Now this might seem ill-advised, but hear me out. One of the basic tenets of designing and implementing a transmedia narrative states that we should use each platform in the way it is best used. This raises the question, how do people use Facebook?
As with most technologies, I was an early adopter of Facebook. So I've seen it grow and seen what it has become. While I know there are social media experts who swear by Facebook, here's why I think it isn't a valuable promotional or story telling tool:
- It's a closed garden - As a story teller, I have to consider the openness of each platform I use. The immediate implications are clear, whatever I can do is limited by Facebook's Terms of Service (ToS). One aspect of the new rules of entertainment, is that I should retain as much control over my story as possible, so agreeing to limitations from the beginning is not a good idea.
- Facebook owns a limited license to all content posted within it - This is merely an extension of the closed garden argument. So not only am I limited by their ToS, but I also grant Facebook a limited license to use my content. This also does not seem like a good idea. The trend in story telling seems to be the just the opposite.
- SEO is surprisingly poor - With the exception of your user ID or your Facebook Page name, your content is mostly invisible to search engines. Part of this is in part to the extreme confusion surrounding the privacy settings on Facebook content. In general, most content is severely restricted to only your Facebook friends.
- Facebook information is largely unsearchable, except within Facebook - The corollary to the privacy settings on Facebook content, is that it hides content from search engines. It is therefore, mostly invisible to search engines. If it's invisible, then it can't be found, that is, except from within Facebook. To my knowledge making your content findable within Facebook is a grand unknown. In addition, I don't believe that people do much searching within Facebook.
- Facebook is used to define our online personaes - What I've seen from the X, Y and millennial generations, is that Facebook gives them an environment where they can completely control "who" they are. While "liking" a Facebook Page is part of how they define themselves, I don't believe brands are able to translate that "like" into engagement. With the exception of showing up in the Facebook user's news feed, branded content is a needle which flashes by so quickly in a huge avalanche of hay (updates). In my opinion, that doesn't leave much of an opportunity to spread a story.
- Facebook is about sharing Internet content - Even though we "like" things and they show up in our news feed, what most people share on Facebook is content brought into Facebook from the Internet. It is true that we also comment, and therefore share content posted by our friends, but in terms of what we share it is largely personal content and not brand related.
- Facebook is about keeping in touch with friends, family, and celebrities - I will confess that most of these conclusions are based on my personal experience and intuition, so I might be off base. What I do and what I see other people do on Facebook is stay in contact with friends, family, and then maybe celebrities. While family might come first, then friends, without a doubt, everything else comes in a distant third. My guess is less than 10% of what is shared on Facebook is about something other than friends and family.
Think about it, have you heard of anyone being "discovered" on Facebook? YouTube clearly dominates the zeitgeist when it comes to breaking out of the pack. I think Twitter is also very valuable for interacting with fans, but I can't recall a Facebook success story. I guess that's ultimately the clue which lead me to reconsider Facebook as a transmedia platform.
Photo Courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons: MSVG
April 24, 2011 at 10:44 AM
Interesting article. I think I would like to add one point. I recently was deciding whether to use Facebook for some fictional characters for an upcoming project of mine. What put the nail in the coffin was the backlash against the use of Facebook in a current ARG that is running. The beef was: many people will simply not use Facebook because of their privacy concerns; so, by using Facebook, the game effectively shut out these potential players.
Another concern is Facebook's constant change of the service. Everything might work as expected right now in the planning stage of my project, but what if Facebook pulls the rug out from underneath us and changes functionality of Pages without warning as it has so often in the past?
We've decided to create our own social network using Jomsocial for our project. It is still a walled garden, however, one can see the latest activity on a stream on the front page without logging in and it gives us a measure of control. And it is only one aspect of the character's social faces.
April 25, 2011 at 11:32 AM
Facebook is to social engagement what junior high school is to career development: a place where "popularity" trumps "talent." Add to that the whole "we own you" dictatorship that Facebook has going and your decision makes perfect sense. Facebook will find you when your talent/creativity is confirmed by celebrity watchers; until then, it's nothing but a pretentious yearbook.
April 25, 2011 at 7:59 PM
Good points carrie. Keep us posted on your project, I'd love to hear how Jomsocial works out for you. I think you need a solid ROI for building your own social network. I've pondered the problem some, and initially discarded the notion. I think what might be "easier" is to ride piggyback on top of Twitter. Use a Twitter login and their API (well assuming they don't shut it down :-/).
Gil, well put. And while you're spot on, I'd submit that you might be missing the point. Of all the social networks, I'd say that Facebook has the strongest social aspect. I've seen it happen time and time again. It makes the world smaller. I would also re-iterate, you need to consider what Facebook does best, or more aptly, what do Facebook users do best on Facebook? It keeps you posted on what your friends and family are doing, and vice-versa.
Thank you both for the feedback.