Facebook has been all over the trades and the consumer press these pas few weeks. AdAge runs a story about the marketers rushing to create their own profiles (which is ultimately a good thing). Newsweek runs a story about the phenomena teased by the Web 1.0 story hook: the 23 year-old founder.
A lot of the interest is probably driven by the grassroots interest demonstrated by 300% growth over the past year (vs. 72% for MySpace). Only Bebo comes close with 308% growth and most of their users are in the European market.
Ergonomic Marketing?
I am not referring to my Think chair from Herman Miller nor the kitchen utensils designed for my big hands - I love them both. I am talking about being user-centric and being of-use to people who are trying to get something done (not waste time on an ad with no redeeming value). Ergonomic is designed around the needs and the form of the user first. (yes, technically it takes into account the physical form factor of the person)
In MySpace, marketing experiments abound - character pages for brands, brand pages for brands, and more. It's kind of junked up in there right now.
It's harder to do that in Facebook. There are two great ways to market and both require an "ergonomic" approach. The first is to create groups formed around some genuinely appealing affinity. people join by attraction not because they were tricked into it. Those who start groups are obligated to stay true to their implied charter.
The other way is to build useful (could be entertaining) applications on the Facebook Platform. Here are two great resources to learn more about what is how people are marketing in Facebook:
Dosh Dosh: Facebook Marketing - Maki writes a great summary of other resources out there talking about using Facebook in many ways. Nice job.
The Best of Facebook - You can keep up with some of the latest applications and other features inside Facebook and vote on your favorites (and see what others feel is popular)
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