internet & social networks dmackey on 15 Sep 2007 04:33 am
Facebook and Why It’s Not Ready for Businesses.
Facebook is all the rage. Many would argue that it has become a hotter property than MySpace. It has become a must for new application developers looking for instant fame and glory and many are writing articles about the utilization of Facebook not only for personal communications but also for business use (see Ricardo Sueiras, JP Rangaswami, Gordon Cook).
Still, I’m not sure that Facebook is ready for business use. Take for example Jason Calacanis who recently admitted Facebook bankruptcy because of the overwhelming amount of data streaming in from the massive number of friends he has. Now, I must admit I am not such a personage as is overwhelmed - currently most of my friends are either family members or real life associates (excluding Calacanis) - but someday this may change. In that instance I will become one amongst many who are attempting to keep in contact on several separate levels:
- Friends & Family - Those we know and love on a personal level.
- Close Business Associates - Individuals we regularly network with for business concerns. Partners, VARs, employees.
- Business Card Associates - Individuals who in the old days we would have exchanged business cards with. We don’t have a significant relationship with them, but do want to keep the line open, knowing we might be able to utilize each other in a mutually beneficial way in the future.
Thus a dilemma arises. Facebook offers a way to rubbing shoulders with those whom we might not have had any opportunity to interact with in normal, every day life but on the other hand can result in an overwhelming amount of data continually being poured down our throats. Solution?
Facebook needs to allow its members to segment their friends into various groupings - not just geographic or interest based, but relationship level. On my News Feed I should be able to create multiple tabs noting any delineations I like such as “close friends”, “business associates”, “other”, etc. The same applies to my status updates and other posts. Do I really want my business associates to see pictures of my cat Fluffy? Me bare-chested on the beach? Do I want them to know details about my personal life? On the other hand, do my friends care that I spent more time reading about XML, XSS, or NAS than talking about cars, movies, or home improvements?
By implementing these two features Facebook would allow me to segment data in such a way as allows me to focus on the people I want to interact with most regularly while not undermining the “exchange a business card” effect of Facebook. Would these changes make Facebook a better business social networking tool for you?