Social networking is a better fit for some companies than for others.
Brands that don't create excitement in traditional media will have to get creative to make it in social networking. "Business-only" social networking sites, with groups of professionals, can help bolster your personal bottom line.
Forrester Research senior analyst Brian Haven estimates that at best, LinkedIn (generally considered the leader in professional-oriented social networking) is visited weekly by one in every 20 adult Internet users to select community contacts for insight, advice, or potential job candidates to fill open slots. Personally, I have 67 direct LinkedIn connections, 6,800+ two-degrees (friends of friends) and 918,700+ three-degree (their friends).
Consider that your orbit of contacts can speak volumes to a potential employer or business partner, both good and bad. "I talk to a lot of recruiters who use these tools, and they are being used for reference checking very seriously, considering the cost of a bad hire today," says Jim Dickie, managing partner of CSO Insights and a long-time LinkedIn user.
Consumer-oriented sites like MySpace and Facebook can also provide business value. According to Forrester, more than half of the 27 to 40-year-olds using social networking sites use MySpace, although not necessarily exclusively. "To me, and to a lot of people, it makes sense to have a profile on MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn. They all serve different purposes," says Haven.
Facebook began as a hangout for high school and college students and last year allowed anyone to join. Eight months later, Facebook did something MySpace still hasn't done: It opened up its network to developers and made it easy for them to make money from their applications. Facebook began allowing programmers to build as many apps for Facebook's 32 million users as they could dream up--and pocket whatever money they made doing it.
To incentivize developers, Facebook is also breaking ranks with rivals by sharing crucial data--such as a user's age, interests and friends--that enables more sophisticated applications. Just about any Facebook app can get into the ad game, but only those with the biggest audiences will earn serious money. Several easy-to-use ad networks are already delivering the ads for a cut of overall sales. Apps currently generate less than $1 for every 1,000 pageviews.
Whether the community is there in support of a brand or a common interest, gathering information on participants not only helps organizations better understand enthusiasts, but also helps to build loyalty through the law of attraction.
Sources: 1to1 magazine, September 2007 and Business 2.0, September 2007