However, companies must change the way they think about social sites like Facebook and how they can get their message to those members. Social networks are not just big websites, and most current strategies wont work on these sites. The key is to engage!

I can point to several reports that seem to show traditional advertising models don’t seem to be working on Facebook – at least not in its current form. Facebook is working on a more focused system for advertisers, and those results remain to be seen. Perhaps more focused efforts will have better results.

Now, I am not a marketing or advertising expert. But I suggest the way to reach Facebook users is to engage and participate with the community using the tools that Facebook provides. Get in there! Some thoughts:

• Find your customers
• Participate in Groups
• Create your own Group
• Don’t sell – participate in the conversation
• Add value to the conversation – don’t just shout your message
• Build an application

What are your thoughts on Facebook as a marketing platform?

“What’s Twitter?”
“What a waste of time.”
“Why does anyone care about what you have to say about these meetings?”

You may have had similar experiences in trying to explain a new technology, social networking, Twitter specifically, or quantum physics, for example.

The discussion really boiled down to “What is the value in a tool like Twitter?” I’m always frustrated when people fail to see the value in new technologies or the revolution occurring right in front of our faces – the use of social media, social networks, web working and so on. Some of this frustration probably stems from my own enthusiasm for such tools, but I’ll bet I am not alone.

1. Twitter is another tool I use to communicate. Not everyone can stop what they are doing to speak on the phone, or even find the time to schedule a call. Not everyone gets to their email right away. IM is blocked in some companies. Etc.
2. Twitter is a tool I use to find new topics. I find it to be an interesting look at the things people do with technology, and a way to discover new tools and approaches I had not yet found myself.
3. Twitter is fast becoming the quickest way to reach some of my authors. At least one has indicated she prefers to be connected via twitter.
4. Twitter is where conversation is happening, in real time, around the globe. I have had several interesting discussions with not only my authors, but authors from other publishers via twitter.
5. For every 100 “Walking my dog.” tweets (and there a lots of those) there is 1-2 real golden nuggets that lead to a new author, a new book, a new topic to investigate.
6. I am approaching 100 “followers” on Twitter – people who read what I say. 100 is not a lot, but as that number grows what a great platform for me to talk about my books, my authors, and my company.

In the end, Twitter is just another tool. It’s value is in how you use it.

Photo credit:  Safanna

It’s important for enterprises to recognize the limitations of Internet-mediated communication and collaboration. While the Web has transformed the way we work, there’s still no substitute for being there.

WWD’s Gunderloy points out – and I believe rightly so – that web working is not meant to replace the “face to face” in all situations, but is simply a new (or additional) way to connect where it might not be possible otherwise:

You won’t be herding cattle, bandaging wounds, or assembling televisions over the web. What you will be doing, we believe, is increasingly communicating and collaborating over the web in smart ways when it makes sense to do so. Web work doesn’t make physical proximity irrelevant, but it does reduce its importance in many cases, and gives us the tools to be productive in cases where proximity is inconvenient or impossible.

Although I happen to be sitting in a corporate office, behind a desk along with about 300 of my colleagues, I still consider myself very much a web worker. In fact, I’ve been doing it for nearly 10 years now. Not exclusively mind you – I do still have the occasional personal meeting with authors, vendors, and partners – and of course we have way too many “face to face” meetings here in the office. But the bulk of my job is done as a web worker:

1. I do topical research almost exclusively online. Be it blogs, conference videos (I’m watching Gnomedex live as I write this post,) online presentations and so on, most of what I need to learn about new and emerging topics I can find online.
2. I have worked with hundreds of authors over the years. Nearly all of them I met online first – that is if I ever meet them face to face at all. In fact, I would say that I have never met most of my authors face to face. I don’t think this makes these relationships any less real – I chat with them on IM almost daily, I follow and converse with them on their blogs, we speak on the phone or over skype, we converse via twitter, I have even met with them virtually in Second Life.
3. I have made hundreds of deals over the years and I’ve only signed contracts across a table in person a handful of times. Almost all of them are made and discussed using email and the methods I mention above.

I could go on, but the point is that web workers aren’t always sitting in a Starbucks looking for wi-fi, and the deals they make, the products they create and the work they do is no less real than what gets accomplished shaking hands at a convention. The difference may be in the speed, efficiency, and cost savings we generate in working the way we do.

I tend to think that Forbes got it right last week when they published their article entitled “How to Network Like a Pro Online.”

What do you think?

Photo credit: Pisco Bandito (which was a collaboration between 2 artists who have never met in person)

There is a transformation going on in real-time social communications, and I’ve discovered that I can now get the same effect as a group “shout out” by simply changing my status message on Facebook. This also happens when using Twitter. This is yet another thing which is just not possible to do on LinkedIN – unless you plan on sending what may appear to be email spam to everyone in your LinkedIN contact list.

I completely agree and have taken advantage of this trend myself. I am always looking for new authors and ideas for new books, and use Twitter as part of my search. Previously I blogged about using a custom Google Search to mine the twitterstream, but that is a look backwards at conversations that have already happened. More recently I have simply tweeted about new book topics I am interested in, or a particular skill I may be looking for – “Looking for a JavaScript Ninja – know one?”

These tweets have resulted in my finding at least one new author, and several other potential authors. Using this form of communication is not as intrusive as an email sent bcc’d to a large list of people. It’s easier to ignore tweets you are simply not interested in, easier to ‘unfollow’ than beg to be removed from a mailing list, and the conversation happens in real time.

I have not yet taken advantage of status messages in my Facebook profile as Jeff suggests, but I will add that to my social toolbox.

Photo credit: plastictaxi