Let’s just say that I’m north of 30 and south of 50…but does that make me too old to use two of the Web’s largest social networking sites, MySpace and Facebook?
Clearly, it’s the under-20 demographic that fueled the explosion of these sites. Use of Facebook is now ubiquitous on most college campuses. (I read a recent interview where a college student estimated that most of her friends were on Facebook for five hours a day or more!)
In a recent Newsweek article, the Facebook folks (who started allowing non-students to join in September 2006) say these places aren’t just for kids anymore.
“Absolutely yes,” says Facebook’s COO, Owen Van Natta, to the question of whether it will change the world of 30-, 40- and 50-year-olds the way it has on campus. He then amends the question to conform to the company’s new unofficial, and weirdly defensive, motto: it’s not just students. “Facebook did not change college life, but it changed the lives of the early adopters … many of whom were in college. We’re entering a phase where every single day we have more people over 25 entering Facebook than any other demographic. So, absolutely, yes.”
I’ve been on MySpace for a couple of years and just joined Facebook a few months ago. (Unlike MySpace, where front pages can be viewed by all, Facebook is a “walled garden” so you won’t be able to link to my page unless you are also a member.)
So what are the implications of MySpace and Facebook for your business?
As more people join and as students who have used these technologies from a young age join the workforce, this kind of functionality is going to become a baseline expectation, not some fancy “Web 2.0” initiative for your company. Your customers are going to expect to interact with you in the same way that they interact with their friends and contacts on these other social networks.
Is your company ready? ―John Kovacevich, VP, marketing services
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brigitte nielsen and sylvester…
Thanks for the nice read, keep up the interesting posts…..
Trackback by brigitte nielsen and sylvester 01.26.08 @ 1:08 amLeave a comment
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I think a lot of big companies agree with you that these technologies are becoming the baseline. The WSJ had an article about how Yahoo, Microsoft, and AOL are adding social networking features like tracking friends and creating personal profiles to share. It’s all about sharing — and sharing profits.
Comment by JulieJ 11.01.07 @ 4:31 pm