Facebook has come to be seen as a very powerful weapon of social networking.A lot more people are spending ‘quality time’ on internet today socializing and seeking new friends on the facebook. The current generation that is now associated with the ‘online citizenship’ propagated by the facebook is growing in numbers. Facebook is also developing some teeth. We are likely to see the facebook being used as the instrument of social change.
In highly autocratic societies, the facebook has been a tool used to mobilize hard militants of social change. President Barrack Obama had a campaign that also centered on the facebook for networking supporters.
The trend that is in the arena of politics is getting to the business world. Smart companies are now going to advertise of the facebook. As the network is set to grow more and more, no marketing manager will ignore the ‘online citizens’ especially from one network region.
Try to evaluate how the so called ‘online citizens network’ can help you give your service and product that credibility.
Marketing a product using the facebook can be just another way of using word of mouth marketing. The rapid growth of the facebook itself is a witness that this strategy can work out miracles.
Facebook is not only popular in developed countries; it has also captured the so called third world countries. A study conducted in Nairobi Kenya shows that over 70 percent of college students who are visiting cybercafés spend much of their time on the facebook.
These results are actually showing that in the coming years, since internet will be the in thing, the advertisers will be finding it difficult to ignore this online community.
It is also expected that the facebook and social networking sites will create a forceful consumer network that can bring down a company’s reputation if not performing to the expectation. Envision how such a network can do damage to an internet service provider causing frequent break up on a network when friends are chatting. The bad publicity can spread across the network of friends and it will be very easy to shun the company.