I remember the exact moment that I knew Facebook was a phenonom too big to stop. It was a bright and sunny Sunday afternoon and I got a call from my Mom. She had called to tell me that she had joined Facebook and she had ”friended” me. While I am sure many other thirty somethings got similar phone calls that weekend, two main thoughts came to mind as I replayed the words “friended” in my mind.
First, aren’t we already friends? I mean she did bring me into this world. Second, if my Mom and her friends (Yes, Women over 55 are the fastest growing group) were crashing the party was this the beginning of the end for Facebook? For the record, I did accept my Mom’s invitation to “be friends” (if I didn’t it would have made the holidays kind of awkward) and with the news today Facebook is now the 4th largest site in the world with no signs of slowing down.
With over 250 million registered users, Facebook is now officially the world’s largest cocktail party and one of the best places to engage, connect with, and recruit future employees. While recruiting employees might be the last thing on your organization’s mind in these tough economic times, learning how to use social media to get a competitive edge should be front and center. With the big job boards in decline and 77 million unique visitors to Facebook in the month of June alone, you would expect that almost every company would be starting to experiment with Facebook as a way to create a dialouge between themselves, their customers, and potential employees.
Unfortunately, only 29% of the Fortune 100 has created a fan page on Facebook this according to a new study by Burson-Marsteller, the fifth-largest public relations firm in the world, and Proof Digital Media. Let’s look at that another way, 81% of the Fortune 100 has yet to even test the Facebook waters and is indirectly ignoring 250 million people ready to be a trust agent for their consumer or employment brand.
While there are companies leveraging Facebook like Vans (625 fans), Oracle (137 members), Ernst & Young (the 1st company to use Facebook in 2007 – 30,109 fans), and Best Buy (2,219 fans) the majority are not and most are still playing by the old rules. To paraphrase the words of singer/songwriter Prince, isn’t it time that your company started partying like it is 2009?
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I think it’s because Facebook, like twitter, doesn’t offer businesses the right tools to help companies gauge their time (money) spent vs. return on social media sites. It’s a great platform to gather product/service attitudes and perceptions, but as an effective marketing tool, there is still lots missing from the equation.
I think many companies don’t know how their company will ‘fit’ with Facebook. Those that have embraced it are entertainment focused, such as TV Networks and Film Production companies. They have been quite successful and I think looking at that makes a lot of companies like Oracle and Vans wonder where they fit into all of this.
Mark & Chrystie – you both make excellent points that most social media sites could do more to help businesses see the value in the medium. Also, I think this is a cultural and capability issue as organizations are just now starting to realize that to make social media work requires both a change in how to communicate and new skills/competencies.