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The Church of Me

The Church of Me Where I Can Worship Myself

We love talking about Facebook, not to discuss the DNA or the atomic structure of a “Like,” or dissecting the value proposition of a “Comment” with a UNIX 8-cylinder engine slide rule, or the square root of a Facebook “Hug.” Oops, Facebook doesn’t do hugs, at least not yet. No, we love talking about FB because it’s just fun.

A nerd comes along, builds a run-of-the-mill simple upload, post, edit and submit Website which acquires the popularity of Star Trek’s “where no man has gone before” mantra, and the rest is history. Not to mention a little luck, like being in the right place at the right time, (remember our bumper sticker post). So, what’s not to talk about?

All I can say is “only in America.” Maybe you kind of see it like this too, but you just don’t want to say, and that’s Cooley and the gang with us - we respect that.  We respect all living creatures, and some dead - what the hell. By the way, how many other nerds are out there, right now, who are writing an app with fingers crossed, hoping it’ll “catch fire” too? Hell, we might be one of them. Nothing could be more American.

But let’s get back to the matter at hand, and what on earth has made Facebook as popular as the Beatles during the UK’s second invasion of America? I’ll tell you what I think it is, and it’s not the FB user interface, and how it does this, that or the other. What I’m seeing is that nobody, but nobody, at least so far, has cast the perception of something being entirely devoted to “me” better than the Facebook guys.

The FB “Like” is genius, it is so very, very human - who doesn’t want to be liked. And who out there that’s on FB so much that they forget to go eat are thrilled to the point of hyper-ventilation when somebody “Likes” them. You just have to post back, because one “Like” is just never enough, and you got a taste – and it’s good.

With over 700 million users itching to be “liked,” it’s no wonder FB has advertisers drooling. But the thing about FB is this; it's all about me - squared, not the advertisers, and not anyone else. FB’s “gift” to us all is the perceived ability to “enshrine” one’s self – Vatican style. Good luck with diverting eyeballs around that. The advertisers are trying though.  But they’re finding it’s doubly tough to break the preoccupation we have from our most alluring and captivating subject - ourselves.

As a side note, here’s what I ponder during meditation in my lotus garden; when will someone come along, and cater to the “all about me” perception better than FB? We all pretty much know it is only a matter of when, not if.

Contact Pittsburgh Social Media Marketing for your small business by Blackball Online Marketing where it's all about you.

2012 The World Ends: Will Your Facebook Page Be Ready?

Update Your Facebook Page Before The World Ends in 2012

Ok everybody, swallow hard, cause’ we all know what’s coming - Dec. 21^st, 2012 it’s the end of the world. Basically, we’re all gonna’ be toast – real soon like. I figure about a week before the grand finale it’ll be total mayhem, people loading up on Slim Jims, Red Bull, some damn good cheap booze and all kinds of other stuff to make that “last hurrah” easier to take, and lets not exclude cats and dogs living together.

This is a big day for all of us – the end of the world - lots of things to think about – or not. Me, personally, I’ll regret not getting to see the latest James Bond, which I’m sure will be due for release probably on Dec.22^th 2012. That’ll be just a bit too late I believe. I always dug the James Bond movie endings when it says “James Bond will return” well, this time he won’t – bummer.

I’ve only scratched the tip of the iceberg here. You get the picture. It’s not going to be peachy.

So, let’s get down to brass tacks. What’s really going to be important when the world ends on December 21^st 2012?  You know it, I know it, and just about everybody else knows it – so it’s unanimous - and that is will your Facebook page be updated and ready for the mother of all events?

You can forget everything else, even Pittsburgh Internet Marketing, and here’s why; Facebook has given us all a reason to live again by helping us magnify our most cherished and addictive subject – ourselves. But now this is all going end. These things happen.  So, since Facebook has given us the means to “embrace and extend” the ultimate importance of us, it stands to reason that when the end comes - and need I remind you it’s real soon, the only thing that’s really going to matter is us all having our Facebook pages nice and spiffy, updated and ready for the big “Check In” (or would that be “check out”). Because, when the world ends on Dec. 21^st 2012, and it isn’t on Facebook, how in the hell will anybody know?

But hey, look on the upside, everyone’s going to save money on Christmas gifts, and the best part is you can let everybody know that – on Facebook.

Like us on Facebook before the world ends, would ya. It would mean the world to us.

Facebook and the Bumper Sticker - Happy Trails to Both

Has Facebook Disenfranchised the Bumper sticker?
Facebook’s user base is in the gazillions. And, you can talk to any number of “gurus” and come up with just as many different guru reasons on why a simple upload and edit Website like Facebook is such a success.

Personally, I believe one of the core reasons for Facebook’s rapid success is the demise of the car bumper sticker - and Facebook just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

I’m seeing a lot less bumper stickers since the making and main-streaming of plastic bumpers on cars, and around that same time Facebook began and continues to grow like Lee Haney on a family size pack of you-know-what.  I don’t believe this is a coincidence. Timing is everything as they say, and let’s face it, something had to replace the bumper sticker.

Think about it; when tons of people were slapping bumper stickers on their big-old metal bumpers you’d find out a lot about a person by just getting stuck behind someone at a red light. You would know if they had kids, if the kids were smart, if they had a pet, what kind of pets they liked, where they’ve been, a member of this or that, who I’m voting for, favorite sports team, and a helluva’ lot more, (you get the picture).

Hell, you could even “like” someone, bumper sticker style - if you were so inclined. Allow me to offer a scenario; let’s say you’re stuck at a light and the guy in the truck in front of you has a Harley bumper sticker, and you happen to be a Harley guy too, now you’re inspired - flush with a feeling of camaraderie you get the urge to let the dude know you’re a Harley guy, so, the light changes, you pull up to the side of the Harley bumper sticker truck guy and give him a little head “nod,” or maybe a thumbs-up,  and there you go – the bumper sticker version of Facebook’s “like” button. Does “Honk if you love Jesus” ring a bell? How many “likes” do you think that bumper sticker got? Intel couldn’t make a big enough chip to count the “likes” on that one.

How many “conversations” do you think have been struck-up because of a “comment” made in response to a bumper sticker that was on someone’s car bumper that just happened to pull up next to you in a parking lot or somewhere? It could have went something like this; “hey, I see your kids are at so-and-so school and on the honor roll, well so are mine…blah, blah, blah.” And there we go again, the bumper sticker version of Facebook’s “comment” and “like” thing-a-ma-bob all rolled into one and at your service.

Are we seeing a parallel here? And why it is such a necessity, that we, as social creatures, find something to replace the bumper sticker as one of the basic and necessary components of human engagement and social interaction. All I can say is thank you Facebook.

The fundamentals between Facebook and bumper stickers aren’t that much different.  Both are a vehicle to tell you something about me so as many other people as possible will see it, and keep seeing it - whether you like it or not.

So, to conclude, what is Facebook? Well, Facebook is the digital version of the bumper sticker, (may it rest in peace) with a lot of extendibility.

By the way, I think I’m going to get myself an older car with a metal bumper so I can put my “I’m on Facebook” bumper sticker on it. Or maybe not.
Next week’s Pittsburgh Internet Marketing topic, How Facebook WILL NOT disenfranchise the tattoo – maybe.