On 4/11/2012 2:38 PM, Erika L. Rich wrote: > Just because some people don't care to post every little nuance of their > day, doesn't meant it's going the way of myspace. FB isn't going anywhere > for a long time. There's a LOT of behind the scenes changes with marketing > dollars, features, ads, etc that the average person never sees, and I can > tell PT doesn't even give them a glancing thought.
You misunderstood me. The business tool side is the only reason I care about Facebook, for the most part. I am all for using it as a marketing/business tool. In fact, a certain kind of marketing business model can be built around it. I always wondered what took companies so long. I still wonder what is taking them so long. Some companies are getting the idea that there is an audience on Facebook that they can tap into. They aren't getting an idea how to do it. Many companies are treating it like the early web. Gee, it's pretty cool, but ... what do we do with it? A lot of them just throw up a Facebook page that isn't much more than a web page/blog. Those already exist separately from Facebook for a reason. On the other hand, a lot of the companies that are getting it right are the ones with products that are already somewhat social in nature. Zynga uses Facebook to spread the word about their games. Battleon Games uses it to stay in constant contact with customers and let the employees interact directly with them. The customers love it. > And that's a shame, because in this highly competitive world, where every > little edge means the difference between a job, a contract or a client, I > would NEVER ever, put down a vehicle that might help me get what I'm after. This is perfectly reasonable and neither would I, but that isn't what Facebook was designed to do and does nothing to sustain them. > I realize most programmers could care less ... but I still think you are > doing yourself a horrible disservice by dismissing them so quickly. I am not dismissing anything. Facebook are certainly a huge resource with a lot of clout. They just aren't using that clout to anywhere near its full potential. > It's more than just a place to share photos. Maybe, but that is what the vast majority of their users do with the site. My comments were formed around a few things. 1. Facebook's growth rate is completely unsustainable. It has already dropped. There is no market left for it to regain the momentum it had. Their huge growth is one of the main things that makes them attractive, especially to investors. Soon, that growth rate will fall to the single digit percentages (like most other companies out there) and in the absence of quality over quantity, their stocks will have their price adjusted proportionally. 2. Facebook has not changed much. At its core, it is still nearly the same as when it started. It is my opinion that Facebook, as it is right now, cannot continue. 3. Besides Zynga and other games and bits of advertising, I don't see Facebook's business model. Congrats to them for managing not to get completely overwhelmed by their rapid growth, but the golden age is coming to an end and I have yet to see anything about how they plan to generate revenue past that, besides maybe acquiring some properties, like Zynga, or redefining themselves like Apple did. My original "rant" (and I admit to being a little flippant when writing it) was not that Facebook isn't useful to people. It was how Facebook, as big as they are, are still vulnerable to losing their status as king of the hill very rapidly and at the whim of their minimal revenue generating consumer base. If Facebook becomes something besides Facebook, then I will reevaluate my opinion. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:349725 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
