My son missed my last post on this blog where I mentioned my new toy. He's a busy college student, and even though he spends plenty of time online, he doesn't have time to keep up with everything I post. Or so he says. He's busy with the last week of classes, a theater banquet, and audition, and studying for finals. I guess I can excuse him.
He called this afternoon to ask me what my new toy is - not because he'd seen the post, or he would have known, but because he'd seen some references to it on Facebook. One of my friends was checking it out and sent him a message, and then I updated my status, "Playing with my new toy. These touch screens are touchy." Underneath it said 'via Android' so he just had to ask.
The point is, sometimes you might need brochure printing to get the word out about something, but for lots of things Facebook is a great way to let people know what's going on. It's quick and easy to update, and you don't have to send out individual emails or messages. When you post a status update, link, photo, or whatever, all your friends can see it. If it's something they're interested in, they can check it out. If they're not interested, they can just skip on to the next item in the newsfeed. It's one of the quickest ways to keep up with a lot of people at once. And it's not just for busy college students. There are people of all ages on facebook. I love it for keeping up with family and friends. Letters, phone calls, emails - all still have their place, but for day-to-day interaction, Facebook is great.
Businesses are also on Facebook - websites, stores, brands - and it's a good way to connect with their customers and get new ones. It's a great way to promote new products and by giving away free products, trials, or savings, to get their fans to spread the word. Sure, there will still be a place for the traditional things like coupons in the Sunday paper, magazine ads, and brochures to pick up in the store, but the smartest businesses are expanding into social networking, using Facebook and Twitter to grow their audience.
If you're not on Facebook, you could be missing out. Missing out on things your friends are doing or thinking, things that aren't 'important' enough for a phone call or an email, but things you might enjoy hearing about. Missing out on special sales and free items from brands you love or learning about new products...
Of course, you could also be missing out on wasting a bunch of time, but we'll just forget about that for now...
