Facebook Wall - Fad ? Innovative ? Clutter ?
Well, it definitely cannot be denied that Facebook has grown in terms of popularity. There are friends, and friends of friends making their way to network with each other. All the more try and find a common ground too !
While the wall is cool, causes are great and FB Page FBML was awesome ; now has come the iFrame based apps for FB Pages . Why iFrame based apps and not FB hosted ? Ofcourse Facebook has started feeling the pressure on its hardware and the costs attached to maintenance.
What does it all mean in terms of user experience ?
It means that a consumer visiting a Page , now has the same experience of left-hand-navigation. Yes, back-to-basics ! There still is one catch here. iFrames will only display stuff within a specific width. 520px. So, now the pitch is just 520px wide.
What can a brand achieve or deliver within the 520px -
Here are some good examples :
All goodie good stuff for the user.
What from the Brand's perspective ?
If, I am a brand manager, looking for Social Engagement through FB, I still will look at opportunities beyond the FB Page.
Why ?
Because, if having an independent Brand website was just a hygiene factor in days of FB & other SNs, having a FB Brand Fan Page is equally if not more important from branding and engagement perspective.
Now, lets stich all of the above together.
Friends, friends of friends, friends of friends of friends and so on will keep on getting on this band wagon and reach out for more common grounds.
Brands will now have a 520px page hosted on their servers as part of their website which will reflect on their FB fan Page ! Good, isn’t it ? Now you don't have to worry about FBML !
And now, just as consumers, Brands will also bring in the commonsense to be on FB soon enough..as its now easy to get the brand image rightfully customised within their own eco-systems.
But what about the question of bringing people to these Fan Pages ? It all starts again ! Yes,Brands need to put in more marketing dollars to get people to Brand Fan Pages. At the same time, maintian the visitors to their own sites too !
Whats the challenge ?
Brands need to be more tactful to be on the User's wall !
Brands need to be more tactful to be unique in the communication !
Brands need to be more tactful to break out of clutter !
The clicks to the updates will then come ! According to my personal observations, if a user has 100 friends, if all 100 update once every day, there are atleast 100 updates for me to look at !
Now, on top of that , how do I need to go to my Favorite pages ? What if I miss the Fan page update on my wall ?
So, the question still remains unanswered...is this a Fad or is this clutter ?
