Yes, I have this Love vs Hate relationship with Facebook. Well, maybe it is more of a WTF? though towards Facebook being worthy as a business networking source. I find a lot of my High School friends there, but as far as anyone saying…Hey, send me a contract or sign me up..Nada!
I was reading David Reinhardt’s blog on Handling Facebook friend requests from colleagues and clients and actually agreed with most of what he has to say, with the acceptation..what business worthiness does Facebook offer?
This drew me to the chart he offered..thanks Mr Reinhardt..very good chart.
Now, this chart is an outstanding tool to use to outline how effective Facebook can work for professional networking. It can be risky or rewarding which I guess depends on the type of business on how risky or rewarding Facebook would be to the business.
What I am finding is Facebook is being used by more fun seekers than people looking for business services or products. All I see the businesses using Facebook for is..yes..as a HUGE billboard. They could care less about the individuals or real people they are throwing stuff out to see..it is Sell, Sell, Sell to them..geez, do they know this is not 1980?
What is Facebook For?
Is ANYONE who is on Facebook looking at these businesses’ attempt to get attention..or more importantly..anyone buying any of the products or services these businesses are putting in front of all these people.
Of course the answer is going to be..yes, they are..what would expect someone who spends trillions of someone else’ money on adverting on Facebook would say.. but really? Is Facebook the place You go when it comes time to buy something?
What Real People Think
My surveys are showing over 90% of the people I talk to say..NO! They go to the Search Engines and hit the business’ Blog or web-site and do not even think of Facebook as a source to finding a product or service. 85% said they would go to Twitter before Facebook..if they went to Facebook at all.
On the flip side, 95% of the people had Facebook accounts and used Facebook regularly..so go figure. Is Facebook really where a business would gets its biggest bang? Again..yes..if they use Facebook for social media and engage in conversation with real people instead of hard selling everyone they see. But, that is not being done by over 85% of the business I see on Facebook.
Am I on Facebook? Yes, I am, but like the rest of the Jedi Knight Ninja social mediaist who also use Facebook, we have Facebook Pages to put our businesses on so consumers can stop by, check us out and be directed to our blog or web-sites.
So is Facebook really worth the effort? I would say the chart David provided above would be something good for you to use to answer that question. As far as time spent and return on time invested, there are better things to do be a carnival hawkers on Facebook.
As far as, what do I use Facebook for? I use it to socialize with friends and build a community of people interested in what I do..personally and professionally. What do you use Facebook for?
