Mark Zuckerberg announced three new updates to Facebook last week, the biggest of which was the new Facebook Groups feature. Here are some quick thoughts:
This is a Social Upgrade, not a Technical one.
As Zuck mentioned in his blog post and during his presentation, the decision to make Facebook Groups was largely based on research of social behavior. Bottom line? People like to communicate and connect with a smaller group of people. This backs up Stephen Baker’s article from last year talking about the value of human relationships. The human brain is only wired (at least naturally) to maintain relationships with less than 250 people. And of those people, you really only maintain a close, trusted relationship with 8-10 of these people. So, why not create groups?
Return of the Clique?
Smaller groups will mirror, not surprisingly, a bit of life in high school and college. Cue the clique. And a clique isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Think of your closest groups of friends in high school and college. Think of the values, memories, tastes, and opinions you all shared. You’d probably wear the same thing they wear, eat similar food, consumer similar products, right? Not a bad place for an advertiser to be….
Too Intrusive. For now.
Facebook groups were made to essentially mirror the functionality of “Lists”, a feature only 5% of Facebook users use. They’ve made it VERY easy to create Groups, invite friends, set up events, chats and discussions. Buuuut, they’ve made it too easy. There’s no easy way to opt out or “approve” of being invited to join a group ( like most Linkedin Groups offer). The barriers are too low. My friend Adam Zand noted “what if someone added me to a list of animal beaters”? and Doug Haslam quickly noted just hours after Groups Functionality was released, Jason Calcacanis, Entrepreneur and CEO of Mahalo was automatically added to the NAMBLA group (North American Man Boy Love Association).
[This was obviously a joke, but it calls out how easy it can be to be auto-added to something]
Instant Chat=Good.
One feature I did like was instant chat. I set up a private Facebook Group called “Boston Social Media Types” of about 40 last week. Whenever one or more of us are online on Facebook, a little Chat group gets automatically set up. (see screen shot to the left) If we want to briefly chat about any topic (in this case our “Movember” fundraising initiative) we can do so- very easily.
Group/List Fatigue
Sure, Groups are much easier to work with than the old Facebook lists, but do we need another way to connect with our friends? We have Twitter Lists, Linkedin Groups, and probably lists of “favorites” on our mobile devices or home phones, right? Should we be putting our social lives into tidy groups or buckets? Do we need to?
I often get teased about being an Eagle Scout. When you were off playing sports, taking violin lessons, or sleeping away weekends in high school, I was the dork who was at a Camporee, tying knots, teaching first-aid, and yes, even walking the occasional senior citizen across the street…
But one thing that Boy Scouts did teach me was, obviously, their motto- “Be Prepared”.
For marketing and social media types, being prepared is one of the key ingredients for success. Here’s why.
1. At some point, you are going to need (and want) your network of friends, fans, followers and supporters to be there for you. If someone rants on your product or service online somewhere, wouldn’t you want these people going to bat for you? If you’ve cultivated this network online, they will. What are you doing now to cultivate those relationships?
2. If you’ve just met someone at a trade show and they want to learn more about your product or service, why not send them to your blog instead of your website. At your blog, you’re wowing your viewers with oodles of interesting content, probably have some great testimonials, and real-life interactions of your customers engaging with and talking about your industry. That’s credibility, and a lot more interesting that an static website that gets updated once a quarter.
3. If you and your company are tapped into Social Media, you should be well aware of what people are saying about you. You’re constantly listening. You’re taking the pulse of what’s happening in your space. If your competitor has just launched a new service, you already know about it, because well, you’re prepared.
Looks familiar doesn’t it?!
This Dilbert cartoon featured last week resonates on sooooo many levels. This calls out two big issues that companies continue to wrestle with every day, and they are:
1. Corporate Policy. Why should my company open up social media sites to my employees?
2. Trust. Even if my company does open up these sites, What are we going to say? Aren’t we supposed to be taken seriously?
Let’s tackle both of these questions, one by one.
Corporate Policy
No matter what industry your company is in, there’s always bound to be resistance from key stakeholders within your organization. What is the ROI, right? Well, your simple answer is “Social Media is a Return on Relationships, NOT a Return on Investment. With Social Media, you’re building relationships, not a Facebook Page, a Twitter Feed, or a bunch of Check-ins on foursquare on Gowalla. There are many permutations and translations of this general rule (and lots of ways to do this) but stick to that general rule, and you’ll be fine.
For those companies who are still blocking Facebook, Twitter etc (see cartoon above) ask yourselves why. Is it a lack of trusting your employees on whatto say or do? Are they “wasting time” on Facebook? If they are on Linkedin, they must be looking for a job, right? Well, here are two things to think about…
1. If you take away Social Media sites at work, guess what?? Your employees will STILL find some other website or social network to visit. If they’re not on Facebook, they’re probably changing their fantasy football roster, or checking out the style section of their favorite magazine.
2. What if you empowered and educated your employees on best practices for their social media habits? While they do spend time on Facebook, what if they spent some of that time identifying new people, companies, or relationships that your company might be interested in?
Trust
Understanding that Social Media is about relationships is the EASY part. The hard part is building trust and how a company like yours goes about it doing it. How Social should you be? Here are some pointers for your business.
- Look at your company culture, mission statement and/or values. Build relationships based on that, in whatever you say or do online.
- Act the same way you do offline as you do online. Picture yourself at a trade show or cocktail party, and think about the people you met that really interested you.Chances are, they weren’t the ones yapping about their new software, product launch or their golf handicap. The good ones are the ones who were talking about an interesting new book/article they read, sharing a recipe, introducing you to their network, making you laugh, or (gulp) comfortable enough to make you laugh at them. You want to be the company that people are crowding around, not the insufferable person shelling out theirbusiness card or talking about themselves.
- “Lighten Up Francis”: At the end of the day, your company is composed of people. And, well, business is done with people. So, don’t take yourself too seriously, like Francis does in Stripes. Loosen up.
Agree, Disagree?
