Friday, April 17, 2009 1:03 PM EST

Facebook… 200M Members and Counting

by Oliver McIntyre

Are you on Facebook yet?

Sitting in the office a few weeks ago, I overheard a pretty blonde freelancer stating that she now hates Facebook as her mom, dad, aunt, uncle, and cousins all have profiles.

Facebook’s announcement last week that they just added their 200 millionth user really wasn’t much of a surprise for me. In October 2007, I wrote a blog stating that 2007 was all about Facebook and that it was the new mass media. Microsoft purchased 1.6 % of the company for a mere $240 million valuing the brand at $15 billion. In that post I remember putting that into perspective, stating that that was six times the market cap of the New York Times.

But let’s stop for a moment and ponder this milestone. Can you remember the last time 200 million people across the world were ever members of the same community, especially considering the community is only a mere five years old? Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg and his team state that “If Facebook were a country, it would be the fifth largest in the world, more than Brazil and fewer than Indonesia.”

Facebook is imbedding itself into almost every facet of online interaction. There’s the marketplace, where you can buy, sell, and trade with “Users Near You”. There’s the Notes feature, allowing you to share your innermost secrets with your family and friends and their families and friends and potential employers. There’s the People You May Know feature, which allows you to reconnect with your college roommate’s. Even job opportunities, tailored to your interests, are posted on the side of your Facebook homepage. And let’s not forget everyone’s favorite microblogging tool, the status update. 160 fabulous, self-absorbed characters to convey who actually cares-what: “Billy is bowling ... Billy thinks it’s time to get drunk! ... Billy can’t wait to finish bowling.” Billy is a friend of mine I might add (…just kidding, dude).

In reality, the status update in combination with the news feed feature makes it possible for your friends to ensconce themselves in your day life as often as they’d like and, unless you remove yourself from the site (referred to as Facebook suicide), you’re powerless to stop them.

Facebook has created a platform that provides a unique form of social mobilization and its spirit, speed, and versatility cannot be underestimated. The ease and frequency with which users can alert friends to “Causes” has been credited with allowing do-gooders to find each other through shared interests in non-profits and has allowed for donations and fundraising for those activities near and dear to one’s heart.

Users and non-users alike are probably fully aware of Facebook’s presence and the recent presidential campaign is a very good example. The Facebook team explains that of 45 million active users, 80% are of voting age. 50% of its users are over the age of 35 and, as I have stated in previous posts, the fastest-growing user demographic is m/f 55 +. Mark Zuckerberg’s network has morphed into an all-encompassing rollercoaster.

There are still lots of people in the world who aren’t on Facebook yet but the site finds itself at a tipping point. In terms of creating an internet presence that rivals Google’s (who actually wanted to purchase Facebook at one point): does it stick with the paradigm and allow Facebook to remain the social networking site open to anyone (person, place or thing) or does it streamline, retain better control of the product, and charge users — and thereby alienate a significant portion of the population responsible for bringing it to its current omnipresence?

It will be interesting to see what happens over the next year. If Zuckerberg and his team rock the boat too much, it’s only a matter of time before a replacement is born and Facebook is dumped like MySpace. One thing is very clear, however: social media management is now a key requirement for both clients and agencies in the 21st Century. Web is now channelized and communication has got to go way beyond the intrusive messaging of traditional advertising. Web 3.0, or the Semantic Web, will allow us to use the enormous capacity of the medium to develop much more subtle methods of matching propositions to people at exactly the right time, price, and place.

Facebook will monetize its platform not by hosting banner ads, but by providing its users with applications.

Congrats to Mr. Zuckerberg on creating a Monster.

Comments (2 total) | Add Comment | Permalink

2009-05-09 06:35:43
from: enquiries_yttyourtrustedtradesmen.com

Hi Oliver well written Article, Facebook is a gr8 resource for business also I'm seeing over 300 + referrals a day from there and of that 5% converting to sales. I'm going to give their ads a try next. Kind Regards Michael http://www.yourtrustedtradesmen.com
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2009-05-01 03:23:43
from: Rani Wemel, Malaysia

Hi Oliver...good article enjoyed reading it :)
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