Getting Started in Social Networks
One of the big questions for marketers who want to get onto social networks like MySpace and Facebook is always, how many eyeballs are on each?
The smart fellow Jeremiah Owyang, an analyst for Forrestor Research is a great person to read to keep up with the latest numbers, as well as assorted smart thoughts. The social network space changes so quickly that it really
isn’t easy to get a good handle on what’s happening (remember Friendster?…
A pupae of an idea in 2002, media darling by 2003, surpassed by MySpace in
2004 and now barely mentioned). Jeremiah is kind enough to share what he’s
gathered recently on three of the biggies: Facebook, MySpace and Reunion.
Wait, Reunion? Haven’t seen a lot about this one yet, but a social network that’s already profitable and caters to an older crowd certainly piques our interest. Personally, we are keeping an eye on Eons for the older crowd, which seems solid, though we heard they had some layoffs back in Sept.
It’s also interesting to note that, in spite of Facebook being the media darling du jour, MySpace still does have about twice as many active users. Yes, these numbers are self reported & must be taken with a large-ish grain of salt, but it’s interesting.
In the end though, going social…which we can’t say enough positive things about…does require a certain leap of faith. You’re simply not going to have the data and hard numbers you might be accustomed to if you come from a ‘trad marketing’ background. But many of your competitors are already taking the leap–if you’re thinking about Facebook, you might want to note that 13,000 applications (that’s Facebook speak for the little embedded widgets, games, etc that users can add to their profile) have been created just since Facebook opened up the application platform to outside developers in summer 2007. While not all of these are professionally created, or created for the purposes of marketing, many of them were.
If you’re thinking about taking the leap, we think there’s nothing wrong with starting small–one simple widget on one platform is a great way to learn more about what works for your brand and what doesn’t. And keep in mind that it always comes back to your brand–you can make widgets til the cows come home, but unless they resonate with real people, by being compelling or useful, or reflective of a person’s values, or connect in some other way, it’s just a bunch of pixels on a new platform…nothing to get excited about.
Beth Koloski, Interaction Design