In explaining the rationale behind the new system Mark Zuckerburg talked about how high schoolers use messaging which is quite different than older generations. I am firmly myself in the Email Generation meaning I was brought up with email as the primary means of personal communication via computers. I am used to email, I like email and email is what frames my messaging perspective.

The next generation, however, is coming from a completely different place. This generation has been brought up with small, smart cell phones and the explosion of text messaging. Micro messaging systems like Twitter have also been a key part of their experience. For this reason, I call them the 140 Generation after the 140 characters that make up a Twitter message. This generation’s messaging perspective is framed by short, quick hit communications across a variety of devices.

This is exactly the framework Facebook is targeting with their new messaging system. But Facebook is smart and understands there are two generations overlapping, so this new messaging system is a slow play. It will work perfectly well with existing email systems as well as newer systems like SMS. Facebook sees their new shorter, less formal system as the future and it will be up to the 140 Generation to make this come to pass. No technology will in itself kill email, only users will by their habits and needs. Facebook will be there to pick up the pieces.

I actually think this is a great move for MySpace. MySpace was never better than when they were a music and entertainment hub. This is how they started, catering to small indie bands and their dedicated fans. MySpace could never figure out the larger world of social networking, but MySpace are experts in entertainment and music. With this new tight focus on what they do best, I think the future is bright for MySpace, even if they won’t become the next Facebook.

That’s a kind of brand awareness that you can’t purchase for anything. Traditionally we think of brand awareness as it is associated to a logo like the Nike swoosh or Apple’s Apple with a bite out of it. Logo branding is still a powerful tool and I help many customers crate or revitalize their logos but in this increasingly social world there is also a power in your own face. I guess they don’t call it Facebook for nothing.

Don’t underestimate the value of your face. Think carefully about all those profile photos on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and everywhere else. If you’re into this for building business and brand value, here are some tips to remember:

• Make sure your picture is a good one. A clear close up view of your face. Make sure the exposure is good and the pose is comfortable and positive. Something that captures a little of your personality is always great.
• Don’t use cartoon characters or other logos. If it is an account that represents the entire company, a company logo would be appropriate for that.
• The background should be as clean and clear as possible. You don’t want anything to obscure or take focus away from what’s most important, your face.
• Don’t change your picture often. You can change it now and again, especially if you get a better picture to use, but try to remain as consistent as possible.

I would not appear with anyone else in your photo with the exception of your kids. This could even be a debated point, but I chose personally to have Capella in my Facebook profile for a few reasons. My personal Facebook account is a little less business and more personal. My Connected World Media Facebook page uses the company logo. My kids are also a big part of my life and so much of who I am, I don’t mind showing that. That being said, I have recently changed my LinkedIn photo to a photo of just me and my Twitter profile pic is the same one although my Twitter custom background has the Capella and me photo on it. I try to use the same photo across all networks as much as possible, again for consistency sake.

As with most things there are no hard and fast answers. You have to discover what works for you and your company, but I hope I have given you some things to think about. As always if you want help in this or any other social media regard, don’t hesitate to contact me. I would love to work with you on your brand image online.

For one thing, I find that more of my non-geeky so called “normal” friends use Facebook much more and sometimes exclusively over Twitter. If your goal is to reach a less bleeding edge audience, Facebook is really the way to go. Also, it’s a fairly easy to thing to get your Tweets to automatically populate Facebook, so there is really no need to completely abandon it.

As far as the reciprocity of Facebook friends go, that brings me to my second point. I wish I had the problem of having to manage more friend requests than I could handle. But it brings up the larger point that many of these stars aren’t interested in reciprocity. They don’t want to listen or converse, they want to talk. Look at Martha’s Twitter and you will find over a million followers but she only follows 35 people. Her tweets rarely if ever include conversations to other people and when they do it’s mostly to other stars. This is common for most big stars on Twitter. They are using Twitter like another broadcast medium. This, of course, is inherently wrong and against the very spirit of social media. They don’t call it social for nothing. It’s disappointing to see this because these stars have an unbelievable  access to their greatest fans. With a million people following you, I’m sure it’s hard to talk to everyone but I see no reason why they cannot at least make an effort  and do what they can.

Facebook takes more work than Twiter because it does more, but Twitter takes work to if you’re doing it right. It’s something my clients often don’t want to hear, this stuff takes work. But marketing your business takes work too and this kind of marketing can pay off in a much more powerful and long lasting way for all that effort.

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For my group, the Octopus Network, I have opened a new Facebook group. If you are a small business in Orange County, CA come take a look and if you would like to visit us please drop me an email and I will help you out. We meet every Thursday at 8AM in Mission Viejo, CA

I can imagine lots of other great applications of this kind of blend. How about the Super Bowl? How about The Oscars or your favorite tv show? Can you imagine the producers of Lost getting realtime reactions and feedback from their audience as they show is airing? Want to bring people back to the live show and stop them from watching on Tivo? Make the live experience unique and exciting, something you cannot get on Tivo.

The CNN/Facebook experiment was a watershed event with far reaching implications. I have been very impressed with CNN lately and their progressive use of new meida. They were the first network to use Twitter to interact with their news audience during broadcasts.

Within five years it’s going to be hard to run any kind of web service or application that is not open source, or at least provide a strong set of open API’s. This is part of the new paradigm of Internet business. Open Source has been around for years, but only now it is really starting to take hold. This is partly why Google has the strategic advantage over Microsoft as we move into the future. Open Source is built into the Google DNA. Microsoft has been built on the concept of proprietary systems and control. Buying Yahoo makes sense for Microsoft not just for their search advertising program, but for the Yahoo culture and philosophy. Yahoo also has Open Source built in. If Microsoft would allow some of that to seep in, it could benefit them emencly.

Open ID
DataPortability.org
Google Friend Connect
Myspace Data Availability
Facebook and Data Portability

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