Facebook Devalues Fanpages

What company in the world could get away with making constant changes to its products against the desires of its customers?  What company in the world would jeopardize its relationship with its customers without regard to their desires?

I decided to complete this article today so nobody could accuse me of an April fools joke tomorrow. It amazes me how many times Facebook has made significant interface and functionality changes to its technology without regard to consumer and business users obvious dislike for it.  Most of the changes have proved largely harmless, with exception to unannounced privacy issues I have written about previously.  This most recent proposed change however could result in a massive reduction of value to Fanpage owners across the board.

I originally intended to write an article that asked the question, “What is a Fan or Follower?”  The intent of either can vary drastically from someone that visited a retailer in the past, all the way to a consumer that is a loyal repeat customer.  But how do you know?  The answer; in most cases you don’t.  Therein lies the problem that largely results in posting with content that is highly general, or frequently throwing out discounts that result in devaluing your brand and offering… But I digress.

The most recent change will affect Fanpages and the many brands and retailers that utilize them to engage consumers.  The reported intent of the change is to “unify” the way users “connect” to things they are “passionate about”.

There are so many problems with this mentality.  First and foremost, do people use the same emotion or “passion” to show a like of a comment made by an old high school buddy talking about a party last weekend as a consumer does when they express to their contacts their trust for a business?  I think not.

The fact is that “liking” a brand on Facebook and being a Fan, using the context that has become standard in social media, are two very different things.  True, gaining what are currently called fans can be a much faster process based on the change that is apparently inevitable.  True, it will definitely unify functions within Facebook.  True, people currently click “like” almost twice as much as “becoming a fan”.  But there is a reason for that, and it has nothing to do with un-unified link text.

What about the issue I brought up previously relating to what a fan really is?  This gray’s that issue further.

You can like the Steelers and be a Fan or the 49er’s.  You can like a burger but be a Fan of Burgerville.  The bottom line here is that there is a significant difference.  This self-serving decision by Facebook will immediately increase Fanbase for many larger brands and smaller businesses alike, which is undoubtedly the goal Facebook has in mind here.  The unfortunate result will be the further reduction of ROI from Fanpages and a further blurred line of what a Fan is/was.

By Robert M. Caruso
CEO fondalo, Inc. www.facebook.com/robertcaruso
www.twitter.com/fondalo

Social Media? Bah! Why Social Media will never become anything…

Imagine if a major magazine wrote something like that.  Further, imagine if they said, “The truth is no online social media will ever replace traditional marketing.”  Finally, imagine if they said these things about the Internet in general?  Guess what?  Someone actually did!

On March 4^th, 2010 I came across an article from February 1995, by Clifford Stoll, a writer for Newsweek.  He wrote “The truth is, no online database will replace your daily newspaper, no CD-ROM can take the place of a competent teacher and no computer network will change the way government works.”  How wrong he was.

During my career in technology there are a few things I have come to respect… People and their insatiable appetite for the internet, and the ever-changing ways it can be used to expand how we navigate daily life personally and professionally. 

Though I have not come across any articles that correlate Stoll’s comments into the social media space with such confidence, we have all heard the naysayer rants.  Though recently they are all but drifting into the wastelands of Tandy, Sony’s Beta and the brick phone.

Social media has morphed into a power all its own.  A sub-set of the internet itself.  Its own animal that is evolving into a stand-alone platform in its own right.  Imagine if talented dreamers had read Stoll’s story and listened?  I myself, can’t.

My perspective on technology is that anything is possible.  Anything you can dream up can be accomplished, as long as there is a value proposition that makes sense to the consumer and business. 

There is no doubt that social networking has delivered on both sides of the spectrum thus far.  It is reaching into every aspect of Politics, Business and our families.  The next challenge for social media will be to continue to expand the value on these fronts and innovate its uses within business beyond marketing.

By Robert M. Caruso
CEO fondalo, Inc.
www.facebook.com/robertcaruso
www.twitter.com/fondalo

Quit Twitter DM Spamming me! I don’t even know you yet…

I have been very busy since my last article and therefore have been a bit slow on getting articles done.  The massive flow of followers and direct messages flowing from Twitter has aggravated me enough today to stop and rant a moment.

Let’s be clear.  Social media is about connections, conversation, adding value to one another with information and interactions.  I have a tech start up.  I am not in MLM or network marketing.  More importantly I am in no way interested in getting started, and have no time even if I were.

I will continue my rant by explaining I enjoy direct messages on Twitter from new followers.  When used appropriately, it is refreshing, informative and creates a connection to a new contributor to my world.  Having said this, direct messaging every single person that follows you back with a boiler plate message pitching your worthless auto-spam/auto-follow software that will clog my followers with useless people that aren’t truly interested in my space and won’t provide me anything valuable is just plain rude!

Now, don’t take my preceding run-on sentence as a jaded hack on all direct messaging, or templated auto-DM’s, however I do want you to THINK and take some advice.

1)       Use your Twitter DM’s to engage, not pitch.

2)       Thank followers for following and make a connection to them and what they tweet about.

3)       For God’s sake, quit spamming me!  J

Ok, I’m done.

By Robert M. Caruso
CEO fondalo, Inc.
www.facebook.com/robertcaruso
www.twitter.com/fondalo