Social Network Marketing Part 6: What Education Non-Profits Can Do About Facebook (article 1 of 2)

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Facebook is experiencing rapid growth with 150,000 new users per day. That’s three times faster than MySpace. Their user base doubles about every 6 months, the last jump being from 15 million to 30 million, just 3 years after it was founded in a dorm room at Harvard. Facebook finds its roots in education, originally only being open to colleges, and then high schools. Later employees at listed companies were added, and finally it was opened to everyone. Facebook recently launched the Facebook platform, allowing outside developers to develop applications for Facebook, extending both the opportunities and functionality of Facebook as a "social utility" (as they describe themselves on their site). Future plans for Facebook include tapping into the "natural" way people communicate on Facebook and tieing the advertising model to that activity.

So what is it! And how can it help marketing in education?

Facebook describes itself as a "social utility that connects you with people around you." Well that clears that up, doesn't it… Not really. Perhaps looking at what you can do on Facebook will help. You can: upload pictures, publish notes, get news from friends, post videos, tag friends, and join networks related to your interests, geographical location, employer, college, or highschool. Still unclear? The trick to understanding many of these social network web sites is that they are typically designed in a way to be what the user wants them to be. Is the user trying to keep in touch with friends at highschool? Is the user trying to set up a committee at their company? So the real answer to what Facebook is is that it is whatever the user makes of it. I know this potentially just adds more confusion, but my best advice would be to just try it out yourself (by setting up a facebook account) and see if that helps. Regardless of your current understanding of Facebook, it is clear that it holds some real potential for marketers in education. Next week, I'll answer the second question about (How can it help marketing in education?) by outline the 3 levels or types of services Facebook offers, plus one more level that isn't as obvious (because it isn't listed directly on their web site).