Facebook, “Is It A Business Application?”
09/22/2007, 11 months ago
This question has been haunting me since being posted on my Facebook fun wall by a colleague of mine. I needed to find an answer and put the nagging ghost to rest.
“Is Facebook a business application?”
Having previously joined Facebook myself out of curiosity and the fact like all techies I liked NSO’s (New Shiny Objects) I decided to begin my search by reading what Facebook itself had to say. Something I had not bothered with prior based on the fact I needed to see what it had to offer regardless. After all, as the old cliché goes, “You cannot judge a book by its cover.”
Social or Business
As I examined the Facebook home page I realized I had found a clue in Facebook itself in its opening paragraph. It states:
“Facebook is a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them.” “Founded in February 2004, Facebook is a social utility”
In its own words it is a social program and in my past position in an office environment social means anything but work.
Social, according to Webster, means: 2 a: marked by or passed in pleasant companionship with one's friends or associates <leads a very full social life> b : SOCIABLE c : of, relating to, or designed for sociability <a social club>
Wikipedia describes Facebook as a social networking website. “ … invented by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004. Initially the membership was restricted to students of Harvard College … As of July 2007, the website had the largest number of registered users among college-focused sites.”
“The name of the site refers to the paper facebooks depicting members of the campus community that US colleges and preparatory schools give to incoming students, faculty, and staff.”
As the then information manager and the go to guy when problems arose with the computers for a major renovation firm, I installed MSN Messenger and later Skype on select computers. The need was based on cost-effective interoffice communications between their then Burnaby, White Rock and Kelowna, BC, showrooms. Approved staff would be able to communicate and transfer files too big for e-mail as opposed to a courier when timing was of the essence. Shortly after its start some employees had turned MSN into an opportunity to socialize with friends. To avoid the problem the company later moved to Skype.
Facebook from a multiple employee stand point gives greater advantage for abuse based on the latter example.
The truth is out there
My search for answers raised another question, “How can a social program become a business application? “
Facebook, without the provision to deactivate the ability to socialize, and redesign it to reflect business related networking opportunities without all the frivolities such as poking, sending naughty gifts and other items related to adult social add-ons, can’t.
Conclusion
Personally, a good networking program should contain a mix of all that is useful business wise in MS Outlook, Google Reader, Plaxo, LinkedIn and Maximizer, with a dash of Twitter for flavor and an efficient form of file transfer. Add to the mix the capacity to send large emails as in Gmail and the communication abilities of Skype.
Is Facebook close? If you said yes then go directly to jail. Do not pass go and do not collect two-hundred dollars.
To ensure my opinions were as unbiased as possible, I performed some off-line face-to-face research and asked a cross-section of random, nontechie, semi computer literate, individuals if they felt Facebook was or could be used as a business application.
I should note that not all of individuals asked were Facebook users, but all were aware of it and what it was about.
The consensus based on my research was that NONE of individuals asked would use it for business purposes. Their unified opinion was that Facebook was and will always remain a tool to find old friends and classmates and to socialize, period.
The question that business community and techies need to now ask is, “What is a true business application and is it out there?” The company that cannot only truthfully answer that question but also create and supply a cost-effective solution will be the supreme technological ruler.
I understand your POV, but I think it’s early and all you need is some creativity applied to Facebook and it can/will become (is becoming) a business application.
For your consideration in this regard, I submit two links. One is for J Crew and shows how HR can apply itself on Facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2334232048
Second is a link from a company working with Threadless to provide creative bootcamps to customers so they can in turn learn how to create designs for Threadless.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=11134425383
If your audience is on Facebook, you might want to be as well. And while Threadless and J Crew are consumer companies, I think the application for business to business is equally interesting with possibilities.
I fell like I am one of the few that does not belong to facebook.
Interesting blog here Allan.
Why can’t you use Facebook as a business application (other than time restraints of managing so many online sites)?
You can control who you accept in your list of associates. If you don’t want Joe Blow to post on your wall, you don’t accept his request.
I am on Facebook as well you know. However, I use it as a communication tool. I don’t indulge in all the poking and other silly things. Although if I hadn’t heard from you for quite some time I may send you a poke.
I uploaded just a few photographs….what better way to get something seen?
If you use Facebook judiciously it could be another business tool. You just have to break down the stigmas attached to it.
……and….why can’t we be social in our business endeavours? You take a client for lunch and buy him lunch? Although it may be a business meeting, it is also social.
We had a day of social shooting recently and out of it came 2 possible business prospects. There again it was a combined social and somewhat business day.
Keep that mind open to possibilities….you never know what door may open…
If you ask me, I think it’s just another Friendster - meant for teens. Using it in business…well IMHO might dilute the professionalism perceived. It’s similar to using a yahoo! email address for business or hosting your online store on Geocities - it will instill doubt into prospective customers.
I can see where Hafizi is coming from. I also agree that a yahoo email is not professional. Perhaps the problems associated with spam make it undesirable as a business mailbox.
I’d have to side with Kevin & Donna over Allan on this one. Facebook, like any other tool out there in our web 2.0 world, can be wielded in any number of ways … and is meant to be. That’s one of the characteristics of a web 2.0 application. I can easily see the benefits of the Facebook framework in a business environment and believe that it will reach into that niche in the near future. Adding businesses as a network type was the first step.
Think of Facebook ‘Friends’ as Partners, or Colleagues. Change the label, change the perception. I’d love to be at work and click on a page and be able to see the status of all my colleagues to find out who was open, who was busy, who out of town, etc. Form groups based on project teams. Yes, apps are out there now to exchange gifts, share music and movie choices, etc. but that application framework could just as easily support B2B technologies.
It seems like a certain amount of pre-conceived bias is built in to this review. From the initial condescending categorization of Facebook as a “New Shiny Object” to the obsessive definition of the word ’social’ as if that label were the opposite of ‘professional’ and thus incapable of being a business application.
Also the ‘random’ opinion poll of people who don’t use Facebook but “were aware of it and what it was about” doesn’t seem to be very scientific. It’s kind of like asking people who have never used a Mac, but have heard about them, to give an opinion on how well it handles your day-to-day computing needs.
My teenagers use the telephone to chat with their friends, organize get-togethers, and sometimes to gossip about their other friends. Does that make the telephone an inappropriate tool for business? Of course not.
I am not beneath admitting when I am wrong but in this case and at this time and place I stand by my present views. That is not to say I do not appreciate the feedback I am receiving because I did read and valued each of your opinions as they add value to the topic at hand both pros and cons.
Kevin, you can be assured I will check out the links you have kindly provided and thank
Donna, I would direct you to Hafiz’s comment. In the business classes I attended just recently we were instructed that even email addresses carry a certain persona/stigma in the business world depending on your market niche.
Hutch, you are very correct that any web tool can be used to ones advantage if used correctly. However one cannot honestly compare web 2.0 technology, business and teens to the telephone, business and teens. It is like comparing apples to oranges.
In respect to the suggested bias, I still feel I was very fair, more so in that I even presented what FB, itself, designated it to be. In respect to my personal research your point was well taken considering I am not presently funded to hire a gaggle of telemarketers but yet I was still able to provide some validity. In respect to your comment, “Think of Facebook ‘Friends’ as Partners, or Colleagues. Change the label, change the perception. I’d love to be at work and click on a page and be able to see the status of all my colleagues to find out who was open, who was busy, who out of town, etc. Form groups based on project teams. Yes, apps are out there now to exchange gifts, share music and movie choices, etc. but that application framework could just as easily support B2B technologies.”
I totally value what you stated and where you are coming from. That however is the problem with FB at this time. It already has/is already being categorized as anything but a business network on many fronts and with all the social add-ons it is not helping its cause any. It has an upward battle to fight and all the power to it if it can win. It will be an interesting evolution to watch.
I will continue to use FB with an open mind and if I ever feel it can be of value business wise based on my personal experiences both past and present and future, you can count on me to publicly say so without any hesitation.