I’m spending more and more time on Facebook. It’s an amazing social media phenomenon. First and foremost is the fact that everyone (or virtually everyone) is on Facebook under their real identity. So you have some idea of who you are dealing with. Secondly, it’s an incredibly dynamic and rich social media environment — there’s so much going on, there’s something for everyone.
If you’re not on Facebook, I urge you to check it out. You don’t have to make a big commitment to get started, and you only have to put time into it if you are interested. But I think it would be a mistake to avoid it entirely — it’s a phenomenon you’ve simply got to understand.
And the PR industry component of Facebook is thriving.
For instance, there’s an incredible group on Facebook called “If I can help a reporter out, I will.” It’s run by a New York PR guy named Peter Shankman, and it revolves around a marvelously simple concept: Peter fields inquiries from journalists seeking sources, he posts the requests, you reply back to him if you can help the journalist, and he puts you two together. It has been likened to ProfNet, which runs on a similar idea, but a) ProfNet costs money for PR people to join and b) there’s no honest broker in the middle on ProfNet.
Other PR uses of Facebook:
- Affinity groups: PRSA has a group on Facebook with 1,851 members. My PRSA chapter, PRSA Silicon Valley, has a group with 19 members, and we got one new member of the chapter recently who found us on Facebook. I just started a networking group for PR people in my area, East Bay PR People. The official Facebook PR Group has 5,145 members. There are lots of other PR groups as well.
- Pitching: Robert Scoble, one of the leading voices on social media and new technologies on the Internet, has asked that PR people pitch him on his Facebook “wall,” which is something like his bulletin board. He thinks that pitches should be open and transparent, not hidden.
- SHIFT Communications has a Facebook group for its agency and for journalists looking for social media experts.
- Cohn & Wolfe has a group to provide a central online meeting place for its global staff
- Blogging: if you add your blog to your profile, when you write a new post, it will pop up on the Facebook news feeds of your friends, which is a good way to let people know about the new post.
The possibilities are endless — and I’m sure there are other PR uses for Facebook. If you’ve got any good ideas, let us know!
