Facebook - THE Social Network. It's used by 800 million+ people regularly. So regularly, that there are people who check Facebook first thing when they wake up, before they go to be and, yes, sometimes in the middle of the night! Facebook has made us realise and amplify our need to be social and remain connected. They have done this so well that its market value is around 100 billion dollars!
But I read an Interbrand article the other day that made me realise, that while Facebook satisfies people's connections today, this perfectly seamless utility isn't taking credit for the role it plays in people's lives. You see, Facebook is continually inventing ways to make our lives better through sharing, connecting, etc., and while we use and benefit from these services daily, if not many times a day, we are building loyalty to those features, not the Facebook brand!
Unlike Google, Facebook has yet to give meaning to what they do - giving their brand a higher purpose than providing a utility that, as their homepage says, 'helps you connect and share with the people in your life,'
REALLY?! That can't be simply what Facebook does - it's not! So I can't help but think after reading this weak role is, why does that matter?
Google helps organise the world's information making it universally accessible and useable - now that's a role. And it's a role, whether explicitly said or not, that allows Google to grow its business in new areas, and taking what's at its core, quick, easy and effective search, to new and exciting business areas (like email, maps, translation, mobile, etc.), while maintaining the trust of its users. After all, user trust is essential because it's our information and eyeballs that's at the heart of both Google and Facebook's revenue generation.
People are more trusting of Google having access to their information than Facebook, because, through its purpose and branded actions on that purpose, people know why Google has/uses your information, and how it benefits us!
But with Facebook, on the other hand, we aren't explicitly shown in a branded way how its service and the use of our information is benefiting us, nor are we clear why it matters that we're using Facebook. This is opposite to Google, who, when I get to amazing things because of them, make sure I know it's them providing that killer service...thank you Google Maps, etc.
Being an organisation whose users are loyal to its features rather than the brand, as Facebook seems to be at the moment places it in a rather precarious situation. Because, let's be honest, we never know when the next revolutionary thing is about to pop up, and Facebook needs a strong brand to remain competitive.
So, although Facebook is incredible today, and winning because there is a critical mass of people on their site with high switching costs to move to another social network, if they don't articulate a meaningful brand purpose, which is demonstrated by taking credit for the amazing, and free, services they enable, trust in the brand will remain fuzzy and people will remain loyal to the service but not the brand. Additionally, once they establish a far reaching purpose they will be able to evolve the brand over time, with greater credibility, to ensure it's relevancy and revolutionise new areas as it has done with socialising the web.
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