Banking on the popularity of such "The" bands of the time as The White Stripes and The Strokes, The Facebook - as it was called when it debuted - was about as 2004 as Hoobastank. Here's some Facebook Trivia for you: the picture in the upper left-hand bar was Al Pacino from Scarface.

2006

Al is still hogging the upper left-hand corner, but now we're starting to see some more personal information, such as Favorite Music and Favorite Quotes. It's interesting to see that the site is still university-focused (Mark went to Harvard), and we're starting to see some ads crowd the experience. And on the profile page of all places.

2008

No more ads crowding up your profile page. Instead, we see Gifts (the beginning of the apps!). Notice that everything your friends typed was preceded by the word wrote. Well, duh.

2010

Now this is starting to look like Facebook. Ads on the right (using limited colors), chat boxes on the bottom right, and notification bars on the top. The News Feed changed the way many of us interacted with Facebook (nearly a third of our Facebook time is spent there). 

Today



With Timeline, you can now track everything you've ever done with Facebook. Ads now take up nearly a full fifth of the page, and apps are everywhere. Some people like the Timeline, other have yet to change (yours truly included).

It'll be interesting to see what the next 8 years bring us with Facebook. 

Who knows, maybe they'll bring Al back.

Pop quiz, hot shot: What's the difference between paid advertising and earned
advertising?

For nearly a decade now, we've been hearing all about how the former is going away in place of the latter. The best and brightest companies "earn" their customers through engagement and working with their customers. It's the true power of social media.

Right? Exactly how much is creative, engaging content worth?

Two dollars, apparently. In a move that sounds akin to a bank looking for "innovative" ways to tack on fees to use your own money, Facebook has been beta testing a feature that allows users to pay $2 for a post to show up higher and stick to your friends' (or fans') News Feeds longer.

Forbes calls it "sad", and part of me agrees. It's like paying for friends when what you say isn't captivating enough.

But another part of me says, great. It gives small businesses a chance to announce something important and get it seen.

Unlike the Facebook ads, which nearly 60% of users say they don't click on.

And at two bucks a pop, it's some of the cheapest advertising out there. Maybe that explains why GM is pulling $10 million worth of ads from Facebook. Although I think the real question is why GM spends up to $40 million on Facebook marketing.

With all of the hub-bub about Facebook's IPO coming this Friday, it's no wonder they're looking for revenue streams under every rock.

So, maybe the $2 posts are kind of sad. Maybe Facebook are social media heretics - how dare they add paid ads into my Facebook stream! (that I don't pay for)

Or maybe, we're all forgetting that social media is a tool, not a revolution. It's how you use it, not what it does.

Two dollar posts may be good for small businesses who use it sparingly, or it may end up being detrimental to companies who over-use it so much that they go back to talking at their customers, and not with their customers.

It's all in how you use it.

The Hangout feature on Google+ provides a video conferencing platform for you and 9 other people at one time. While hanging out, it is easy to include other Google products such as Google Docs and YouTube (you can view and comment on videos as a group).

The addition of Hangouts On Air is a big deal. For businesses, the ability to directly communicate with others face-to-face makes it possible to easily engage with colleagues, customers, and prospects at no charge. The On Air function now provides a way to use Hangouts not only as a collaboration tool, but as a real marketing tool. 

Imagine hosting an event, launching a new product or service, taking a tour of your facility, or delivering a how-to demonstration. You can now easily broadcast this valuable content to your audience, and allow them to comment in real time. What's more, you can record these Hangouts, and store them on your YouTube channel for continued viewing.

Google+ Hangouts On Air are offering brands a great new opportunity to broadcast their content and interact with more people at one time. How will your business take advantage of this?

What Dyson appeared to be asserting with his comment was that ‘product’ was the most important thing to a company, and that without a consistently strong product an abstract ‘brand’ could not survive.

True. I guess. However, that brings about the point of what ‘brand’ actually is. Is it abstract? It can be. Oftentimes it can even be idealistic - consumers themselves can perpetuate this too if they really believe (or, want to believe) in a product. But, that idealism doesn’t stick if the product or service doesn’t live up to the expectations given to customers. And, brand still remains. It may change. It may be adjusted, damaged, and repaired. But, it is still there.

A company doesn’t have to believe in, or accept the reality of ‘brand’ for it to exist. A brand exists in the mind of the consumer. It is whatever they say it is. The look of the logo, the cleanliness of the building, the smell of the food, the friendliness of the staff, and on and on. It is all a part of the overall brand image displayed in the mind of the customer, and communicated to others when they talk about it.

Businesses that care about the message being received and passed along by their customers take the time to communicate their values and deliver on their promises. They take an interest in telling customers what to expect from them. That’s branding.

Dyson may not believe in the term ‘brand’, or that it can exist in the absence of solid innovation and products that work. But, making and distributing innovative products is what his brand was built on. It’s his promise. One that he strives to deliver on continuously. He’s playing the game even if he doesn’t want to.

Where does ‘brand’  fit in to your overall strategy? Are you framing the conversation your customers will be having? Or, are you sticking your head in the sand and pretending ‘brand’ is a myth not to concern yourself with?

Scrap the surface-level thinking and dig in a bit more. That, after all, is where the gold is.

What do you think? Do the fine arts and commercial arts help businesses innovate, or are they "useless"? Let us know on Twitter and Facebook! 

Or, how many blog posts cover the same story the same exact way?

I know I'm guilty of this. And with new content being demanded every day, it's no surprise that stories often get repeated. 

But there's a key difference between a new blog post and a fresh blog post. If everyone in the blogoshpere or social media arena has group think about a certain topic or story, maybe it's your job to dispute it. Is the iPad really revolutionary? Is Twitter a great way to brand yourself? Is engagement really all that important to businesses on Facebook?

Why? Why not? What does engagement even mean? 

When you keep hearing the same talking points, the same terms, and the same jargon over and over again, your social media sense should start tingling. "Do my readers really need yet another post about how Timeline can help businesses?" 

Maybe it's time we all recognize that every blog covering the same story using the same angle is not adding insight to the Internet - it's just adding more chatter.

What do you think? Is there too much groupthink within social media and social media blogging? Are there any new angles to cover with social media?
 

This was perfect! This unsolicited email actually got his attention because of its interesting, worthwhile content. Good job, [unnamed marketer].

Sean was excited to get his "free copy" right away and see how these tips might be helpful for his job. 

But when he clicked to download it, he received this:

It's right about here that he stopped wanting whatever content [unnamed marketer] was showcasing. 

Instead of being thankful and feeling all kinds of warm thoughts towards this company, Sean felt betrayed by this "free offer".

Why is a ZIP code or phone number required to receive an eBook, if they weren't either a) being sold to a third party, or b) being used only to generate leads?

Not that we're being naive here. We all know if you use an email address to receive a free eBook, you're effectively signing up to be on a newsletter list. No biggie, especially if it's good, quality content.

But this is the perfect example of how gating content can keep people out, not just keep your content in.

It's easy to forget that, when you have really good content, it speaks for itself. Trying to squeeze more information out of prospective clients is not just rude, it just doesn't work. Maybe [unnamed marketer] will receive some great leads from this, but it's doubtful they'll have the same impact if they only requested a few bits of information (maybe a name and an email address). 

Gatekeeping content is fine, but make sure the gate is more like a movie theatre asking for a ticket stub and less like the BMV asking for your mother's maiden name. Remember: the more gates you throw up in front of your content, the more suspicious your content (and your intent) looks.