Is Facebook Runnin on Empty?

Since he just settled a lawsuit with the GOP I thought it appropriate to kick this post off with a little Jackson Browne. Hope he doesn't sue me. Sorry about the long delay, I've been workin' hard hustling media for a few new clients and I've neglected my little corner of the interwebs.

So here's the deal... I've mentioned in a few previous posts that an uncanny number of my aged-challenged friends and family have been hopping onto the Facebook bandwagon. Even big media outlets have noticed. In a way, that's a fantastic thing because it means all demos are becoming comfortable with social media. However like most trends of the past few decades, where the Baby Boomers go, big business will follow. And, like MySpace before it, Facebook is in the process of revamping its advertising program to accommodate new ad packages.

Facebook actually only became the reigning traffic champ about a month ago, but most marketers started shying away from the platform as far back as a year go, when the NewsCorp buyout caused a seismic shift in who was actually using the site. Until Rupert got his hands on it, Myspace was essentially a gathering place for young people. After the massive ads went up and started alienating people, waves of users started shifting towards Facebook. For a short time record labels and movie studios Myspace pages helped bolster the site's traffic, but the magic is gone and Myspace is essentially a trade show hall filled with companies showing their wares and exhibiting their hipness to a non-existent crowd. So Myspace is essentially dunzo.

Now it looks like Facebook might be going the same way. According to recent PC Magazine/MSN story, people are flocking to Twitter from Facebook. I can't say I blame them. Facebook is still an excellent platform for reconnecting with old friends and promoting companies and/or clients. The problem is the new site design bombards people with so many updates and such a deluge of information that any self-respecting page with more than a few hundred friends can't effectively keep news or updates on the front page for more than a few minutes. So.... unless you're literally sitting at your computer checking your wall all day, you'll probably miss a load of info. Twitter essentially takes the update portion of Facebook and throws away the rest.

Now I'm not a huge fan of using Twitter for PR purposes unless you have a dedicated tweeter that knows what they're doing and only broadcasts relevant, interesting info. It will be interesting to sit back and see how things play out, but my gut instinct tells me that Facebook will be irrelevant in two years, and a new platform will have taken its place. What do you think?

Kahn Media in the News

From the latest issue of The Green Sheet, the weekly trade newsletter for the automotive aftermarket:

RED LINE OIL RETAINS KAHN MEDIA FOR PUBLIC RELATIONS, OUTREACH

Red Line Synthetic Oil Corp. (Benicia, CA), which manufacturers a line of motor oils, gear oils and additives, has engaged Kahn Media of Woodland Hills, CA, to provide Red Line with North American media outreach and P.R. assistance. This includes targeted media outreach, social media marketing, new product debuts, events and special projects.

More specifically, Kahn is working with Red Line’s management on strategic planning initiatives, as well as the development and implementation of a social media marketing campaign. Kahn also will promote Red Line’s motorsports initiatives, including drag racing, sports car road racing and more.

You can read the whole issue here.

Chris Deam @ TED Conference on Airstream Design

The web as a global "hive mind"

An interesting story landed in my inbox this morning. Thought I'd share it.

It's a column at Forbes.com written by Joshua-Michele Ross, called The Rise of the Social Nervous System.

In the column, Ross argues that since more than half of the earth's population is now connected in one way or another to the internet (1.6 billion by computer, another 4 billion on mobile devices), social media has transformed the web from an information source into a "hive mind" where common knowledge and information is shared by billions across the globe.

Ross tries to make the point that this rapidly expanding global social media network will eventually help end war and disease and better all mankind.

"The social nervous system makes us aware of a broader context of relationship with humanity. My immediate relationships--with my family, my city and state--begin to span the globe. We can leverage the ubiquity of communications to coordinate real world activity--and just about anyone can do it. Even a kid with a mobile phone can capture a revolution."

A noble and lofty idea, but one I doubt will come to fruition. While I'm sure the social media wave (blogs, facebook, etc) will create major change in our world, from the end of the newspaper business as we know it, to a radical departure in how government and businesses relate to the people, I think that in the end, left to their own devices, people will use this new technology to catch up on gossip, learn about their neighbors and find out about the coolest new stuff to buy.

It's human nature. In the end, everyone wants to hang out in their living room and shoot the breeze with their friends. That living room is now an online web app, and their friends might be 1,000 miles away, but we still want to catch up, read about the topics that interest us, and buy cool toys. And that's not a bad thing. What do you think?