Who better to write a foreword to a book about digital technology than David Kirkpatrick, Senior Editor, Internet and Technology at Fortune Magazine? David’s introductory comments to my book, BrandDigital, were based on his career studying the evolution of digital technology, itself, but more important, the effects of this technology on consumer behavior. When I learned that David was in the process of writing a book himself, focused on Facebook and other social media sites, I decided to give him a call and see if he’d give me a preview of his findings. Here is a short segment taken from our very interesting conversation. For more of his thoughts, I think he’d be pleased if you kept an eye out for his book, The Facebook Effect, coming out later this year.
AA: What is your sense of the overall status of the social media phenomenon?
DK: Unprecedented growth. Facebook, alone, is growing so rapidly that if it sustained its current rate of growth, by 2011 every person on the Internet would have a Facebook account. I don’t assume this will happen, it will level off some point, but my point is that social media is burgeoning.
AA: Is this a share battle? Are we looking at a winner take all scenario?
DK: No, actually. This growth is additive. At this point it’s not a share battle with MySpace or Linked in or any of the other hundreds of social media clones. But, as you know, things in this space change very quickly.
AA: Has there been any change in the way people are using social media – more so than just to collect and keep track of their friends?
DK: Very much so. There are actually two primary reasons people use Facebook. First, they use it to maintain their friendship structure. But, second, they see is as a central organizing place for other things in their life - music, news, sports. They use it as a way to learn about and stay plugged into what their friends are plugged into.
AA: So, in effect, they see Facebook a critical stop on their way to experiencing everything else online.
DK: Exactly. This is partly as a result of the change in Facebook demographics – older, more affluent, baby boomer types who check in to see what political sites their friends are tuned into, where they buy stuff, what books they’re reading. They’re also using Facebook for work-related activities, job opportunities, referrals, and those types of things.
AA: What does this mean for brand organizations? What does this more diverse demographic mean in terms of monetizing initiatives?
DK: Even with the younger users, it’s been proven that a brand can’t just break into a conversation and start selling. But, anything with this much user engagement can be turned into a platform for consumer buying decisions. The key to monetization success, however, no matter what the demographic, is an understanding of the fact that people in social media are influenced by other users, not by the brands.
AA: Word of mouth has always been the most effective and efficient way to sell. In this venue it’s like word of mouth on steroids. Are there any initiatives under way that you can talk about?
DK: As a matter of fact, Facebook Connect seems to be proving itself as a possible money-making initiative. Through this platform any Facebook member can register on any Web site on the Internet using their Facebook log-in, all privacy protected. They can then distribute the content of these sites to their friends through news feeds. It’s up to the individual sites to make their content worth linking to and passing along. In other words, brands have to make their sites compelling.
AA: I could see Facebook finding a way to get marketers to pay for preferential access. But the most important aspect of this is that people will receive marketing content from their friends, not from marketers.
DK: Right. The whole idea behind Facebook, or any social network, is that your friends are doing something they want you to know about. Marketers need to understand that this is the way people are communicating and it’s creating new, more efficient ways for people to get information that’s important to them.
» Vivek Shah - Group President, Digital, Time Inc. News Group (Jan. 27, 2009)
» Bob Pearson - Vice President of communities and conversations for Dell (#2) (Nov. 18, 2008)
» Tim Mapes - Senior Vice President of Marketing at Delta Air Lines (Nov. 4, 2008)
» Barbara Basney - Director of global advertising for Xerox (Oct. 30, 2008)
» Bob Pearson - Vice President of communities and conversations for Dell (#1) (Oct. 13, 2008)
» Robert Greenberg - Vice President of Corporate Brand Marketing for Panasonic (Sept. 26, 2008)
» Jason Dowdell - Founder of MarketingShift (Sept. 23, 2008)
» Ed Faruolo - Vice President of Brand Development and Advertising at Lincoln Financial Group (Aug. 14, 2008)
» Roy Bostock - Chairman of the Board of Yahoo, Inc. (Aug. 13, 2008)
» Gary Briggs - former SVP, Chief Marketing Officer, eBay North America (July 17, 2008)