So as most of you will have forgotten, last week was my birthday.
When you get to 38, the usual course of action is to ‘forget’ rather than to ‘celebrate’ – however on top of the people who are legally obliged to remember my day of birth [ie: Mum / Jill / Key Friends / Blog Mates / Corporate Toadies] – I also got a load of messages from people my Facebook list.
Now on first impressions you may think this is quite a lazy thing to do – however as many of them wouldn’t even know when my birthday is, let alone acknowledge it – it made me feel abit special and cared about, far more than when a friend sends me a fucking e-card*.
Yes, … yes … this shows I am an insecure princess – and I do acknowledge Facebook has a-hell-of-alot of painful elements – but its ability to help people recapture that sense of childhood belonging is great and if NOKIA really wanted to make their CONNECTING PEOPLE positioning come to life, they should of looked into these sorts of areas rather than rely on ads and/or one-on-one communication strategies.
To be fair, I believe this is the area WK have got NOKIA to buy into, but is it too little too late – especially as WK’s brilliance is more focused on ‘ads’ rather than ‘product creation’.
[Don’t give me a hard time, I know they’ve done the odd thing like the NIKE Fun Run, but that is definitely more of an exception than their usual behaviour]
Anyway, last week another quite interesting thing came up about Facebook.
Basically I was having lunch with the clever sod known as Scott.
Having spent years at BBH and WK, Scott now makes his living flying round the World doing freelance gigs on all sorts of interesting projects.
While this gives him all sorts of exposure to clients and people, the downside is that his lovely lady has to stay in Melbourne looking after their dog, Cookie.
Anyway Scott was telling me that quite often the people he’s working with invite him to all sorts of parties because they don’t want him to be by himself.
Now while that is all very nice, when ‘tagged’ photos from these parties inevitably appear on Facebook [with Scott more than likely looking a twat] it can sometimes give a VERY wrong impression to the casual observer – which is why on more than one occasion Scott’s other half has casually asked him what he was upto at these shindigs.
Which all leads to this point …
If I was asked to position FACEBOOK … I wouldn’t talk about the social network or the ability to re-connect with your past … I’d focus on the fact that when you have a wider and more connected network of friends/colleagues and acquaintances [which Facebook obviously gives you], every word and action can come back to haunt you which is why I’d go with …
“FACEBOOK: Keeps You Honest”
But it’s not like they need any positioning is it, well not till MILLIONAIRE SINGLES is launched! 🙂
* My [ex?] best mate Paul sent me a bloody e-card which said, “Yeah, I know its proper shit but its the best I can do. Sorry, posted your real card today. Have a great day.”
I’ve only known him 37 years, and 361 days and actually was in his company 2 weeks ago. Best mates – can’t live without them, can’t kill them. Or is that women?