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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.

Facebook has a few of the Internet’s “biggies” rockin’ on their heels. This happens.

And one of them happens to be Google. From what I can see, Google has an impressive

advantage in competing (if you want to call it competing) with Facebook and any other “comers.”

A few of Google’s advantages, (at least the way I see it):

1)      First: Google is Google; they don’t, at least so far, feel they are bigger than the Internet,
or that they are the Internet, what Google does, (love em’ or hate em’) is leverage the Internet - to the max.

2)      Second: Google’s been around. It makes them the “crafty” veteran.

3)      Third: Google, for all intent and purpose is not about search. I know, you’re saying this guy’s nuts. If Google isn’t about search, what is Google about? Well, Google is about organization - first and foremost. High-quality search results are utterly dependent on the quality of information organization. And Google’s passion and obsession is organization.

4)      Fourth: and I believe this is important, and so painfully obvious as to be so easily missed, is with Google there is no need for a login…think about that.
(Gmail is email, that’s different.) For one, not having to bother with a login caters to a fundamental human desire, which is the need to be instantly gratified, and the freedom to roam – anywhere and anonymously. And as far as social networks go, any place that has a login pretty much makes for a “walled garden.” (Twitter may be the walled garden exception.) And human beings, by our very nature don’t like to be “walled in” for long, no matter how nice the garden.

5)      Five: Regardless of how lush a garden is, eventually, a lot of people get tired of looking at it, and they want to see a new one.

It could make things interesting if Google comes up with a no-login, (or the illusion of no-login) approach to the "Social Network"… or, have they already done that?

Now on to Facebook; why doesn’t FB let their stuff truly be crawled by Google? What makes them so special?  Well, let me see…hey… I know… it’s about the money. FB can come up with all the corporate jousting they want and I bet it still washes out to money; and it probably goes something like this: Facebook to Google; “hey Google, you want to crawl our exclusively exclusive stuff – pay me.” Then again, who knows how Google and Facebook may "buddy-up" to carve up the world in the name of "enhanced user experience."

Oh, by the way, you can Google us at Blackball Online Marketing Pittsburgh.

It’s not often I come up with advantages or praise for Facebook so let’s give it a try.

The Facebook advantages: (naming convention pun intended)

1)      They’re not Google. They don’t have to live up to a solid history. They can change things and test without global outcry so far.

2)      Google’s being the crafty veteran is also seen in Internet terms as an old company. Dare I say it; Microsoft-like. And not a place for the younger generation to hang out and converse.

3)      Facebook is about entertainment and interaction. Ever look into the traffic ratings of entertainment sites? It seems we want our entertainment far more than we want to work. (Trending Topics anyone?) This is one of the main reasons Google bought YouTube.

4)      Most Facebook users never logout. Thus eliminating the need to login. (Entertainment remember) If a user has to login to get in touch with all their needs, wants, wishes, desires so be it. Does Facebook log you out after 2 hours on non activity? I don’t think so. Why is that? Average time on site statistics ring a bell?

5)      Facebook’s ever changing design and user interface is what makes it appear different constantly. Pure hell for the companies trying to set up a page, but joy for the user apparently.

Our Facebook page is located at Blackball Online Marketing Pittsburgh. Like it if you can find it.

Scaling Your Social Media campaigns

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Digg, Reddit; the list goes on and on. Doing Social Media Well requires the right research first. Choosing your social media mix wisely will enable you to budget your social time wisely.

Most small business owners have limited time. It’s a problem that persists in any business of any size. Limited resources and grandiose plans can be fuel for what we call social media burn. Burning all of your energies and receiving modest to no return for your effort. Our advice is to look at scale when choosing social media campaigns to become involved in.

All the social media platforms take time to learn. Some are much more time consuming than others, however. When starting on your social media journey, start small. Sign up for a platform that interests you and try it on. Give yourself a time budget for research, a time budget for development, and a time budget for interaction. At first you may want to forgo interaction and be a lurker. This allows for more development time but you will eventually want to get involved, right?

Take into account the scale of the platform and the time budget. What happens if this becomes very rewarding? Can you scale your social media effort? Given your resources, can you add other platforms to your marketing mix? Just remember that doing social media well requires time, interaction, and a ramp up period. We wish you well.

Have other ideas for scaling social media campaigns? Leave us a comment.

Blackball Online Marketing provides Pittsburgh Internet Consulting services.

For related reading, check out the first post in this series – Identifying Your Social Media Audience