

Facebook.com is now the internet - koski
http://thinkvitamin.com/asides/facebook-com-is-now-the-internet/

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code_duck
No, this actually means Facebook is now AOL. They used to show "AOL Keywords"
in the same places he mentions Facebook page URLs appearing.

~~~
arturadib
But back then AOL was considered The Internet by many, so the author's point
remains.

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rmc
However within a few years it was irrelvant and the real internet remains.

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davidhollander
> _facebook.com/doritos_

facebook.com appears to be a distraction black hole, sucking all other useless
advertising sites and hypercasual games into it.

This is largely a good thing, as you'll now only have to remember one domain
name not to visit.

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alecco
Linkbait blogpost to stir the pot. The blogger writes about his experience
watching the Doritos Super Bowl ad having a facebook link at the end and how
it was an epiphany or something about Facebook being "the Internet." With only
3 short paragraphs and an embedded video with the ad in question.

Don't waste your time.

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JonnieCache
Silliest thing is, companies have been linking to their fb pages in their ads
like this for at least four years now. In the UK anyway.

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patio11
Fads among Madison avenue creative agencies do not the Internet make. (Anybody
remember the Starburst wikiTweetBook promotion?)

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sofuture
My _utility bill_ comes with a Facebook URL on it. I don't think it's a
Madison Ave fad.

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Splines
What sort of benefit could you get by "friending" your utility company? How
bizarre. Maybe they want to deliver policy changes or energy saving tips more
easily? That's the sort of thing I don't mind reading through snail-mail.
(Email is too ephemeral, and FB... well, that's mostly noise).

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csomar
Redirect people to your Facebook page, and since even dogs have Facebook
profiles, the user will probably click the 'like' button, and may also share
the page or invite a few friends.

Companies now are looking for more fans because it means for them more
coverage. The news they publish on their page will show up on the user page.
But what will happen if all of the companies that exist in earth and other
parts of the universe advertise heavily on Facebook?

The typical user will have then a subscription to more than 1 thousand page
and he'll probably end up watching what his friends are sharing. This is
exactly what happened to Twitter, when web masters started to accumulate
followers, but in the end it didn't work out. You can have 20K followers and
barely 10 users read your tweet.

And this is not only linked to Facebook, imagine you are watching a movie and
get a break with 320 ads, will you remember any of them? What the conversion
ratio will be?

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thomasz
> Companies now are looking for more fans because it means for them more
> coverage. The news they publish on their page will show up on the user page.
> But what will happen if all of the companies that exist in earth and other
> parts of the universe advertise heavily on Facebook?

Users will get sick of being stuffed like a goose. Fast.

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Tichy
What utility do these Facebook pages of companies offer, other than allowing
me to become a fan?

I am not even sure if I want to have news feeds of my favorite products. Quite
the other way round: I like products that have a high quality and last for a
very long time. This implies that once I buy it, I don't need a news stream
about it for a very long time anymore, either. The product should stay out of
my way and do what it is designed to do.

Also, it would embarrass me to advertise stuff to my friends.

~~~
wyclif
I am a fan of a number of consumer brands on Facebook, and occasionally I'll
experiment with Liking them just to see if they are doing a lot of branding
and interaction with customers.

But I notice that I don't get much value from these Fan pages. Most of them
don't offer me any incentive to come back, and don't tell me much more than
what I already know about the product. I think it's smart to promote a brand
or B2C company there because of the numbers, but I wonder if the conversions
created are all that big.

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klbarry
Just from my experience/research, it seems to convert pretty terribly to
sales. Certainly in Patio11's experience, FB ads don't convert at all.

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iamdave
_As Web Professionals, we need to pay attention to this fundamental shift and
act accordingly._

How, by calling themselves social media experts?

....Oh.

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timclark
Hooray! If all the advertising / marketing types can move to Facebook I can
successfully ignore them just like I used to successfully ignore AOL keywords.

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JacobAldridge
I think this is far more true if your business is B2C (Business to Consumer)
than if it's B2B (Business to Business). It might now be the internet for
individuals, but I don't think it's there yet for companies.

I use Facebook (when I do) in a very personal space. Brands whose pages I have
liked are all personal - Get Into London Theatre, my work, my favourite film.
I don't connect with any of my clients, or my corporate suppliers, on there.
And I've had limited success promoting my business through FB, as opposed to
LinkedIn (which I use in a very business space).

(Obviously, what we've done with FB is not very good. That's not the logic
behind my argument here, just another data point.)

I do see an opportunity for businesses in the B2B space to use it better. It
might now be the internet for individuals, not companies, but that doesn't
mean my business shouldn't have a presence.

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ebaysucks
Sooner or later there will be a HBS case showing social marketing returns are
falling and the hype will be over.

Currently Facebook might be AOL like, but it won't stay like that forever. A
lot can change in a decade on the internet.

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toddmorey
New media outlets are always abused blatantly before they are used properly.
As a site about a phone, the Xperia Play "site" (it's only a facebook fan
page) gets an F. No photos, no technical specs... if you are looking for
information about the phone, about the only thing it does is get in your way.
You have to like the page just to see it's only video. It's as if Best Buy
made me call a friend just to look around the store. To hang around long term,
these brand pages will have to start offering genuine utility of some kind--
and that's the same challenge for every site or trend on the internet.

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dustinupdyke
It is questionable strategy to give control of your brand over to another
party.

I also wonder how companies are truly monetizing their FB traffic.

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gst
"Love it or hate it, I guess I was right when I said you need to jump back
into Facebook. As Web Professionals, we need to pay attention to this
fundamental shift and act accordingly."

Just because someone else is doing something does not mean that I need to do
the same thing.

If you see an advantage in using Facebook then do it. But think for yourself
and don't just follow the other Lemmings.

~~~
Tyrannosaurs
I don't think he's saying you've got to use it, just you need to be aware of
it, understand it and understand how and why people are using it.

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cleverjake
The author does seem to miss the point that this is really only about brand
engagement. I do not know anyone who would even consider /buying/ doritos from
facebook (or online at all I suppose), but may have an interest in letting
others know how much they like it. This is what a majority of product based
companies are looking for in their website, so a low cost website with
incredible traffic potential is an easy choice over creating a completely
unique site.

Unless facebook releases a vending front, like amazon marketplace, that would
allow small companies to easily sell goods through facebook itself.

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mooism2
It's not. Some people are holdouts. Foregoing a website in favour of a
Facebook page means excluding these people. I don't see that replacing
yourbrand.com with a redirect to facebook.com/yourbrand is a good idea.

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regularfry
There will always be holdouts - hell, I am one. If the demographics of your
customers mean that you can safely ignore them, then why not?

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tintin
_"Love it or hate it, I guess I was right when I said you need to jump back
into Facebook."_ Well I guess he was wrong twice. _"so they re-direct the .com
to Facebook. Scary."_ How is this scary? They will never do this. Branding is
very important for large companies. You cannot afford letting people think
about Facebook when instead they should think about Doritos. They just use
Facebook so people can easily find there corporate website. But as _csomar_
points out: it will only last a minute.

QR-codes are the new hyperlinks.

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ryancarson
Never say never. If potential firehose of traffic available on FB will far
surpass what most companies can generate for their stand-alone sites. Once
they realize they only have enough budget to put towards one area online, then
they might choose their Facebook page, as it's yielding more results.

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mbesto
AOL: Keyword

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MaxGabriel
Wasn't this same claim made by Wired, albeit with different reasons for their
conclusion? I remember John Gruber and several others denounced the story at
the time, but I can only find the DF link

[http://daringfireball.net/linked/2010/08/17/wired-
translatio...](http://daringfireball.net/linked/2010/08/17/wired-translation)

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marknutter
I can remember a few years ago companies were just saying "Google <our brand>"
instead of giving out the URL. I think it's all just a way to make it easier
for people to find their sites. People are very used to using Google and
Facebook so why not give out information in terms of those services?

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cosmicray
This is some truth to this. FB is a walled, semi-curated, subset of the
internet. It has inertia and, for all those who don't want the general hassles
associated with the internet at large, may be a perfect 5-minute solution.

The local red-neck bar has a FB page. Think about that.

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jimmyjazz14
Marketing is about reaching the most people, now ask yourself which way
reaches more people, Facebook which has millions of users already or some web
site your company threw together?

If its any mystery to you then you probably fail to understand the point of
advertising.

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fedd
i am not using fb. may i not pay for the internet access?

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rythie
This is about subscriptions vs. a one time visit.

I'll probably only visit their website once, but if I 'like' them on facebook,
they can push stuff at me, any time they want, promotions, new products etc.

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Bitmobrich
This has happened before, in 2000 every one was directing you to their myspace
page. In the mid 90's it was a AOL keyword, late 90's is was their website.
Next will be twitter.

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chopsueyar
Justin.tv is now thepiratebay of TV networks?

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bambax
It's been that for quite a while; my brother in law was living in Canada last
year, and in order to watch soccer games that could only be found on French
Canal+ he tuned in to Justin TV...

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infocaptor
During the dotcom book, "number of eyeballs" was the metric. Now it "number of
Fans" and "number of followers". History repeats...again

