I’ve been pretty clear about how much I hate Facebook. OK, so I’m cranky and I hate other things too. I Hate Texting, for example.
But I really hate Facebook. Oh, I use it, but I say Facebook is set up all the wrong way, and fails as a tool for social networking.It’s the reason that new services like Doximity are popping up, and will succeed where Facebook is failing. Doximity is social networking for medical doctors, and doctors are flocking to it even though conventional wisdom had been that doctors were a group of people who don’t do that kind of thing.
Speaking as someone with doctors for clients in medical practice management , Reputation Management, and Search Engine Optimization, I can tell you…give them the right tools and even doctors will jump on board.
The bottom line is that “biggest” and “best” aren’t the same thing; not even in social networking. And now there’s research that proves it.
It seems that the general populace feels pretty much the same way about Facebook that I do. 73% of all US-based broadband-enabled Internet Users are on Facebook. It’s an incredible market-penetration statistics, isn’t it?
But only a third of those many, many people like Facebook enough to recommend it.
Now let’s be frank: I don’t really know what that second statement means. “Recommend”? Great word. If I tell you to look at my Facebook profile while also telling you I hate Facebook, I’ve recommended Facebook tacitly even though what I really think is that you probably don’t want to get too excited about Facebook. It’s like a conversation about statistics. Statistics lie. As with most things, unless you have meaningful context, statistics can’t be trusted.
Where’s the business change?
Actually, it’s everywhere. It’s becoming less and less possible to grow and remain successful unless you use social networking tools, and at the same time you probably mistrust or even have some disdain for the tools you use. Certainly, you don’t “understand” them; the people who created Facebook, LinkedIn, and the like don’t even understand their own services!
That’s where having a social networking strategy comes in. So here’s the obligatory gratuitous pitch: Contact The Answer Guy About Your Social Networking Strategy.
‘Nuf said. Now, go think about whether you like Facebook enough to recommend it to your friends.
Facebook is the biggest and always will be im afraid.
Hello,
on goopeg.com you can make your own blog and discussion groups. Every member has there own video chat, to chat with members or to chat with friends only. The chat can be translated in any languages.
Rogier:
I thought about deleting your post, as it was mostly an advertisement for your bulletin board. And then I got to thinking:
I’ve been pretty outspoken about how comments should be published as long as they’re on-topic, such as in this post about Gizmodo’s Tony Kaye and Neck Denton’s Gawker Media. And I realized that your first point about Facebook was as on-point as a comment can be and the site that the rest of your post points to it an attempt at beating the Facebook phenomenon.
So your comment stays . . . and I hope you’ll keep us up to date on the status of your new social networking community.