Social networking juggernaut Facebook exerts a gravitational pull on smaller sites, sucking them into its orbit. Darren Rowse’s recent guide to making your blog “sticky” – attracting repeat visitors – addressed Facebook’s power concisely: “I have some readers on DPS who are Facebook junkies. They refuse to subscribe via RSS or email but religiously read my blog by following my Facebook profile which pulls in my latest posts.” That sounded smart to me, so this blog is now available on Facebook in addition to e-mail and RSS. I try to make my writing available to as many people as possible with the goal of striking up conversations about collaboration.
Some of my family members are now regular Facebook users because the site brings them instant access to new pictures of their grandkids. Facebook’s photo album feature allows their daughter to upload her pictures easily and share them with the hundreds of Facebook users she’s already connected to. The beautiful simplicity of this arrangement makes me question my own decision to post baby pictures on a standalone site: I have to monitor and update the software and disk space rather than just expecting it to work the way a Facebook user can. Policitians and corporations maintain their own Facebook pages in hopes of reinforcing their presence among net users who are watching less TV each year. Recruiters use Facebook to reach out to college seniors and thereby get the first shot at hiring them. The connections that Facebook facilitates are fascinating and undeniably useful to me and to millions of other users. UPDATE: Gallery contributor Andy demonstrates in the comments below why there is always a huge upside to hosting your own photos. Thanks for your contribution to the discussion and please keep up the good work, Andy!
Does your team need to be more like Facebook? Yes.
The never-ending stickiness of Facebook can be a good lesson to your organization’s knowledge sharing efforts. Understand that your teammates are going to choose the path of least resistance when it comes to sharing information. For many people, that path is Facebook. If your collaboration initiative is less sticky and harder to use than Facebook, do you think it will succeed? Be sure that your planning sessions include members from all levels and corners of your organization. If your program is hammered out at the top of the organization and then “buy-in” is only addressed after the program is finalized, you’re going to have a problem.
Welcome to the Hotel Zuckerberg
There is a downside to the ever-growing Facebook platform. By repurposing our content and sticking it behind “friends-only” walls, Facebook is reprising the strategy of 90s-era America Online. I can’t fault anyone for wanting to exercise some control over the distribution of their photos and writing, but each new piece of our lives we add to our Facebook profiles will make it that much harder for us to walk away if Facebook ever shatters our collective faith in its system. Facebook’s rapid march to power is apparently so pronounced it’s even scared Google. In a classic “Don’t be Evil” move, Google is moving to outdo Facebook by being just a little bit more open. At this point I think Facebook is more likely to collapse under its own weight in the far-off future than it is to be hindered by Google’s machinations.
