Will Facebook Become a Phonebook, Again

Will Facebook Become a Phonebook, Again?

Facebook users have been warned for years to be careful about what they post on Facebook. Would potential employers make employment decisions based on your Facebook status postings? Could your profile or photo pages hurt your college or scholarship applications?

The concerns continue mount and even morph.

In January Facebook began allowing access to third parties of Facebook user's phone numbers and other profile information, with user's permission, of course. Apparently not all user's believed they had given permission and this campaign came to a quick halt with Facebook acknowledging that they got "useful feedback that they could make people more clearly aware of when they are granting access to this data."

Facebook has played the "our bad" game more than once with Facebook users' privacy concerns. Still, Facebook's VP for Public Policy Elliot Schrage, who participated in a Q & A session through the New York Times tells Facebook users "If you're not comfortable sharing don't." Many users and privacy advocates still believe Facebook makes it so easy to share, too hard to notice what you're agreeing to and too easy for outsiders to access your Facebook information.

Here's part of what Elliot Schrage had to say in response to questions submitted to the New York Times blog:

"It's clear that despite our efforts, we are not doing a good enough job communicating the changes that we're making. Even worse, our extensive efforts to provide users greater control over what and how they share appear to be too confusing for some of our more than 400 million users. That's not acceptable or sustainable. But it's certainly fixable. You're pointing out things we need to fix."

abycats, New York asked a question that many Facebook users would "like" an answer to.

"Why not simply set everything up for opt-in rather than opt-out? Facebook seems to assume that users generally want all the details of their private lives made public."

What was Schrage's answer?

Everything is opt-in on Facebook. Participating in the service is a choice. We want people to continue to choose Facebook every day. Adding information - uploading photos or posting status updates or "like" a Page - are also all opt-in. Please don't share if you're not comfortable. That said, we certainly will continue to work to improve the ease and access of controls to make more people more comfortable. Your assumption about our assumption is simply incorrect. We don't believe that. We're happy to make the record on that clear."

Do you feel better after hearing this answer?

Before you answer, consider this letter to the U.S. House of Representatives in which Facebook acknowledges a plan to go ahead with the another installment of "allowing" Facebook information to be made available to third parties. Facebook still argues that it is ultimately up to the user to "allow" this but Facebook users have heard this song and dance before.

What if you've left Facebook? Is your information safe?

Well, it depends. Schrage also answered a question about the ways to leave Facebook of which there are two. One is to delete your account. The other is to deactivate your account, which saves all of your information in case you want to easily return in the future. In this case, Facebook will do you a "favor" and save all of your information. If you've left but simply deactivated your account, then you need to continue to follow the news about Facebook future plans to share information with a third party because they could still affect you.

With Tax Day just around the corner and debt collections at an all time high, Michelle Dunn, an debt collection and credit experts expresses concerns about the status updates people share on Facebook:

"Those pictures on your profile or status updates about a new purchase, a raise or your income tax return provide creditors evidence about your ability to pay your debts. For one or two hours a week, you can obtain information that in the past you might have needed to hire a skip tracer to find."

Do these new Facebook plans get you boiling?

Helen A.S. Popkin, a tech writer from MSNBC warns, "Facebook is the slowly warming pot of water and we, my friends, are the frog. By the time we noticed our peeling skin, another hunk of our privacy is long gone."

Popkin add, "This is how Facebook rolls: Strip away a huge chunk of your privacy, cry 'Our bad!' and roll it back when users and/or privacy advocates complain. Then wait awhile, and do whatever it is Facebook planned to do anyway. Voila! Boiled frog."

In a response to a request for information on Facebook's future plans by Yahoo News, Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes emailed the following statement:

"Despite some rumors, there's no way for other websites to access a user's address or phone number from Facebook. For people that may find this option useful in the future, we're considering ways to let them share this information (for example to use an online shopping site without always having to re-type their address). People will always be in control of what Facebook information they share with apps and websites."

So, will you be more cautious about what you're sharing on Facebook now? Will you be taking a second look at what's on your profile page and status updates? And do you wonder who else will?

Why Facebook is Re-Writing Marketing Books

Why Facebook is Re-Writing Marketing Books

Imagine you had a party that got reported around the world. A party that never took place at all.

So here's what the fictional party looked like.

"A birthday party invitation posted on the popular social websites Facebook and Bebo attracted some 400 guests and gatecrashers.

The birthday girl, British 16-year-old Jodie Hudson, and her mother Amanda learned too late the disaster the online invitation would cause to their luxurious Marbella vacation villa. The villa suffered ruined walls, destroyed carpets, and broken banisters,doors and furniture.

And apparently they threw a TV into the swimming pool." As I said: The party never happened.

But month after months parties such as this do happen.

If you were to trundle down to downtown Auckland you'll find hordes of party-goers. They turn up. They drink. They dance. They socialise. And more importantly they don't destroy furniture or throw TVs into the harbour.

And the primary source of attraction isn't an email newsletter.Or posters plastered all around town.Or someone making a call to invite you to the party.
Amazing as it may sound to your ears, it all happens on Facebook.

But surely Facebook is for a younger demographic, you argue.

And again, you'd be a lot of the mark.

Because savvy marketers across the planet are using Facebook to gain supporters and customers. And contrary to what you may believe, the demographics of Facebook has changed rapidly. Suddenly, it's your customer that's on Facebook: And he/she is no teen.

But how do we know this to be true?

There's proof, of course, but let's see why Facebook seems to work better than email or other media. The biggest reason why Facebook works is because it's a lot like how you get business offline. If you look at about 80% of your business, you'll notice one striking fact. That the chunk of your business comes to you via word-of-mouth.

And that's how Facebook works.
You post your Facebook profile.
And people find you.
God knows how they find you, but they do.

And the reason why they find you is because your customer is doing all the hard work. Because it's so easy to put up a page on Facebook, most people do. The next thing they do is populate the page with things they like. And some of the things they like are things that you sell.

So let's look at the examples:

1) Gail Martin: Author of Science-Fiction books.
2) An Auckland DJ who wanted to prevent bars from closing at 3am.
3) Barack Obama who wants voters to show up--and vote for him.
4) SpyBar that has theme-events that attract party-goers.
5) The All Blacks that gets support for the Tri-Nations Trophy.
6) Auckland Salsa Freaks for people of all ages to learn a new
dance move.

So let's expand on three of these many examples

Example 1: SpyBar
In the past, SpyBar used to use email newsletters to generate traffic to their events. Despite sustained efforts, their email list grew slowly. This is because it required party-goers to get to SpyBar's website and then register.

Traditional methods such as printing posters, and sending out physical invites were costly and time-consuming.

Facebook has none of these constraints.

The party-goers were already visiting Facebook on a regular basis. And were just one click away from landing on the SpyBar Facebook page. What's even more interesting, is that in almost every case, it was the party-goers themselves, that introduced their friends to the SpyBar Facebook page.

Result:
Whenever Spybar has an event, all they have to do is post their event (and posters) on Facebook. And send a notification to all their Facebook friends. Immediately there's a response. Party-goers have an RSVP mechanism that enables SpyBar to then gauge the numbers of likely attendees.

Example 2: Gail Martin: Pre-selling Science Fiction Books

Most publishers do diddly squat for their writers. In most cases,publishers will promote the super-star authors, and leave the rest of the authors to do their own marketing. Gail Martin uses Facebook by getting onto Science-fiction sites and driving visitors from there to her Facebook site.

This enables her to build a 'database of friends.' And when a new book is about to be released, she can not only create a buzz around the new book, but can also use Facebook friends to promote her book to their friends.

Because a large number of her books sell in the gift-giving period running up to Christmas, she can then manage a campaign that not only gets her speaking engagements, and book-signings, but also push up the sales of her book at just the right time.

And a lot of this activity is simply done by the 'friends'. All Gail has to do is send out one notification. Then friends take over, telling friends. And the ball starts rolling.

Example 3: An Auckland DJ who's against bars closing at 3am

On 10 July 2008, Auckland Police decided to submit a plan - which would dramatically alter Auckland's nightlife - to the city council with a plea for the 24-hour licensing policy to be brought into line with other districts.

Immediately an Auckland DJ, decided to put together a group on Facebook. This group would be dormant unless the plan went forward.The Auckland city council shot down the plan, but well over 1000 people had already signed in to the Facebook page, ready to protest should they be deprived of their vodka and martinis at 3am.

Facebook as you can see, is a group-building activity

Most pages were initially set up just to meet others online. But that situation has morphed into something bigger. If you're selling ice-cream as Movenpick does, you can start up an Ice-Cream Lovers Event.

If you're selling bread, as Baker's Delight does, you can start up a group that adores Cheesymites. If you're selling real estate, you can literally do open-homes for specific houses online, separating each group based on the type of house they prefer.

But there's always the question: How do you get started?

There are three core ways to get started.
Method 1: If you've got a online list
Method 2: If you've got a offline list or retail establishment.
Method 3: If you don't have a list of any kind. Or no store.

If you've got an online list, email them and ask them to join be your Facebook Friends. And yes, send a reminder or two as well. That will build up your Facebook list quickly. With an offline list, you can do the same. And make sure that you entice customers with some goodies, so that they can go online and register.

But what if you don't have a store or any online list for that matter? Well, you simply find other lists. Gail Martin gets traffic from other sci-fi sites. The Auckland Dj simply tapped into various bars lists on Facebook. Yup, it's indeed possible to visit other sites and simply invite friends over.

Yes, Facebook is just another way of marketing. But what makes it entirely different from other methods is the instant word-of-mouth appeal.

Web Marketing Strategies - 6 Top Facebook Marketing Strategies

Web Marketing Strategies - 6 Top Facebook Marketing Strategies

To change the marketing world various tools and strategies are being used by Internet marketers so to lead their niche. Facebook certainly one amongst these power tools which provides a universal platform to people to connect with their friends, paste and distribute their unlimited numbers of photographs.

In broader-sense, Facebook has turned into a business networking podium for advertising and promoting services and products. You'll be able to make your user profile here but when signing up. Sign-up process is very simple you simply need to enter several important personal information as: full name, e-mail address, security password and security check numbers. This multi folded program can provide anyone finding friends, profile information and user profile photos options.

Moreover this Facebook marketing procedures through business promotion perspective can add value to your advertisement and delight clients online. Online marketing techniques using Facebook can perform you certain options for your business marketing as following:

1. Facebook advertisement option will assist you to quickly focus on your niche market as well as customers. As a result of the demographics features Facebook offers to its internet marketers, you can target your advertisements to your specific client based on age, gender, location, education level and plenty of other specifications.

2. You'll be able to make your business Facebook ad or can promote business with social ads here. For bringing in other you can include the two text and also graphics inside your ads. This brilliant resource can be provided you a platform to promote your whole website.

3. You are able to enhance your online business ads on Facebook therefore to maximize advertisement results here. Such medium provides you with a chance to approaching your target customer and you'll have the ability to monitor visitor?s progress with this Facebook's option help.

4. Internet marketing endeavours can be moved toward life on Facebook. Facebook will help you estimate your advertisement budget. Additionally, for the ideal advertisement development and integrated business innovations you'll contact the Facebook team. All of these relevant advertising options are offered to hold your specific audience.

5. For personal service solutions see the Facebook advertisement page. But advertisement can be made through studying sponsored groups, Facebook ads and promoting causes on Facebook using different practical steps.

6. You can get gain from free marketing here like: networks, groups, profile page and so on. If you are out to attract prospective customers and develop your web presence and publicity, you owe it to yourself and the financial future of your business to discover almost everything you can about Internet marketing.

There are many web marketing strategies to gain more trafiics, seo services los angeles in California offer SEO services.

Using Facebook for Small Business Marketing

Using Facebook for Small Business Marketing

Facebook is an excellent tool to add to your small business marketing plan. A big mistake that many entrepreneurs make when it comes to social media sites like Facebook is the belief that these sites are only useful for large companies that have big brands. In reality Facebook can be a great small business marketing tool for business of all shapes and size.

Right now, Facebook is the most popular social media networking site on the web. According to Facebook's official fact sheet, there are currently over half a billion active Facebook users, 50% of whom log on to Facebook in any given day. The average Facebook user is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events, and he or she creates 90 pieces of content each month.

There are more than 30 billion pieces of content, such as web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc. shared on Facebook each month.

So as you can see, if you're interested in adding social media to your small business marketing plan, Facebook is quite possibly the best place to get started.

Facebook is a great place to increase trust and authority on the internet. By adding a Facebook business page, it is also a great way to promote your business and connect with customers and prospects on a more personal and accessible level. Not to mention, your business page will give you more opportunities to show up in Facebook search results.

Though there is of course some work associated with creating and keeping up a good Facebook page, it is well worth it in marketing terms.

Here are some tips for creating your small business Facebook page.

** Start a Facebook Page for Business

The first thing that you need to do is to create a business page. This is relatively simple and all it involves is visiting the Facebook advertising section, creating a page, and putting up some information about your business. If you want something a little more elaborate, such as a customized landing page for new members, you might need to hire a consultant to help you out. But if the plain Jane version is OK with you, you'll be able to set up your own page in less than one day.

You can add small business marketing content to your Facebook business page, such as images, press releases, videos, blog posts, and any other relevant information. You will also need accurate contact and website information and a clear overview of what your business does and for whom.

** Start Interacting

Once your page is up and all your information is accurate, the next thing to do is start interacting with your friends.

Encourage your Facebook friends to "like" your Facebook business page (this used to be referred to as "becoming a fan") and to share your page with their friends. You'll need to post updates every day, which can include promotions, blog posts, and any other relevant company news.

The most important aspect of using Facebook for marketing is the ability to engage with your customers. If they leave comments on your Facebook business page, always reply back. Visit your customers' Facebook walls and leave comments there also. Create open, back and forth, communication with your customers and prospects, and allow their Facebook friends to interact and experience your customer service also.

** Promote Your Facebook Page

The last step to having a successful Facebook page is letting people know that it exists. You need to spend time promoting your Facebook page to personal contacts and business associates. Be sure to add a widget to your website homepage or blog.

If you have a brick and mortar business you may want to hang up a sign asking customers to visit you on Facebook. Add a link to your Facebook page in your email newsletters, in your Yellow Pages ad, in your local newspaper advertisements, etc. You may even consider offering some sort of incentive, such as a special discount or coupon to customers who "like" you on Facebook.

Facebook is a tremendously valuable tool to add to your small business marketing arsenal. A Facebook business page allows you to create community interaction with your customers and prospects and create content that can be shared virally. If you're looking for an inexpensive tactic to increase your name recognition, consider adding Facebook to your small business marketing plan.

Top Facebook Games 2010

Top Facebook Games 2010

Facebook games have shown a lot of popularity during the past year. As Facebook adds more games to its already huge entertainment menu you may be wondering which games are the best and most fun to play. This article will give separate game reviews for each of the twenty five top Facebook games for 2010.

To start the Facebook Game reviews, we will begin by taking a look at the number one game on Facebook called FarmVille. FarmVille which is made by Zynga currently has approximately 73,800,000 monthly users and is growing at a steady upward pace. FarmVille is a game in which you can become a farmer. FarmVille allows you to interact with your friends and even become neighbors with them. Basically you will do everything a farmer does while playing FarmVille. Planting, plowing, harvesting and growing a successful farm. Just make sure when playing this game that you harvest your plants on time. Different plants have different times for harvesting and if you don't harvest in time the plants will die. By taking care of your farm you will get more points and go up in level.

Birthday Cards holds the place of second most popular game of 2010. Birthday Cards is made by RockYou and has approximately 32,000,000 users per month. When using the Birthday Cards game you can customize and send free cards, use a birthday calendar, have a personal birthday list and personal reminders. The game also allows you too start your own birthday zoo. This is popular for those who want to remember their friend's birthdays and send cards on Facebook.

The third most popular game on Facebook is Caf� World which is made by Zynga. Caf� World has approximately 31,000,000 active users per month. Caf� world is a fun game to play if you ever dreamed of owning your own restaurant. When playing this game you can cook, bake saut� and make anything you want when playing Caf� World. When playing Caf� World you are the cook and the restaurant owner therefore you will have to hire servers. When hiring a server on Caf� World you can select one of your Facebook friends. Make sure to always have plenty of food ready for your guests.

The fourth most popular game on Facebook is Happy Aquarium which is made by CrowdStar. Happy Aquarium has approximately 27,000,000 active users per month. When playing Happy Aquarium on Facebook you will be able to set up your own fish tank. This can be done by purchasing fish and other creatures. Make sure to always feed your fish when playing Happy Aquarium because the fish can die just like in real life. This is a fun game for those who love wish and wish they had an aquarium in their home. The bad thing about this game is that you can't feed your friends fish if you notice that they are dying.

The fifth most popular game on Facebook is FishVille which is made by Zynga. FishVille has approximately 24,000,000 active users per month. FishVille is very similar to Happy Aquarium in which you set up your own fish tank and care for the fish. When you're done raising your fish you can sell them for coins and points. Like Happy Aquarium you will maintain your fish tank or your poor creatures will die.

The sixth most popular game on Facebook is Mafia Wars which is made by Zynga. Mafia Wars has approximately 24,000,000 active users per month. The goal of playing Mafia Wars is to grow your Mafia family. This can be done by inviting your Facebook friends to join you at Mafia Wars. Another goal is to increase your group's wealth and supply your friends with weapons. What it comes down to is whoever has the biggest and the strongest Mafia is the group that comes out on top.

The seventh most popular game on Facebook is Texas HoldEm Poker which is also made by Zynga. Texas HoldEm Poker for Facebook has approximately 22,000,000 active users per month. When playing Texas HoldEm Poker on Facebook it's pretty much the same as playing the game in life. Before starting get familiar with the rules on how to play Texas HoldEm. Texas HoldEm Poker on Facebook can be played between friends.

The eighth most popular game on Facebook is Pet Society which is made by Playfish; Pet society has approximately 21,000,000 active users per month. Pet Society on Facebook is a very cute game for the animal lover. When playing Pet Society you can decorate your house and go to your friend's house with presents. This is a very cute and fun game.

The ninth most popular game on Facebook is Petville which is made by Zynga. Petville has approximately 17,000,000 active users per month. This is another adorable pet lover's game. When playing this game you will take care of your own pet. When you first become a player of Petville you will be asked to create your own pet. The options are endless and the end result is an adorable virtual pet. The goal is to keep your pet clean, well fed, walked and loved. This in turn will create a happy Petville pet for you. This game is very similar to Playfishes Pet Society and other pet based games.

The tenth most popular game on Facebook is YoVille which is made by Zynga. YoVille has approximately 17,000,000 active users per month. When playing YoVille you will be living a virtual life. This game is pretty similar to the extremely popular Sims game for personal computers. While playing YoVille you will be building a virtual life. When playing you can work, socialize; decorate your house or anything else you may desire. This is a fun game for those who like the escape of a virtual world.

The eleventh most popular game on Facebook is Farm Town which is made by Slashkey. Farm Town has approximately 16,000,000 active users per month. Farm Town is very similar to the Facebook game FarmVille. When playing this game you will take care of your own farm. In order to advance to higher levels you will need to plant and harvest crops, invite friends to join you and hire workers to help you with the farm. This is a fun game for those who want to be farmers but live in the city.

The twelfth most popular game on Facebook is Restaurant City which is made by PlayFish. Restaurant City has approximately 15,000,000 active users per month. Restaurant City is very similar to Caf� Town. When playing Restaurant City you will own a restaurant, create the menu and hire workers. This is a fun game if you are interested in how a restaurant operates. This is a social game and you will be able to interact with your Facebook friends.

The thirteenth most popular game on Facebook is MindJolt Games which is made by MindJolt. MindJolt games have approximately 14,000,000 active users per month. When playing MindJolt you can play over 500 games. The games are arcade style, puzzles, strategy, and so much more. MindJolt is fun for those who want a little gaming variety.

The fourteenth most popular game on Facebook is Happy Pets which is made by CrowdStar. Happy Pets has approximately 12,000,000 active users per month on Facebook. When playing Happy Pets you will grow your kitten into an adult. The object of the game is to take care of as many cats as you can. How many happy cats can you take care of on Happy Pets? If you end up feeling overwhelmed by having too many pets to care for don't be tempted to sell your cats. Happy Pets doesn't like those who sell their kitties.

The fifteenth most popular game on Facebook is RCK which is made by Zynga. RCK has approximately 11,000,000 active users per month on Facebook. This is a fun Facebook game in which you can create your own rock band. Ask your Facebook friends to join and help you create a rocking band. This is a fun game to play for any music lover.

The sixteenth most popular game on Facebook is Zoo World which is made by RockYou. Zoo World has approximately 10,000,000 active users per month. When playing Zoo World on Facebook you will take care of zoo animals and Zoo World cash. When earning your Zoo World cash you can purchase new zoo animals and place them in your zoo. This is a fun way to pass time if you enjoy zoo animals.

The seventeenth most popular game on Facebook is Bejeweled Blitz which is made by Popcap games. Bejeweled Blitz has approximately 10,000,000 active users per month. Bejeweled Blitz is an easy to master puzzle game. The fun thing about this game is that you can compete with your Facebook friends. Many people will spend hours out of there day playing Bejeweled Blitz.

The eighteenth most popular game on Facebook is Fish World which is made by Tall Tree Games. Fish World has approximately 9,000,000 active users per month. Fish World is very similar to Happy Aquarium. When playing Fish World you will care for your very own virtual fish. Make sure to feed them and take care of them so they stay alive. Selling your Fish World fish are a common part of the game.

The nineteenth most popular game on Facebook is Pillow Fight which is made by Shikha. Pillow Fight has approximately 8,000,000 active users per month. Pillow fight is a fun game if you enjoy hitting your friends with pillows. The pillows come in different materials and your friends can accept being hit by pillows are choose not to. The pillow that you choose to use will be posted on your friends Facebook page.

The twentieth most popular game on Facebook is (Lil) Farm Life which is made by Playdom. (Lil) Farm Life has approximately 6,000,000 active users per month. This is another game that is a lot like FarmVille and Farm Town. When playing this game you will create your own farm with crops, animals and buildings. This is another fun game for those who tire of Farmville and Farm Town.

The Twenty first most popular game on Facebook is Sorority Life which is made by Playdom. Sorority Life has approximately 6,000,000 active users per month. When playing this game you can create your own sorority. When signing up for sorority life you can invite friends to join your sorority. Another feature is that you can dress and accessorize however you want. This is a fun game for those who miss their college sorority lifestyle.

The Twenty second most popular game on Facebook is Island Paradise which is made by Meteor Games. Island Paradise has approximately 6,000,000 active users per month. This is a fun game in which you create your own island paradise. When creating your island you can grow crops, add animals or whatever you want on your island. When playing island paradise you can stop by and visit your friends. This is similar to Farmville but for those who love the island life.

The twenty third most popular game on Facebook is Country Life which is made by Country Life. Country life has approximately 5,000,000 active users per month. This game is another one that is a lot like Farmville. When playing this game you take care of crops, the only difference from Farmville is that you can create your own bread for more profit.

The twenty fourth most popular game on Facebook is Country Story which is made by Playfish. Country Story has approximately 5,000,000 active users per month. This is another farm themed Facebook game. This game is great for those who like FarmVille or Farm Town and want to play something different.

The twenty fifth most popular game on Facebook is Happy Island which is made by CrowdStar. Happy Island has approximately 5,000,000 active users per month. When playing this game you can create your own island. The more attractions you add to your island the more your island will earn. This is similar to Island Paradise but with more buying and selling involved.

The ten mistakes review of Facebook

The ten mistakes review of Facebook

Beijing time June 2 news articles, foreign media, said yesterday in the process of starting Facebook have committed many mistakes, launched many unsatisfactory product or the service by users, but eventually welcome all try to Facebook made the remedy.

The following is the full text:
Science and technology industry, companies such as Facebook is taken to claim the iterative development "strategy". The old products, new product rolled, rather than one year released a big a pile of product release. Facebook website often appears some experimental function, and then suddenly disappeared. This is the success of Facebook is one of many reasons why: it always keeps pace with The Times.

Unlike like textbooks as carefully polished product, the iterative development product will show a public sight in many mistakes and insufficient. On Facebook, the history of the legislature threat, users objections or negative opinions have contributed to the company's many production decision. Facebook recently for its products and service provision and making some adjustments and incur user strong opposition, now we can wait and see, Facebook will how to deal with the user's opposition.

On the other hand, under the loyal users and legislature discontent in front, Facebook showed great flexibility. On the other hand, Facebook also shows its power in constant growth, is increasingly unlikely to a decision to withdraw. Less than 10 years ago, university administrators can let Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (Mark hochfrequenztechnik zac closed.) And now, the United States senators began to discuss whether the newly revised Facebook privacy policy will produce adverse impact, but no one knows whether the senators talk can weaken the power of Facebook.

The following is the growing history Facebook event: infamous mistakes
Launch Facemash
Occurs in: October 2003
Event: founded Facebook in before harvard undergraduate, marc zack sulzberger one day midnight suddenly emitted a crazy idea, he broke into the campus network, use the content catalog create a named Facemash. Com website, this application lets students can vote for their own heart the most attractive two classmates. Early in the marketing industry heard "virus" this word is real, before realized Facemash virus, although not everyone likes this propagation mode.
Facebook: then how screwed up, but still no Facebook the behavior of nico rosberg zac - into campus network without permission directory, his classmates personal identification on part-public creature with website - the Facebook today is similar.

Facebook how to remedy: Harvard University several female team protest after a few officials closed Facemash. Com website, and prosecute zack sulzberger against the network security, the infringement of copyright and personal privacy. Although the school eventually gave up the prosecution, but this dying Facemash midway through. But, now, obviously zack sulzberger then laid the foundations for Facebook.

And ConnectU disputes
Occurs in: dispute began in 2004, finally, in 2008 solved
Event: Facebook is a mess. Founded early Facemash project that zack sulzberger at harvard everyone knows. Three intends to develop Harvard Connection (then called renamed the ConnectU) social network project Harvard seniors also found him, hired him as a programmer. Zack sulzberger finally started Facebook ConnectU's founder, has claimed that zack berger for its work in during the code and ConnectU stolen intellectual property, and successively from school charges and to court zack sulzberger.

The Future Business Model of Facebook

leveraging their existing functionality.

It can be set-up rather easily via automatic transfer of the existing (fitting) data of the user profiles into their new professional profiles, giving the users the choice to opt-in into this service and let them enter more business-related data to be able to activate their professional profile (which also means more key data available within Facebook). The professional profile can be, e.g. on a separate tab right next to the private one or just as another wall and info page next to the main profile, allowing for it to be within the Facebook site, but with the possibility to completely block the private section, when accessed from certain locations, while also allowing the user to keep both profiles and their connections separated via respective privacy settings. To grow rapidly, at least initially the service should be offered for free. Ads can be displayed to help offset part of the launching and initial running costs. Existing Facebook functionality should be incorporated, examples are, the news feed with real-time updates, posting pictures (e.g. from corporate events), the Like button, the option to easily post relevant news, etc., enabling the user to do the same things they like to do on the social network also in a business environment and in a simple and already known way. This would make the Facebook Business Network that much more alive than the mostly static existing ones, allowing users to be active or passive, enjoying ever-changing new content, keeping them on the site, just like it's happening on the current social network. At the same time, the previously mentioned benefits for Facebook are enormous, while the development time and costs for this are comparatively small as already proven and existing layout and functionality can be used. In my opinion, if set up properly, the other existing professional networks will be marginalized within about 9-12 months after the launch (depending on the roll-out plan), just like the other existing social networks.

In short, just take what successfully works, put it in a business context and reap the huge rewards.

Job Market

A job market, integrated with the business net as well as the rest of the site could be the next step. Same procedure as above, at the push of a button, the relevant data from the other profiles, private and professional gets transferred to a job search profile(again, if agreed to by the user) and additional data is added by the users to fill out the respective profile, alternatively, if a business network already exists the professional profile can also act as the job search profile, saving the users valuable time and enabling them to easily get out on the job market, without needing to fill out a long new form, updating their CVs, etc.. The first option, a new profile, would enable Facebook to gather more data and place more ads; the second one keeps the number of profiles from expanding, meaning less complexity and maintenance. Why Monster.com - Facebook has the equivalent of the third largest country in the world as talent base, available at the push of a button. This enables Facebook to pretty quickly become a major player selling job ads and e.g. earning additional money from HR companies for special search functions, etc. and also generating more ad money with the existing ads on the side of the screen.

Marketplace

Facebook has a marketplace actually, but it's safe to say, that it never took off in the way other parts of the site did. So I suggest a relaunch. Advantages are that no additional login is needed and the pretty convenient account access, also via Facebook's pretty well done mobile apps. Now the business network profile of (at least) the sellers should be integrated with the marketplace with the users accepting that Facebook can use their data for security reasons (e.g. to eliminate users with fake profiles from the start) while having them also add more data to be able to act as a seller (more key data within Facebook). This wealth of data enables Facebook to have a sufficiently lower fraud rate and even better fitting custom offerings for every single user than e.g. Ebay, huge competitive advantages. Special promotions for goods on Facebook will also make it easier for many users to accept letting Facebook use their existing data strictly for security reasons.

Now some examples for things currently totally out of Facebook's scope,

Facebook Apparel

Why they haven't done this already is beyond me. It's a great brand, simple logo, people like it. White and blue T-shirts, each with the alternatively colored Facebook logo, and matching caps, maybe some sweaters, that's enough for starters. Then advertise these products via their ad system, which simultaneously generates a great case study to show to ad buying prospects. For sure not their potentially largest income stream, but pretty quick to launch and profitable nevertheless, with options galore, like the ability to build the biggest clothing online store on the web via own offerings and the integration of other brands and retailers in an open way, similar to what Facebook has already done with applications on their site (use what works). Tailor-made offers (no pun intended) for 500 million users every time they log in, is quite a powerful thing here, too. Even opening Facebook brick & mortar stores in the future could be a viable option, also not necessarily limited to clothing.

Comprehensive Event & Event pictures database

Neat little features with great user benefits while pretty quick and rather inexpensive to launch are always fun. A comprehensive event database where every event manager will enter their own events and every Facebook user can search the listed events, concerts, etc. in his or any other region. If you travel abroad, for example, you know where to look for events and e.g. can also contact the event management or other Facebook users attending an event you are interested in easily and immediately with tools you are already familiar with. Additionally, the option to link pictures to the respective events should be implemented. Again, integrating all the successful Facebook features e.g. allowing people to tag themselves or be tagged (for privacy reasons, only the person her-/himself can tag themselves if they want; to tag others, the user needs to give permission to be tagged in this more public environment), Comment, Like button, etc., also allowing users to upload their own pictures from the events and link them to the event (when authorized by the event manager), makes it that much more interesting and definitely increases the number of user interactions on Facebook. Needless to say, all this is non- existent with the usual event/photo sites, where you often need to register, again, then get flooded with ads and only have partial overview over one region, and basically none of the other options described above. A centralized database is so much more convenient. By using already existing functionality for a new application, Facebook will save resources in developing these features while gaining speed to launch them (a familiar theme by now). Existing sites will have no chance against a comprehensive, worldwide, but localized database within the offering of a 500 million user juggernaut. This is certainly not difficult to set up from a technical standpoint and will render the existing party sites meaningless within about 6 months after launch in the respective regions. Facebook would gain even more new users, more user-generated content and user interaction as well as more ad revenue (e.g. the ad money flowing to the party sites will go to Facebook) out of this.

Banking functions

Microcredits

Facebook itself could offer a variation of a microcredit to its users (a microcredit is a very small loan originally designed for impoverished people in developing countries to engage in self-employment projects that allow them to generate an income - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcredit ). Where's the context, you will ask. The data of the users of Facebook is a credit rating specialist's dream as certain non-financial data is, when available, also highly valuable in today's loan approval process. No bank has anything close to this in terms of private data. To actually being able to use this data, Facebook would ask the applicants to sign a document that his Facebook user data can be used in the loan approval process. You can bet, somebody who wants money, will accept this. (Also, the applicants will be asked to provide their full financial information, of course, as this is currently not available on Facebook.) In this scenario, a credit officer will really have the total picture. This is an invaluable advantage in being able to calculate if an applicant should be denied or if someone will be able to pay back. This would result in a lower credit default rate for the Facebook loans, meaning in turn higher profitability, but also lower interest rates for the recipients of the loans, as Facebook would need to price less into the issued loans for the expected defaults than normal banks. Facebook needs some experienced banking people for this, get a license (not as difficult as it sounds nowadays, I guess the government will be happy, if anybody else wants to offer quality loans), set up a process and the respective software or alternatively, have one bank or a consortium of banks in the background for this and only act as router (first option earns much more money, latter one can be set up more easily and bears less risks). In any case, the first step would then be to start a very small test balloon (they would be totally overrun, if they would even offer this "only" in their home state, let alone Facebook-wide). After some time gaining experience with the process, they can think about offering higher amounts and potentially becoming quite some competition to regular banks (again, think the potential customer base of 500 million+), while, importantly, also doing something good in supporting their users with more affordable loans. Later on, they could even expand to offer more banking functions, like an online account, e-brokerage...

Peer-to-Peer Lending platform

They could also offer a Peer-to-Peer lending platform, where users lend money to other users, like e.g. Zopa or Prosper, which would soon thereafter become the biggest one on the web, of course. The process would be the same as with microcredits, whoever wants a loan, needs to share his data with Facebook, so it can be checked, if the applicants qualify, which is what the P-to-P platforms do as a service for the lenders, charging a small fee for it (another revenue stream for Facebook). The advantages to other platforms are the same as to banks in regards to microcredits, the quantity and quality of the data at hand. Another advantage here would be that the number of social interactions between the users increases as lenders and takers interact quite a lot on these platforms and a rather safe guess is that they would do even more so on the familiar Facebook. This is also potentially a good way of gaining experience before offering microcredits themselves, if they choose to do so.

Credit information system

If Facebook decides to not go the route above or chooses to launch another business, they could easily become the largest and best credit information data provider. They have data nobody else has and banks would pay a lot to get this information. Here, the privacy problem becomes a bigger one as Facebook cannot just transfer the data. From Facebook's point of view, the best thing would be to let the banks negotiate the access with each bank client, who is a Facebook user.

I have more examples, but this was just to show, that the possibilities are endless.