Martha Stewart Invades Facebook

Martha Stewart has had a presence on MySpace for some time, but has just recently opened an account on Facebook.

MySpace has been known for some time to host profiles that have been used for marketing purposes to reach young, hip audiences. The nearly endless amounts of customization that are available (due to the acceptance of both html and flash code being injected into profiles) and the willingness of users to accept friendships from friends, rock bands and nearly any celebrity that they are interested in (whether the page is official or not) makes MySpace a perfect candidate for this type of promotion.

But let's take a look at Facebook. On Facebook, profiles are plain, and all generally look the same. Focus is more on the individual, their statistics, interests and their own content (which has made Facebook a top photo sharing site). And the custom there is generally to befriend only people that you have actual relationships with. The function to show how you know each person is built into the code which proves this.

Because of the differences in each site, maybe it wasn't best for Martha to just open up a profile as she has on MySpace. However, one can see why it was chosen to be done. With the success of the MySpace profile, someone decided that the next logical step was to duplicate it on Facebook. Surely, it will be successful to an extent, as there will be hardcore fans who are willing to let that transcend the normal unspoken rules of Facebook, but it probably wasn't the most appropriate implementation.

Facebook has recently added applications to allow users to spam-up their profiles in a controlled manner (unlike the ability to change backgrounds and font colors to make text unreadable a la MySpace). Wouldn't it have been more appropriate and effect to launch a Facebook application instead of a profile?

The application route has a number of benefits. First, purists (those who will only befriend those they actually know) would be more likely to accept her in the form of an application. They also would be able to enjoy whatever service that the application gave. The application would also be more visible, as it would be seen every time that the person's profile is viewed, and the host would view it quite often as well. The only loss of not having the profile would be the visibility in the user's RSS feed, but an application can actually take this to the next level. Instead of the user seeing Martha's updates, the application can prompt users to post their own updates in their RSS feed (or even do it automatically on approval) and all of their friends can see them as well.

It should be obvious by this point that creating an application versus a profile would be a more efficient way to go viral. Aside from what has already been discussed, users also have the ability to automatically prompt other users after they have added the application - and many do. These automatic invitations come from the user specifically and not from Martha, therefore their effectiveness is sure to be heightened. Also, recipients of invitations must make an effort to accept or deny them, so cannot be as ignored.

So marketers and PR agents, please learn to see the differences between MySpace and Facebook and learn to respect those differences - it will benefit you and your client in the end.

Google ads finding their way into social networking profiles

As reported by Mediapost, through a partnership with Dada.net, an italian-based social networking site, Google will be providing adsense-style content, and allowing users to make a little bit of money at the same time.

The "friend$" program allows users to sign up and host the advertising on their pages including blogs and profiles. They are then able to refer their friends to sign up and become of the project as well, then they make money on their friends ads to boot. They are promoting the content virally on a site that is already viral by nature... so how could they lose?

On that note, how long could it be before this type of partnership starts on the big two: MySpace and Facebook. Will it be allowed? And if so, would users take part?

With a large media conglomerate behind MySpace, and Facebook being more conservative in nature, it may be more likely to hit lesser known communities first. This is just one attempt to monetize the plethora of user-generated content on the net. This and other newer areas of the web continue to be explored by advertisers, and we will likely continue to see interesting developments in the near future.