Facebook

Facebook the popular social media network is still growing at unprecedented rates and for good reason. I love that Zuckerberg and his family have recently pledged to donate almost all of their Facebook stock to help future generations. This to me is one of the single greatest acts of kindness and compassion, ever. That leadership from a company speaks volumes about it's vision and mission in the world, and in this case goes so much further than just another social media website. I remember in 2007 when I joined Facebook it had incredible word of mouth popularity because it was the first social platform that you felt comfortable enough to share your life with others you knew. It was focused around the personal unlike how MySpace felt more about self or business promotion. Little did most of us know that they would sell advertising, integrate ecommerce into tabs as well as landing pages and most recently even enable automated email capture from the newsfeed from directly in Facebook. As well as integrate an instant messenger which has grown to be huge. I've used this while dog sitting for my brother when was traveling to avoid roaming charges on our smartphones. With so much more possible on Facebook too like searching, reporting and of course their advertising platform. There are a lot of super powerful Facebook businesses tools available too which I've personally integrated into my Fanpages. I love the new video format which doesn't have audio enabled but begins playing as you scroll down your home newsfeed. What a great idea. The videos stop playing if you're not interested. Not having to click on videos to begin them yet while not having to listen to the audio (with an option to do so) is such a simple idea but actually improves the video user experience greatly in my opinion. I've never felt so engaged by online video in the past on Facebook or any other platform. These are all business features that have become widely adopted and accepted because I believe of the initial approach which has been retained as a personal platform primarily, with the ability to use it for business, or not. I think this acceptance by users towards Facebook's business inclinations was bolstered by having seen the company go public too. It's huge and it would be silly not to monetize that traffic to grow the business. I like that there was a pop-up survey in my account just a few weeks back; the only one I've ever had appear in nearly ten years on the site, which asked 'Do you believe Facebook cares about it's users?'. I said overwhelmingly yes because to me it's obvious with how they respond to their audience, and have continually made it easier to use their platform to connect with my friends and family.

Just a few years ago I used to find Facebook overwhelming in terms of functionality with the user interface far too complicated. And while they've integrated more functionality than ever nowadays it's become quite a bit easier to use. I did notice a big update around the time when their graph search was implemented or just before. And it's remained similar since making it easier to learn with consistent use. I wish more of the target audience could be reached when sharing posts or paying for ads. There's a cap it seems in terms of your reach and while I'm sure they have their reasons it's not the best case for users when the traffic is a part of your ensuring your livelihood. The fact companies like Google and Facebook can make changes in a day that affect entire industries is simply the leverage we grant them by using their free services in the first place. Still, it would be nice to plan to do content marketing, or search engine marketing without having to adapt your approach so much ongoing. Though I do understand that if your approach consists of quality, relevance, and authority you'll generally be in favor of these companies and in the best position to utilize the trickle of overall traffic they can provide to help grow your business.

Overall, personally I mostly love Facebook for ongoing access to hilarious animal videos but it can do so much more. I've connected with dozens of people from my youth whom you thought you might never be in contact with again. And met a few and met their families. We're not kids anymore calling on each other to go play with GI Joe, but we can always have Facebook in common with a real connection and I'm grateful for it.