360DigitalInfluence

From the new Groups functionality to the ability to “see relationships” and the $250 million sFund, the folks at Facebook are telling us one thing: people value their social network, and so should we.

On Oct. 6 at a live press conference, Zuckerberg announced that he’d found the solution to “the biggest problem in social networking.” Thus was born the new age of Facebook Groups, spawned from the idea that we all communicate differently within different social circles. Now, you can communicate differently with your 72-year-old grandparents than with your buddies from college. You can even treat it as a virtual business meeting with the functionality of editing common docs and group chat. This feature also reminds us – users value their friends, and we should too. Facebook isn’t about the “face-value”, right? It’s about growing and sustaining relationships, in their proper places.

On top of the Groups announcement, that same day Facebook developers introduced the Data Download function that allows users to “take home” their data. This reminds us that digital relationships are real. They’re not just an entity found in the digital space. Users can now take their tagged photos and status updates off of the platform. Facebook developers recognized the societal need to feel a relationship and spanned the divide between digital and reality (which is how it started in the first place.) Isn’t that what social media marketing is all about?

The new Facebook profile layout that rolled out on Sunday attests to the fact that Facebook is continually attempting to mimic the natural, in-person relationship.

The new layout highlights photos first. Call me crazy, but isn’t this similar to a real life relationship? Step one: see potential new friend. Step two: get to know friend. Step three: build relationship. Facebook is obviously mimicking the natural way in which humans create, nurture, and sustain relationships. This just shows us that the value placed on the digital relationship is higher than ever.

Now, does this mean that Facebook is the bible of social media? No. Does this mean that Facebook’s trends are the only to follow? Absolutely not. It means that if Facebook finds something important, we should keep our eye on it.

After all, they do have 500 million users.

2009, defined by the deep recession, forced consumer brands to do more with much less.  However, this stressful environment drove  marketers to try non-traditional and less expensive channels, fostering the development of some unique engagement programs in social media.  In this series of posts, I’ll revisit a few of the more interesting campaigns from the past year and explain how these programs can guide our 2010 engagement strategies.

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Since the launch of Facebook brand pages, there has been confusion as to whether your brand or cause should set up a page or a group. As brand pages grew in popularity and were given more and more features, it seemed like discussion of groups dropped off. Finally, on Monday Facebook updated the look and function of Facebook groups and now that they dust has settled I think it’s worth revisiting the age old question, “Do I want a Facebook group or a brand page?”

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