I like interesting questions and Geoff Livingston has asked a big one. When and how will Facebook die? All things pass (apologies to Ray Kurzweil). Our Internet economy is prone to short lasting fads. Maybe Facebook will go the way of Bebo, Hi5 or eWorld. Internet media properties are a hit-based business. Some are one hit wonders and others play for decades. Geoff asserts that Facebook succeeds because of their McDonald’s-like business model.

He says “Facebook is the McDonald’s of social networks” and I have to agree. We have the lowest common denominator for food compared with the lowest common denominator for online social interaction. It’s a product model, not a business model but still an interesting comparison.

Think of the similarities:

• Both companies must adapt to world cultures and become global organizations
• Both must manage evolution of their product offering according to the markets they serve
• Both need to listen to local markets, customers, users and react accordingly
• Both seek extreme customer loyalty, a kind of user addiction
• Both will introduce bombs (McRib vs Places?)

When Geoff’s scries the horizon he sees completely visual social networks. He thinks this will be too much of a challenge for Facebook and they will follow MySpace into ignomy. He worries that “It would take an almost complete gutting of its social networking code” to compete. My guess is that the code has been refactored many times, if only for scalability issues. Writing code is a commodity, not to worry. This is a non-starter. The real issue is UI evolution and change management. Oh, and there’s that nagging privacy thing, too. At least Micky D doesn’t post how many Big Macs I’ve had in the 21st Century… (pssst… the answer is 0)

Geoff thinks Facebook’s death spiral begins when they make radical changes to keep up with “visual social networks.” UI changes are predicted to leave Facebook members rolling in the ditch. “No, such a network upgrade would likely force Facebook to abandon users that are still text based.” Well, we left those dial-up folks a while ago and things seem to be just fine. The younger generation goes for audio and video…text not so much.

I’m going on record as saying that Facebook won’t last for eternity, but it will last longer than AOL. The reason is the strength of platform. AOL was an ad platform. Facebook is much more. Like many successful Silicon Vally companies, they’ve created an ecosystem of developers, brands, websites and governments that see value in the data they can mine and the market segments they can target. Facebook will either be “too big to fail” within 5 years or part of a grim strategy by one of the big dogs, MSFT or GOOG.  I’d bet on that before I’d bet on the Nats.

Facebook Connect is one of the new features we added to AlikeList today. When you sign in  you now have the option of using your Facebook email and password. Click Connect with Facebook and you can start sharing your favorite businesses with Facebook friends and ask them for recommendations, too. We’re tapping into the power of the world’s biggest social network to help you get trusted recommendations and share your recommendations with friends.

Sharing with your friends on Facebook

Sharing  a favorite business  Facebook is easy. Beneath each business listing you’ll see the Share link. One click and you’re asked if you want to publish your Share to your Facebook wall. From there, it depends on your Facebook settings to determine how widely your Share is seen.

Within seconds, your Share is posted to Facebook. It’s a cool way to help your friends discover new restaurants, retailers, professionals and other businesses you like.

Asking for recommendations

If you’re looking for a business and don’t know where to turn, it’s only natural to ask your friends. Since your time is valuable, why not leverage the relationships you have on Facebook to find the answers you need. Help is just a few clicks away.

Let’s say you’re looking for a real estate broker in your town. You can click the Ask friends tab at the top of the AlikeList page and you’ll see that you can ask friends by email, by messages on AlikeList or by asking your friends on Facebook. Just like Sharing, your question is posted to your Wall and sent to those that can see your posts in Facebook’s News Feed.

The power of Asking friends on Facebook is impressive. Within an hour of asking for a recommendation, I had two solid references from people I know and trust.

By connecting with your friends on Facebook, AlikeList lets you tap into the wisdom of your social network are to solve life’s daily problems. It’s fast, it’s easy and it’s free.

From time to time I meet business owners that have a bee in their bonnet about one aspect of social media. They may be obsessed with Twitter or firmly believe that they need a Facebook page but when you ask them to put that in the perspective of an integrated marketing plan, they’re hard pressed to articulate how the pieces are intended to come together.

Part of the issue is that they are looking at social media from a technology point of view. They are smitten by a platform and never step back to look at the bigger picture. That’s why a framework like Forrester Research’s POST methodology is so useful. It forces you to consider the big picture before making choices about technology.

The acronym represents the order in which you consider key aspects of your marketing to arrive at an optimal solution. The letters stand for:

• People
• Objectives
• Strategies
• Tactics

People - Think about your customers and prospects. How do you characterize or segment your market? What is the demographic you are seeking? Where are they geographically? What is their technographic profile? The purpose in examining your market segment is to make informed judgments about where they are likely to be found online and what behaviors they are most likely to engage in. It will help you decide where to put your online efforts.

Objectives - What do you want to happen? Are you driving traffic to a website, or are you looking for more prospects to walk in your door? The business objectives you seek to achieve must set the framework for evaluating and choosing particular strategies.

Strategy - What marketing strategies will move the needle on your business goals? If you’re trying to build buzz among influential people, maybe a blogger relations campaign will help. For the more revenue-driven perhaps a discount or coupon offering makes sense. It all depends on your objectives.

Tactics - This is where the rubber meets the road. Based on your knowledge of your people, objectives and strategies you’re now in a position to decide which social networks, blogs, microblogs and social media are relevant to your situation and how to integrate them with your traditional marketing mix.

The next time someone urges you to get your business on the social media bandwagon, take a few minutes to think about the elements in the POST process. It puts raw enthusiasm in perspective.

We’re inspired by the challenge of optimizing the plethora of communication channels and media a marketer is faced with today. The placid pre-internet world of leisurely news cycles and predictable best practices has given way to a shifting landscape of bankrupt print media and new consumer behaviors.

The media that’s emerged allows two way dialog that can take place on a media sharing site,  social network, blog or microblog. It’s not the one way street that allowed previous marketers to influence an anonymous demographic segment. It’s thousands of conversations that demand honesty and transparency from the brand.

We work with our clients to develop communication strategies that make the best use of traditional and new media. Whether it’s a company launch, product launch, or just keeping your fans in the loop, we’ll help you craft your messages for broadcast journalists or a 140 character Tweet.

Our team has worked the gamut from Fortune 100 firms to garage-based startups. Regardless of the client we bring our creativity, a passion for building brands and experience that produces  results. Contact us today to talk about how we can improve your communication channel mix.

Facebook’s always been challenged by the task of targeting their advertising across a highly segmented population. Their attempts vary between ham-handed (Beacon) and all thumbs (illo below)

Crappy ad targeting

Of all the types of ads one can target, singles ads seem straightforward. Granted, FB profiles don’t cater to all proclivities but when I’m a middle aged single man interested in women, why does this guy show up? He’s as out of place as the ads for girls my daughter’s age or www.seniorpeoplemeet.com. Both are regular occupants of the right column.

Facebook, get a clue. The data is right in front of you.

I turn to Google Trends once in a while to see if my client work has had an impact. Trying to understand search behavior is like trying to understand love. It’s something that eludes casual analysis. You have to work hard and smart to move the needle, but it can be done.

Sometimes there are genuine events, not manufactured PR or marketing initiatives that bring a new picture into focus. The search volume generated by the recent celebrity death quad-fectra of Ed McMahon, Farah Fawcett, Michael Jackson and Billy Mays is a case in point.

Google Trends lets you limit the search geographically. Admittedly, I biased the chart by choosing Billy’s home state, Pennsylvania. It seems that people in Delaware, Maryland, Rhode Island and to a lesser extent Florida generated similar Michael to Billy ratios. Nevada stood out as a State transfixed by Michael and less so by Billy.

Regardless of the regional variation, there are two dimensions of analysis that fascinate me. One is the age divide and the other is the correlation between news volume and search frequency.

The age difference is striking. The older you are, the less likely people are going to search for you when you die. Only boomers remember Farah and Ed and they probably get their news from dead trees. Michael and Billy remain firmly in the consciousness of younger folks that get their news online. That may account for the striking difference in search volume between those that die at 50 vs. 60+.

But look at that news volume. Michael Jackson is getting ad nauseum coverage from all media outlets. The ongoing nature of this coverage is only surpassed by RAI when the Pope dies. Clearly media coverage drives the sheep to search Google for everything Michael. There are plenty of sheep.

But what about Billy. His news volume is a slim fraction of Michael’s but look at the search volume. Is that just great word of mouth? Is it the vast untapped love for an everyman folk hero? It’s an organic phenomenon that has nothing to do with PR and media. It’s something else that I don’t have an explanation for unless Billy came from a very, very big family. His search volume is disproportionate to the media coverage of his exit.

So the question is…what creates big increases in search volume in the absence of the media stirring the pot? Is it just big love for Billy? I doubt it. New theories welcome.

Assuming that your company is one that has something to gain by social media engagement you have to decide how to deliver successful initiatives that advance tangible business goals. That may mean going to an agency for help or finding internal resources. In many cases, it’s a split of duties between your company and a marketing/advertising/pr firm. I’d like to offer some experience-based recommendations on how to divide social media tasks.

The first step is to understand your goals. Are you trying to create awareness and loyalty? Do you want to drive website traffic? Do you intend to generate qualified leads? Is providing better customer support a goal? Clearly thinking through your primary goals will help you understand which social media tactics support those goals.

Next, assess your social media readiness. How many of your employees are on Facebook or Twitter? Do any of them blog? What sort of social media footprint does your brand project? Are people talking about your brand? Identify which venues they favor and determine whether the sentiment is positive or negative. This information provides a baseline against which you can measure the impact of your program.

Determine what mix of resources will deliver cost effective results. For example, UPS has an in-house blog monitoring program that leverages receptionists as blog readers. Their reporting is aggregated so that marketing folks can understand what’s being said in the blogosphere. Perhaps you have an agency that is able to monitor blogs too. That’s fine, provided they can move as fast as a viral story does online. A weekly blog coverage report doesn’t cut it when a story can propagate online like wildfire. A frequently updated wiki or media dashboard is a better solution for keeping everyone informed.

Communicate with authenticity and transparency. The era of social media has opened up organizations that were opaque in the past. People have come to expect that company executives and employees have social network presences and can be engaged in authentic dialog. The expectation of dialog comes with an expectation that they are communicating with someone that is knowledgable and “on the inside.” This argues for putting Twitter in the hands of your employees, just as Zappos.com does. They have over 400 employees on Twitter and it has become a defining part of their culture.

So if your employees are monitoring the blogosphere, tweeting and at home on Facebook, what’s the role of your agency? A good agency will have broader and deeper experience with social media than you. Their lessons learned are useful and may help you avoid mistakes. Marketing agencies can develop integrated campaigns and leverage your resources, web shops are able to build Facebook applications and drive traffic and PR firms can orchestrate blogger relations in support of events and product launches. Agencies can round out your resource set, provide ideas and direction and guide your strategic thinking. Just don’t give up the most important thing, your authentic voice.

I was in a client meeting a few weeks ago. I suppose I was more articulate than usual that day because one of the meeting participants asked me when I was going to write a book. A nice compliment but a very tough thing to do. I started my career in book publishing and I saw first hand how hard it is to complete a manuscript. It’s not for the faint hearted.

That’s why I loved reading today’s opinion in the New York Times. Timothy Egan hits the nail on the head.

Most of the writers I know work every day, in obscurity and close to poverty, trying to say one thing well and true. Day in, day out, they labor to find their voice, to learn their trade, to understand nuance and pace. And then, facing a sea of rejections, they hear about something like Barbara Bush’s dog getting a book deal.

Writing is hard, even for the best wordsmiths. Ernest Hemingway said the most frightening thing he ever encountered was “a blank sheet of paper.” And Winston Churchill called the act of writing a book “a horrible, exhaustive struggle, like a long bout of painful illness.”

I could not agree more. With limited funds to advance to authors, publishers have to choose between literature and pop culture. Unfortunately the money’s in pop culture.