When We Became Facebook Friends I Didn’t Join Your List
Following my rant the other day about one sided conversations on Twitter and Stumbleupon, I thought that I would rattle my sabre at another social networking bugbear!
Begin Rant:
The attitude of some some marketers on networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace is appalling.
I’ve met a few lately that assume that because just someone accepts their friend request, that they have somehow given them permission to add them to their ‘permission marketing’ list!
The fact is, that by asking someone to accept your friend request, in effect you are joining THEIR list.
Facebook is a great tool for promoting yourself.
Promote yourself properly, network carefully, and business will follow.
Advertising products and services to fellow members, outside of the tools that Facebook provides, is against the terms of service!
!t seems insane that people would want to spend the time and effort to build a network, and then have it fall down around their ears when they get booted from the site.
My Facebook network is growing, and I’ve found it to be profitable in three main ways.
First, I am able to list what I do on my profile, and this has led to me being asked to do work by Facebook friends.
Second, I have gained a large number of subscribers from there, via tools such as Blog Friends (unfortunately now closed), and Friend Feed. This increase in visitors has been partly responsible for an increase in revenue from adsense.
Third, I have been asked about my software business, and this in turn has resulted in sales. (Up until recently I had included the web address of my software site on my profile).
The fourth option, which a number of people have found profitable, is to use the advertising programs offered by Facebook
Note: I never do business on the site itself!
The returns that I have received, while not huge, have come simply because I have been there, and just been myself.
The people that I have befriended, and who have befriended me, come in all shapes and sizes, from many different walks of life, and have different reasons for being there.
Check out the networking diagram below!
The blue dots represent people on a social networking site.
When you look at the diagram, you can see that not all of the dots are directly linked together.
Also, you will see that there are a couple of sub networks, and these link to each other indirectly.
This is how a social network might look off line, as well as on a site such as Myspace or Bebo.
Small networks gather around different interests, whether it be business, art, music, movies, dating and so on.
Some people, as you can see, are part of a number of networks.
This is part of what makes Facebook and other sites like it so attractive.
The problems arise when we assume that everyone there is the same, and that they want to hear about our latest offer.
The Face book terms of service state in part:
You understand that except for advertising programs offered by us on the Site (e.g. Flyers, Marketplace), the Service and the Site are available for your personal, non-commercial use only.
While some grey areas do seem to exist, networkers owe it to themselves to know the rules.
Otherwise, it really is just a waste of time.
End of rant!
