as they allow for more control, they could become more popular.
Ekaterina
Facebook has account managers, biz dev, and sales for brands, so they are invested in long term relationships, it's short term set backs like this that ultimately strain the relationship.
You can bet there's a battle inside of FB right now between those that are serving brands and the product management team.
Ekaterina
Facebook has account managers, biz dev, and sales for brands, so they are invested in long term relationships, it's short term set backs like this that ultimately strain the relationship.
You can bet there's a battle inside of FB right now between those that are serving brands and the product management team.
Why do we need another Wikipedia?
Also, the voices of chatter are not valuable, per say. Look at Twitter trending topics. These feeds are rift with noise.
If the chatter is human-edited, there is yet another problem… You will have infighting and confusion.
People want good, high-quality content. What effects brands negatively, ultimately decreases value for the reader. Brands will go elsewhere to promote and engage, the majority will follow.
Facebook is overzealous and forgetting to honor the system that made it so great in the first place. Sad.
Open Source will save the day.
Why do we need another Wikipedia?
Also, the voices of chatter are not valuable, per say. Look at Twitter trending topics. These feeds are rift with noise.
If the chatter is human-edited, there is yet another problem… You will have infighting and confusion.
People want good, high-quality content. What effects brands negatively, ultimately decreases value for the reader. Brands will go elsewhere to promote and engage, the majority will follow.
Facebook is overzealous and forgetting to honor the system that made it so great in the first place. Sad.
Open Source will save the day.
Not sure Open Source will save the day. Consumers only care about convenience and price.
Not sure Open Source will save the day. Consumers only care about convenience and price.
Finally, a post that takes the brand's perspective, and does it well. This was much needed.
Question: Because of the new method of (unstoppable) aggregation, brands are going to have community pages whether they are active on Facebook or not. Do you see brands essentially required to create and manage their own official page in order to counteract whatever irrelevant and contextually inaccurate material appears on their community pages? Even though the trust is eroded, leaving only community pages to reflect your brand seems a risky move. Due to this, do you believe brands will alter their methods do the minimum in order to have something they can control, but move their primary (and funded) social marketing efforts elsewhere?
Finally, a post that takes the brand's perspective, and does it well. This was much needed.
Question: Because of the new method of (unstoppable) aggregation, brands are going to have community pages whether they are active on Facebook or not. Do you see brands essentially required to create and manage their own official page in order to counteract whatever irrelevant and contextually inaccurate material appears on their community pages? Even though the trust is eroded, leaving only community pages to reflect your brand seems a risky move. Due to this, do you believe brands will alter their methods do the minimum in order to have something they can control, but move their primary (and funded) social marketing efforts elsewhere?
Jeremiah, what do you think the likelihood is that Facebook's way to give brands more control over the Community Page will be to add some paid item (maybe a custom tab) to the Comm pages? You also mention the acct mgrs, sales execs, etc. Outside of brands with large facebook ads spends, do you see FB currently engaging with brands more strategically with their fb presence (Fan Page, Plugins, etc)?
Finally, seems like a lot of the redundant Community Pages creating problems for brands are the ones keyed off a user's employment history on their profiles (those have Suitcases icons). Seems they could quiet some of the problem by just omitting those from their Community Page algorithm.
Jeremiah, what do you think the likelihood is that Facebook's way to give brands more control over the Community Page will be to add some paid item (maybe a custom tab) to the Comm pages? You also mention the acct mgrs, sales execs, etc. Outside of brands with large facebook ads spends, do you see FB currently engaging with brands more strategically with their fb presence (Fan Page, Plugins, etc)?
Finally, seems like a lot of the redundant Community Pages creating problems for brands are the ones keyed off a user's employment history on their profiles (those have Suitcases icons). Seems they could quiet some of the problem by just omitting those from their Community Page algorithm.
I)Our Company is Online store, and we alawys offer top quality sport shoes, famous brand shoes and sportswear at good price.
(II) In the past 6 years, we have sent great many products to the customers in USA, Europe, ASIA and other area, also we have lots of experience in dealing with online business oversea
(III) Generally, Goods are delivered in fast and safety way Of course, shoes and clothing will be packaged in original box with tags
I think what brands should do is what I have done: run, don't walk, away from Facebook! It's a time sink, it's a money sink, it's a reputation sink. You're far better off investing the time in something you own – your own web sites, blogs, forums, email, analytics, CRM, etc.
I think what brands should do is what I have done: run, don't walk, away from Facebook! It's a time sink, it's a money sink, it's a reputation sink. You're far better off investing the time in something you own – your own web sites, blogs, forums, email, analytics, CRM, etc.
The brands I spoke to hope that they'll be able to clearly be able to differentiate Facebook pages vs community pages, there's currently not a clear distinction.
The brands I spoke to hope that they'll be able to clearly be able to differentiate Facebook pages vs community pages, there's currently not a clear distinction.
We'll see what Facebook has to offer to brands. They'll first need to address the privacy concerns from consumers first.
We'll see what Facebook has to offer to brands. They'll first need to address the privacy concerns from consumers first.
Jeremiah, thanks for the thoughts. We're seeing an old fashioned tug-a-war between Brands and FB right now. The prize? Where your customer will most interact with your Brand.
Although they have a place, I think it's nieve to think brands will maintain thriving white-label forum sites in the new world. Instead Brands should position themselves to reach out to whichever greater social communities exist in abstract (FB & the next FB) to facilitate their customers' collective voice. They should do this with the express goal of drawing their customers back to their Brand site.
Once there a more informed customer can gather more information and often make a purchase immediately. Reach out, touch someone on a Social Network… and then bring them back to your site, Brands!
Jeremiah, thanks for the thoughts. We're seeing an old fashioned tug-a-war between Brands and FB right now. The prize? Where your customer will most interact with your Brand.
Although they have a place, I think it's nieve to think brands will maintain thriving white-label forum sites in the new world. Instead Brands should position themselves to reach out to whichever greater social communities exist in abstract (FB & the next FB) to facilitate their customers' collective voice. They should do this with the express goal of drawing their customers back to their Brand site.
Once there a more informed customer can gather more information and often make a purchase immediately. Reach out, touch someone on a Social Network… and then bring them back to your site, Brands!
It's not a 'or' but an 'and' for brands. They shouldn't depend on any single platform for the reasons we're seeing today.
It's not a 'or' but an 'and' for brands. They shouldn't depend on any single platform for the reasons we're seeing today.
Question for Google: If there is a public version of a brand-related page, and there is an FB-version of the same page, which would show up higher in Google search results? I'm thinking that the FB-version may well have more inbound links and more chatter. Does that mean that Google has to discount the value of inbound links if they come from FB?
Question for Google: If there is a public version of a brand-related page, and there is an FB-version of the same page, which would show up higher in Google search results? I'm thinking that the FB-version may well have more inbound links and more chatter. Does that mean that Google has to discount the value of inbound links if they come from FB?
My guess is that, since Google is profitable and considers Facebook a competitor, they'd rank Facebook results lower. 😉
My guess is that, since Google is profitable and considers Facebook a competitor, they'd rank Facebook results lower. 😉
Yes, FB is a Google competitor. But it runs deeper than that. Jeremiah's point is that a lot of the FB commentary is “noise”. Noise should be worth less. For that reason alone, an inbound FB link should be worth less than an outside FB inbound link.
This is a general rule, and links have to be manually reviewed to insure true quality and ranking score.
Yes, FB is a Google competitor. But it runs deeper than that. Jeremiah's point is that a lot of the FB commentary is “noise”. Noise should be worth less. For that reason alone, an inbound FB link should be worth less than an outside FB inbound link.
This is a general rule, and links have to be manually reviewed to insure true quality and ranking score.
Jeremiah: thanks for this post. We had noticed the disturbing impact of these pages for some of our clients and have started educating them about it. This post will help. We translated (with proper credits) your matrix into French. Hope that’s ok: http://bit.ly/ahZN3z
I agree with BryanPerson that Facebook should offer brands something similar to Twitter’s “verified account” badge. That’s needed to help users *easily* differentiate between what is supported by a corporate entity and what has been created by a community of users. It actually helps both groups.
What I can’t understand about Facebook’s approach is the way they repeatedly change their customers’ privacy settings — for what? So that Facebook can make more money until the users figure it out and change the privacy settings back?
Zuckerberg doesn’t seem to grasp the basic concept that if a brand (like Facebook) continuously abuses its customers, it will earn the deserved reputation of being untrustworthy and greedy. In the long run, how can that reputation help him or FB in business?
One other thing that FB is ignoring is that the increasingly irresponsible use of customer information can come back to bite them — and other social sites. If Congress decides that FB is out of control and needs to be regulated, then *all* social sites will see increased regulation. Until then: Buyer (in this case User) Beware!
Good points Jeremiah.
One thing I take away from this is the likelihood of confusion about how best to use Facebook in any situation involving a “brand,” including if you are a Federal agency with a public program to manage.
One thing that seems to be happening at Facebook is what was happening 5 years ago in the blogging world — it's a Wild West show where you (the brand) have to have a presence, but that presence brings with it the inevitability of a lack of control that no amount of corporate policy or internal management can totally overcome.
Bottom line — don't put all your eggs in the Facebook basket and by all means don't rely on it solely for your brand's “official” messaging.
Dennis McDonald
Alexandria Virginia
http://www.ddmcd.com
I'd jump on the complaint bandwagon if I didn't think that Facebook was actually doing us a service, both as individual/private and brand users of Facebook. This arena is not a place where coasting will work. Constant minding of the shop and reaching for better systems are critical parts of managing relationships. It is tedious to have “innovations” crop up as often and unexpectedly as they do, but really we should be ready to move at all times.
I'd jump on the complaint bandwagon if I didn't think that Facebook was actually doing us a service, both as individual/private and brand users of Facebook. This arena is not a place where coasting will work. Constant minding of the shop and reaching for better systems are critical parts of managing relationships. It is tedious to have “innovations” crop up as often and unexpectedly as they do, but really we should be ready to move at all times.
Going to have to agree with Ed here here. The big lie in this is in FB calling these things “community” pages. Community implies a coming together of self-interested people.
These FB “community” pages are nothing more than SPLOGS (spam blogs created by robots stealing and aggregating other people's content) against which they can sell advertising. Nothing wrong with that if you are a blackhat internet marketing ninja, but if you are Facebook?
Facebook depends on the goodwill of both their members and their advertisers. This initiative puts FB motivations in front of these two critical constituencies – and that is to be a problem for FB. I think this is really bad for them.
(BTW I went in to edit my profile in FB and you either get linked to the “community” pages for your work and education history – or you remove the profile information altogether. I removed it. Funny thing is I am still getting ads targeted at my undergrad college (join the Purdue alumni club) even after deleting this profile information. Seems like FB is still using it even though I deleted it.)
Tom O'Brien
@tomob
Going to have to agree with Ed here here. The big lie in this is in FB calling these things “community” pages. Community implies a coming together of self-interested people.
These FB “community” pages are nothing more than SPLOGS (spam blogs created by robots stealing and aggregating other people's content) against which they can sell advertising. Nothing wrong with that if you are a blackhat internet marketing ninja, but if you are Facebook?
Facebook depends on the goodwill of both their members and their advertisers. This initiative puts FB motivations in front of these two critical constituencies – and that is to be a problem for FB. I think this is really bad for them.
(BTW I went in to edit my profile in FB and you either get linked to the “community” pages for your work and education history – or you remove the profile information altogether. I removed it. Funny thing is I am still getting ads targeted at my undergrad college (join the Purdue alumni club) even after deleting this profile information. Seems like FB is still using it even though I deleted it.)
Tom O'Brien
@tomob
Brands and others have to ask themselves whether they really have a relationship engagement with Facebook.
The “perpetual beta” and innovation cycles coming from the likes of Google and Facebook are generally self-interested, monetization plays – not plays to improve the product. And it's getting old. Angry folks react because it still holds true that companies need to have relationships with customers and consumers, they need to actually ask, listen, and respond before rolling out large scale changes, if they want loyalty or money.
While FB Fans and Googlers may claim research and deep, pre-release consideration stifles their innovation, there are many Brand Stewards that can demonstrate that they save a lot of angst, money and time while building and protecting their long-term brand equities. I personally believe continued irresponsible decision-making of Facebook executives will lead them into an acquisition by a bigger, more responsible Brand. Which may, honestly, be a good thing for the rest of us.
Brands and others have to ask themselves whether they really have a relationship engagement with Facebook.
The “perpetual beta” and innovation cycles coming from the likes of Google and Facebook are generally self-interested, monetization plays – not plays to improve the product. And it's getting old. Angry folks react because it still holds true that companies need to have relationships with customers and consumers, they need to actually ask, listen, and respond before rolling out large scale changes, if they want loyalty or money.
While FB Fans and Googlers may claim research and deep, pre-release consideration stifles their innovation, there are many Brand Stewards that can demonstrate that they save a lot of angst, money and time while building and protecting their long-term brand equities. I personally believe continued irresponsible decision-making of Facebook executives will lead them into an acquisition by a bigger, more responsible Brand. Which may, honestly, be a good thing for the rest of us.
Two changes I would recommend to Facebook that would make the Community Pages experience less confusing to users and more beneficial to brands:
1) Display a brand's Official Page(s) as the first result(s) in a search query for that brand's name.
As an example of the current messiness of Facebook search: On Friday I was searching for the name of a major restaurant food chain in an effort to find its official Facebook Page, and I had a hard time finding it. Community Pages that included that brand's name in the title were surfacing first. No wonder “Like” counts on Official Pages aren't going up as quickly as some brands would like – their Pages can't be found in simple search!
2) Have some obvious indication of a brand's Official Page on the Page itself, the equivalent of Twitter's “Verified Account” badge. This would help to minimize some of the confusion for users.
Also, just to add to their confusion … there *are* Community Pages that allow for Wall commenting (I just created one to confirm that!) … but not all of them are that way. It seems to depend, as of now, on whether the Community Page was manually created by a user (commenting allowed) or was launched by Facebook to aggregrate public comments/Wikipedia entries about that brand/topic, such as “My Stupid Boss,” (no Wall comments allowed).
Clear as mud, right?
Two changes I would recommend to Facebook that would make the Community Pages experience less confusing to users and more beneficial to brands:
1) Display a brand's Official Page(s) as the first result(s) in a search query for that brand's name.
As an example of the current messiness of Facebook search: On Friday I was searching for the name of a major restaurant food chain in an effort to find its official Facebook Page, and I had a hard time finding it. Community Pages that included that brand's name in the title were surfacing first. No wonder “Like” counts on Official Pages aren't going up as quickly as some brands would like – their Pages can't be found in simple search!
2) Have some obvious indication of a brand's Official Page on the Page itself, the equivalent of Twitter's “Verified Account” badge. This would help to minimize some of the confusion for users.
Also, just to add to their confusion … there *are* Community Pages that allow for Wall commenting (I just created one to confirm that!) … but not all of them are that way. It seems to depend, as of now, on whether the Community Page was manually created by a user (commenting allowed) or was launched by Facebook to aggregrate public comments/Wikipedia entries about that brand/topic, such as “My Stupid Boss,” (no Wall comments allowed).
Clear as mud, right?
I think that if you choose to use Facebook you need to find ways to make it work for yourself. There are very few tools, helpful though they may be to your business, that aren't operating with self-interest and hope for monetization. Until we are paying for the privilege to use FB, then I don't think we can expect our demands for a certain style of operation to be honored”particularly if the folks at the wheel have a greater return for themselves in handling things the way that they have.
Don't misunderstand, I am not saying their actions are without fault, I am simply saying that the onus is ours to be vigilant and swift in the protection of our best interests.
I think that if you choose to use Facebook you need to find ways to make it work for yourself. There are very few tools, helpful though they may be to your business, that aren't operating with self-interest and hope for monetization. Until we are paying for the privilege to use FB, then I don't think we can expect our demands for a certain style of operation to be honored”particularly if the folks at the wheel have a greater return for themselves in handling things the way that they have.
Don't misunderstand, I am not saying their actions are without fault, I am simply saying that the onus is ours to be vigilant and swift in the protection of our best interests.
I'm disappointed that the AAAA's, ANA, BMA, IAF, IAB, etc have not publicly issued complaints or statements on these matters. Perhaps the sponsorship money is too good…
I'm disappointed that the AAAA's, ANA, BMA, IAF, IAB, etc have not publicly issued complaints or statements on these matters. Perhaps the sponsorship money is too good…
Those are excellent Bryan, thanks for clearing things up.
My guess is Facebook is experimenting (the perpetual beta) and is sorting it all out.
Those are excellent Bryan, thanks for clearing things up.
My guess is Facebook is experimenting (the perpetual beta) and is sorting it all out.
Tom, don't know if you've seen Randall Rothenberg's comments on self-regulation, privacy, etc. Worth a quick look – see the sidebar video: http://www.digidaydaily.com/stories/digirant-st…
I just don't sense that FB or GOOG give a rip. My feeling is, like MS and others before them, will wait until the Govt forces them to change.
Thanks for the plug and the great write up! Not sure if you've seen this infographic from the New York Times but it shows the privacy tangles the end users have to go through – http://nyti.ms/aI00vu I hope that Facebook doesn't take this route for businesses too. =(
As usual, great post Jeremiah. Btw, first thing that someone said as I walked in to work today was “hey, did you read Owyang's post about FB Community Pages?” — I had not read it, but I had seen it in my inbox. Keep up the awesome work.
As usual, great post Jeremiah. Btw, first thing that someone said as I walked in to work today was “hey, did you read Owyang's post about FB Community Pages?” — I had not read it, but I had seen it in my inbox. Keep up the awesome work.
That makes me very, very pleased, as I'm writing for folks like you in corporate.
That makes me very, very pleased, as I'm writing for folks like you in corporate.
Exactly! “the onus is ours to be vigilant and swift in the protection of our best interests.” That is exactly why I deleted my Facebook account and joined the chorus of opponents – because the risks and costs of being on Facebook outweighed the benefits. http://meb.tw/prenot
Yeah, I've got a huge blog post building up in me about this whole “perpetual beta” thing. Google, Facebook and to a lesser extent Twitter, Foursquare and Gowalla are all guilty, although I know the folks at Twitter a lot better and I believe their heads and hearts are (at the present time, anyhow) in the right place.
Other “more responsible” brands have tried to buy Facebook. I don't know who's on the FB board of directors besides Zuckerberg or how the shares are split. Perhaps some of the journalists who cover that sort of thing have some insight. I can ask. 😉 But between Google and Microsoft, somebody can and will take these clowns out. Until that happens, I am having nothing to do with Facebook. A 26 year old *paper* billionaire does *not* tell four US Senators and the FTC that “the people want to share” 😉
Yeah, I've got a huge blog post building up in me about this whole “perpetual beta” thing. Google, Facebook and to a lesser extent Twitter, Foursquare and Gowalla are all guilty, although I know the folks at Twitter a lot better and I believe their heads and hearts are (at the present time, anyhow) in the right place.
Other “more responsible” brands have tried to buy Facebook. I don't know who's on the FB board of directors besides Zuckerberg or how the shares are split. Perhaps some of the journalists who cover that sort of thing have some insight. I can ask. 😉 But between Google and Microsoft, somebody can and will take these clowns out. Until that happens, I am having nothing to do with Facebook. A 26 year old *paper* billionaire does *not* tell four US Senators and the FTC that “the people want to share” 😉
“I personally believe continued irresponsible decision-making of Facebook executives will lead them into an acquisition by a bigger, more responsible Brand.”
For the benefit of anyone who wishes to assist acquisition of Facebook by a bigger, more responsible Brand, I've researched the Wikipedia pages of the five people I believe are on Facebook's Board of Directors. 😉
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_E._Graham
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Thiel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Andreessen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Zuckerberg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Breyer
Yet another article on the issue of relationship erosion between brands (a.k.a. potential revenue sources for FB) and Facebook. I hope FB is reading these realizing the pain they have caused some of their most loyal advocates. Not only have for-profit brands been hurt by this, but their cost-sensitive non-profit peers have been hurt even more so. Thanks for sharing your opinion – I believe communities are not successful, but hope they will be one day.
Yet another article on the issue of relationship erosion between brands (a.k.a. potential revenue sources for FB) and Facebook. I hope FB is reading these realizing the pain they have caused some of their most loyal advocates. Not only have for-profit brands been hurt by this, but their cost-sensitive non-profit peers have been hurt even more so. Thanks for sharing your opinion – I believe communities are not successful, but hope they will be one day.
I actually found this post a little whiny. (LOVE this blog though)
It is just that with Facebook more open anybody can build a website that integrates public comments with Wikipedia content. This is what you get when you leave the walled garden.
Yes Facebook should offer search priority to partners, it would generate revenue and, more importantly, improve user experience. But its absence doesn't mean you should immediately go investing a bunch of money in other sites. There is value to be had (FourSquare, Twitter etc.), but currently Facebook has the best low hanging fruit. Brands should be hiring companies to really integrate their websites with their Facebook page, they should be deploying community managers who have access to social tools (like Radian6) and the green light to play and link-back on other networks. They should be buying media from Facebook not fixating on only earning it. And most importantly they should be racing to meaningfully deploy the like button/meta data.
Namaste
Admittedly a terrible launch (duplicates and damage to search results), but I actually found this post a little whiny. (LOVE this blog though)
Yes Facebook should offer search priority to partners, it would generate revenue and, more importantly, improve user experience. But its absence doesn't mean you should immediately go investing a bunch of money in other sites. There is value to be had (FourSquare, Twitter etc.), but currently Facebook has the best low hanging fruit. Brands should be hiring companies to really integrate their websites with their Facebook page, they should be deploying community managers who have access to social tools (like Radian6) and the green light to play and link-back on other networks. They should be buying media from Facebook not fixating on only earning it. And most importantly they should be racing to meaningfully deploy the like button/meta data.
Thanks Paul
Whiny or not, I'm calling as it see it, and am confident I'm representing what I heard from brands.
Brands should invest where their customers are, and that's often in Facebook, but in other sites as well. I expect brands to want to embed FB features into their corporate site, and pull away from investing in efforts only within the Facebook.com domain.
Thanks for reading (and appreciate the blog as a whole)
Thanks Paul
Whiny or not, I'm calling as it see it, and am confident I'm representing what I heard from brands.
Brands should invest where their customers are, and that's often in Facebook, but in other sites as well. I expect brands to want to embed FB features into their corporate site, and pull away from investing in efforts only within the Facebook.com domain.
Thanks for reading (and appreciate the blog as a whole)
Thank you for putting this up! With everything laid out, it's easier to grasp how much it can impact the social media landscape. Although as much as it is a great new tool for businesses, I guess this means much more vigilance in putting out information in our FB accounts.
Thank you for putting this up! With everything laid out, it's easier to grasp how much it can impact the social media landscape. Although as much as it is a great new tool for businesses, I guess this means much more vigilance in putting out information in our FB accounts.
Right, you were representing brands, that's probably why I found it a tad whiny 😉
I love brand managers, but, they have a lot on their plates and most didn't go into marketing to keep up with the whims of Silicon Valley.
I tend to think Facebook is fine with brands using their site as a database, I think that is the real strategy right, “become like air” and then bring ads to external sites that deploy the Graph API.
Still, Facebook isn't in the business of driving brands and users away from their site, so why community pages?
It isn't innovation for innovation's sake, I hope it's not about creating more page views… maybe it is about encouraging real conversation within your social graph around topics you are interested in so they can better understand the real details of their users. Anybody can mine the open web comments about topics (just like anybody could create a wikipedia/twitter mashup comment farm).
Open the walled garden and reveal another walled garden inside.
OK clearly it is late!
Right, you were representing brands, that's probably why I found it a tad whiny 😉
I love brand managers, but, they have a lot on their plates and most didn't go into marketing to keep up with the whims of Silicon Valley.
I tend to think Facebook is fine with brands using their site as a database, I think that is the real strategy right, “become like air” and then bring ads to external sites that deploy the Graph API.
Still, Facebook isn't in the business of driving brands and users away from their site, so why community pages?
It isn't innovation for innovation's sake, I hope it's not about creating more page views… maybe it is about encouraging real conversation within your social graph around topics you are interested in so they can better understand the real details of their users. Anybody can mine the open web comments about topics (just like anybody could create a wikipedia/twitter mashup comment farm).
Open the walled garden and reveal another walled garden inside.
OK clearly it is late!
“At Facebook, Innovation Means Asking For Forgiveness Later” – that's right! I think the competition between search and social media are emerging these big brands to make such experiments!
Thanks very much for the link to our article on the impact Community Pages will have for brands http://www.nmk.co.uk/article/2010/5/12/facebook…, and for laying out the various issues so clearly. Amongst the issues which an unmmoderated aggregated comment feed brings is the very serious one of completely innapproriate or illegal comments. Brands spend an enormous amount of time and money post-moderating their facebook pages in order to keep them suitable for their audiences (which of course are likely to include children). Community Pages – which may *appear* to be representing a brand – will have none of these safeguards, and the potential consequences tfor user safety & experience and brand reputation may be very serious.
Holy blog entry…Thank you for distilling this info, Jeremiah. These behind-the-scenes, ask-forgiveness-later FB shifts are HUGE, messy, and have such a profound impact on so many brands, businesses, and entrepreneurs that it's almost too colossal to consider. Just reading your insights and synopses here makes me feel like I'm riding the most hyped up bucking bronco this side of the Colorado Rockies.
As co-owner and “Content Lover” of a social marketing consulting firm, I have to officially proclaim Brand Anarchy as the new world order. The best we can all do is embrace it with our arms flung open, look for the opportunities, and get EXTRAORDINARY at learning how to bend like a reed in the wind.
For anyone still clinging to the possibility of control, clarity, and order, this new and ever-evolving paradigm shift is gonna hurt like the dickens, and it's only going to get worse. For those of us more open to chaos, change, and exquisite uncertainty, a very loud and bold “BRING IT ON!” may be the only mantra we'll need to face the adventures of the business day.
Thanks again for breaking it down like this!
-Lani Voivod
Co-owner & Content Lover of Epiphanies, Inc.
Holy blog entry…Thank you for distilling this info, Jeremiah. These behind-the-scenes, ask-forgiveness-later FB shifts are HUGE, messy, and have such a profound impact on so many brands, businesses, and entrepreneurs that it's almost too colossal to consider. Just reading your insights and synopses here makes me feel like I'm riding the most hyped up bucking bronco this side of the Colorado Rockies.
As co-owner and “Content Lover” of a social marketing consulting firm, I have to officially proclaim Brand Anarchy as the new world order. The best we can all do is embrace it with our arms flung open, look for the opportunities, and get EXTRAORDINARY at learning how to bend like a reed in the wind.
For anyone still clinging to the possibility of control, clarity, and order, this new and ever-evolving paradigm shift is gonna hurt like the dickens, and it's only going to get worse. For those of us more open to chaos, change, and exquisite uncertainty, a very loud and bold “BRING IT ON!” may be the only mantra we'll need to face the adventures of the business day.
Thanks again for breaking it down like this!
-Lani Voivod
Co-owner & Content Lover of Epiphanies, Inc.
Thanks for the energy Lani.
Thanks for the energy Lani.
The eco-system challenge. Facebook must live with the world it created.
Very interesting blog, which simultaneous lays Facebook out as an innovator, yet one that is constraining and confusing its customers — brands and consumers.
But why this dichotomy and conflict? And what to do about it? The answer lies in the large eco-system nature of the service.
When a product, a company or a brand becomes an ecosystem such as Facebook today or in the past, eBay, AOL, Apple, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Windows and IBM SNA- the first responsibility of the company and the most pressure is just maintaining it. Usually the ecosystem is quite large and the company has its hands full just keeping it working. Assuming that calms down for a few days, the company's next challenge is to moderately advance the system consistently across the board without alienating its massive user and partner base.
I recall years ago when I was at Apple, one day attending meetings with our partner-foe Microsoft on their Bellvue WA campus. A Microsoft Vice President explained to me that they just didn't have time or energy to think much about the Macintosh as an OS competitor. Their primary challenge in life was upgrading 90% of the market reflecting hundreds of millions if installed Windows PCs. To move the installed base forward with even a few features was a monumental task. Worrying about competing with or out-innovating competitors with less than 10% market share paled next to the pressure of addressing 90% of the market.
And so it goes for massive online services. With 500 Million registered users, and hundreds of millions active daily, Facebook must first keep itself running, and then try to incrementally innovate. As we have seen when it moves too fast or too far, the installed base and the eco-system won't absorb it and will even rebel. If Facebook moves too slow, they expose themselves to being eclipsed by a new competitor or not building a viable economic model.
IBM, Microsoft , Apple and Adobe Photoshop addressed this by creating eco-systems based on development platforms for 3rd parties. The primary company took responsibility for the eco-system while empowering and delegating to 3rd parties the task to innovate through applications built on the platform. Facebook is attempting the same model. By opening the system to application developers on the one hand and any web site on the other, Facebook seeks to extend its eco-system in both capability and reach, just as Apple and Microsoft have done.
Here then are the opportunities and challenges
1) The 3rd parties must create substantive value for other members of the eco-system
– in this case consumers and for brands creating economic opportunity through marketing returns. We've certainly seen a huge number of Facebook apps that consumers use and we can expect more. On the brand side, more progress is needed. Some tools and apps enable Brands to have a presence on Facebook, but few have impacted their real marketing goals.
LiveWorld's new Facebook Conversation Applications (Forums, Idea Power, Ask & Answer) address this by providing brands with much greater customer engagement than previously available on Facebook. This is accomplished by deep dialogue capability among and with customers, rich media and strong moderation tools. So far brand and agency response is strong.
2) Facebook must manage the balance of supporting the 3rd parties to provide innovation, while advancing the basic eco-system carefully
This is partly a matter of priority; does Facebook spend its resources helping developers with APIs, tools and marketing support, or working on the basic Facebook system. One might say do both. But that under-estimates the monumental task of just keeping it running
Eventually Faceboolk will face the challenge of when to leave innovation to the 3rd parties or to co-opt the innovation itself. If it co-ops too much it will alienate the 3rd parties and damage a core part of the ecosystem. If it relies only on the 3rd parties it risks being beaten by a direct competitor.
As a Facebook 3rd party developer we are sometime asked “Since your application is so incredibly value add to Facebook, aren't you worried that Facebook will do it themselves?” The answer is “We keep an eye on that, but believe we are better suited to focused innovation than the eco-system steward.”
3) Culture: Who rules, the company or the eco-system?
– All eco-systems have a culture in which the members participate. For our non-social web examples such as Microsoft or Apple, the company has both strong influence on and some level of control over the culture. But in a social web model such as eBay, AOL or Facebook, the social dynamic is actually stronger than the company that created it. These brands cannot simply control or direct the culture. They are as subject to it just as much as the 3rd parties and end users.
– Facebook's mis-steps (Beacon, the current privacy controversy) can be seen as Facebook at odds with the culture of the Facebook eco-system. They desperately want to move the eco-system forward, but the eco-system keeps bending the company back to where it was. Facebook's must find ways of working with the culture, yet not allowing it to hold things still. Most likely Facebook will just have to keep taking two steps forward,only to take one step backwards.
The eco-system challenge. Facebook must live with the world it created.
Very interesting blog, which simultaneous lays Facebook out as an innovator, yet one that is constraining and confusing its customers — brands and consumers.
But why this dichotomy and conflict? And what to do about it? The answer lies in the large eco-system nature of the service.
When a product, a company or a brand becomes an ecosystem such as Facebook today or in the past, eBay, AOL, Apple, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Windows and IBM SNA- the first responsibility of the company and the most pressure is just maintaining it. Usually the ecosystem is quite large and the company has its hands full just keeping it working. Assuming that calms down for a few days, the company's next challenge is to moderately advance the system consistently across the board without alienating its massive user and partner base.
I recall years ago when I was at Apple, one day attending meetings with our partner-foe Microsoft on their Bellvue WA campus. A Microsoft Vice President explained to me that they just didn't have time or energy to think much about the Macintosh as an OS competitor. Their primary challenge in life was upgrading 90% of the market reflecting hundreds of millions if installed Windows PCs. To move the installed base forward with even a few features was a monumental task. Worrying about competing with or out-innovating competitors with less than 10% market share paled next to the pressure of addressing 90% of the market.
And so it goes for massive online services. With 500 Million registered users, and hundreds of millions active daily, Facebook must first keep itself running, and then try to incrementally innovate. As we have seen when it moves too fast or too far, the installed base and the eco-system won't absorb it and will even rebel. If Facebook moves too slow, they expose themselves to being eclipsed by a new competitor or not building a viable economic model.
IBM, Microsoft , Apple and Adobe Photoshop addressed this by creating eco-systems based on development platforms for 3rd parties. The primary company took responsibility for the eco-system while empowering and delegating to 3rd parties the task to innovate through applications built on the platform. Facebook is attempting the same model. By opening the system to application developers on the one hand and any web site on the other, Facebook seeks to extend its eco-system in both capability and reach, just as Apple and Microsoft have done.
Here then are the opportunities and challenges
1) The 3rd parties must create substantive value for other members of the eco-system
– in this case consumers and for brands creating economic opportunity through marketing returns. We've certainly seen a huge number of Facebook apps that consumers use and we can expect more. On the brand side, more progress is needed. Some tools and apps enable Brands to have a presence on Facebook, but few have impacted their real marketing goals.
LiveWorld's new Facebook Conversation Applications (Forums, Idea Power, Ask & Answer) address this by providing brands with much greater customer engagement than previously available on Facebook. This is accomplished by deep dialogue capability among and with customers, rich media and strong moderation tools. So far brand and agency response is strong.
2) Facebook must manage the balance of supporting the 3rd parties to provide innovation, while advancing the basic eco-system carefully
This is partly a matter of priority; does Facebook spend its resources helping developers with APIs, tools and marketing support, or working on the basic Facebook system. One might say do both. But that under-estimates the monumental task of just keeping it running
Eventually Faceboolk will face the challenge of when to leave innovation to the 3rd parties or to co-opt the innovation itself. If it co-ops too much it will alienate the 3rd parties and damage a core part of the ecosystem. If it relies only on the 3rd parties it risks being beaten by a direct competitor.
As a Facebook 3rd party developer we are sometime asked “Since your application is so incredibly value add to Facebook, aren't you worried that Facebook will do it themselves?” The answer is “We keep an eye on that, but believe we are better suited to focused innovation than the eco-system steward.”
3) Culture: Who rules, the company or the eco-system?
– All eco-systems have a culture in which the members participate. For our non-social web examples such as Microsoft or Apple, the company has both strong influence on and some level of control over the culture. But in a social web model such as eBay, AOL or Facebook, the social dynamic is actually stronger than the company that created it. These brands cannot simply control or direct the culture. They are as subject to it just as much as the 3rd parties and end users.
– Facebook's mis-steps (Beacon, the current privacy controversy) can be seen as Facebook at odds with the culture of the Facebook eco-system. They desperately want to move the eco-system forward, but the eco-system keeps bending the company back to where it was. Facebook's must find ways of working with the culture, yet not allowing it to hold things still. Most likely Facebook will just have to keep taking two steps forward,only to take one step backwards.
was interesting . good luck .
Thanks Peter, you should really take that comment and post it on a blog! It's worthy material on it's own.
Thanks Peter, you should really take that comment and post it on a blog! It's worthy material on it's own.
Thank you Peter Friedman, your analyzing of the situation was very good and interesting.
“Brands Frustrated As Community Pages Outnumber Official Page.” – is this supposed to be bad? I say it's a good thing because official pages only mention what the brand wants you to know. Community pages share good and bad stuff about a brand. If you don't have anything to hide, you should not fear community pages – on the contrary.
Community Pages are good but now people are not satisfied with privacy.
Somebody mention anarchy? What if the anti ipad coalition makes a move for aggregation control and just start posting crap… Guess it's just social graffitti and banning spam is an intrusion on free speech… Let the walls beware.
I like your comments as it applies to now, but then I step back and wonder what the walls will be like 5 years from now and further – Will Facebook be a good Ancestor?
Funny how infrastructure erodes when you keep building up and out.
I do agree about convenience and price but have strong user of open source and trust in that…well tested and well used
I woke up this morning to find that FB has created a “Community Page” for my brand. The only problem was that although it “asked” for input as to where the “Official FB Page for me was”, it was linked to my private page for FAMILY & FRIENDS ONLY”, with no place to send the Official Page information…I’m not sure how I feel about this platform yet nor who to contact with questions..
I woke up this morning to find that FB has created a “Community Page” for my brand. The only problem was that although it “asked” for input as to where the “Official FB Page for me was”, it was linked to my private page for FAMILY & FRIENDS ONLY”, with no place to send the Official Page information…I’m not sure how I feel about this platform yet nor who to contact with questions..
I was pretty peeved to find my “private” personal page comment on a “Community Page” just now. I made a comment on my private “friend's only” wall about a place I had vacationed in, and other friend's replied, etc. I was searching to become a possible fan of this place, and I find a Community Page for this place. When I click on its “wall” tab, I see my private comment in it, along with other FB user's comments that I am sure are also private because when I clicked on their names it would not let me see their profile aside from the info tab! I am also sure these people are completely unaware that their private posts are also public now. Incredible! I guess the new FB “privacy” features are just hogwash, because I will now be watching any words I type on my “private” wall, for fear that my personal comment might now be made public against my wishes.
get these shoes home
your best choice.
Your last sentence summed it up succinctly!
Surveys show that people generally fan pages they are already customers of, and usually for discounts. The same research shows that few people are interested in joining a page to become part of a community.
This is one of those important posts to forward to your marketing team, agency partners, and to Facebook themselves.
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