27 September 2011

Pigbook

Here is one of the best discussion starters I've seen in a while...


Just think about it. What is Facebook selling?

That would be consumer insights and targeted advertising based on these insights if you ask me. But without further interpretation, knowing what your potential or real customer prefers, talks about or reveals is maybe not exactly what you want to sell them.

Give your customer what he or she wants is what I often hear. But how do we know what they want? Yes we can listen to them, observe them, track them or put them in categories. And we can do all of this on Facebook.

Henri Ford said: if I would have asked my customers what they want they answer: faster horses. He then gave them a car...

Now what's my point here. On the one hand Facebook is brilliant. It has clout, momentum, lots of conversations, remarks, media and games. Data galore and insights by the truck load. Yet do you really behave like you do in every day life?

I bet that most of us take care about what we post and how we phrase things. These days employers, candidates and family will be able to take a sneak peak at your profile unless you've completely shielded it off for the outside world.

So is Facebook seeing us as we are or is it dealing with my Facebook-me? What will this do to the value of using Facebook for media, marketing and branding purposes? I can't help thinking that while the younger generation might live their life on Facebook, it is nothing more than a billboard at your local supermarket that happens to have an enormous amount of content and a million ways of spending your entire life on it if you choose so.

These questions came up when looking at the Facebook and You cartoon the first time and I am still no further as to how to answer them.

Naturally the power of Facebook to reach out and touch your customers, to convey a brand message or a story is there. But what are the limits imposed by the fact that we know we're being watched and we know that total privacy nor the right to forget, i.e. for your profile or data on your profile to cease and desist completely are part of Facebook's corporate values.

So are we behaving differently on Facebook compared to every day life. Are we e.g. more honest because we know or feel we're being watched? A quick search via Google showed that sciences says this is the case but I am convinced that quite a few users do not even realize that Facebook and a great many others are watching over their shoulders.

So in short, will we keep using the barn and eat the free food and deal with the consequences that come with this? Do we know if Facebook generates skewed behavior or do we go with an even stronger statement: our behavior on Facebook is what brands need to deal with in the future.

To be continued.

Matt





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