Facebook went public, began trading at $42.05 (and then dropped to it’s original $38) per share, and it’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg got married in a surprise wedding that was supposed to be a celebration of his now wife’s graduation from medical school.

Named the 29th richest man in America, Zuckerberg now shares that fortune with the woman who has been by his side since college.

But both his personal and work lives have simultaneously gotten harder (remember your first year of marriage??). While maintaining majority ownership in the social network, the 28-year-old (and I thought I was hot stuff at 28!) must now answer to Wall Street, which means the $1 billion they made in profit last year must increase.

Just a few days after GM announced they’ve dropped their Facebook advertising (and Super Bowl advertising too, it seems), the social network must pull itself together and begin offering even more to users and advertisers (which means more changes…don’t freak out) or it will end up going the way of AOL, Netscape, and MySpace.

1. Mobile. My own speculation on the Instagram purchase last month is not because Zuckerberg thinks the app cool (it is), but because the team there has figured out mobile; something that has escaped Facebook developers. Rather than invest a bunch of time and money into creating a mobile app that works well for its users, why not buy one that already has 25 million users? It gets them closer to the one billion user mark they’re striving toward and it allows them to incorporate the picture-sharing mobile app.
2. Search. I’m not talking about competing with Google. Let Google own search; it’s the one thing they do really well. I’m talking about social search. When Facebook introduced search in the groups, I was singing hallelujah because it is now easier to find conversations for blog writing, content creation, or even just proving someone wrong. What would be really great is if they create a search for our own pages, to start. And then move it to making it possible to search, based on your own personal network. Google and Bing already do this with your online experience. Let’s hope Facebook catches on, too.
3. Sponsored Stories. This is one of Martin Waxman’s favorite Facebook money-making tools. While we all intuitively know sponsored stories are highlighted by our friends because a company has paid us to do so, he believes we’ll make purchase decisions if we see multiple friends talking about the same product or service. I agree.
4. Big Data. With nearly a billion users around the globe, think about the insights they have regarding what we like, how long we watch videos, what TV programs are popular, and how long we stay on certain sites. If they package those insights into something more valuable than what they provide now, marketers will feel like they hit the jackpot. It’s a huge growth opportunity for them, without a lot of effort.
5. Impulse Buying. Right now you can buy more fruit for your Farmville farm with Facebook credits, but we can expect this will expand to include pretty much anything we want to buy. Many big brands opened Facebook stores and then quickly shuttered them because no one was buying, but I expect this will change. We’ll soon be buying music, shows, books, gifts, and even consumables with the click of a Facebook like. A more powerful version of iTunes, if you will.

Where else do you think Facebook must grow in order to make money, keep users happy, and satisfy Wall Street?

The article begins by telling the story of Yvette Vickers, the former Playmate and actress who was found dead in her home a year after she died. Her computer was still on and, when they checked her phone to see who she might have talked to before she died, they found she called distant fans who found her via the web instead of her “real” family or friends.

Of course, this makes the assumption she knew she was about to die. The coroner later released the autopsy study that shows she died of heart disease. More likely, she was just going about her day so, in her mind, wasn’t really making her last calls to distant fans.

While her connections late in her life had increased, the article claims they were more shallow, “as has happened for many of us.” We’re extremely accessible now, but it seems we are more isolated: A contradiction in the sense that the more connected we are, the more lonely we become. “We were promised a global village; instead we inhabit the drab cul-de-sacs and endless freeways of a vast suburb of information.”

Is it the Fault of Facebook?

Facebook is closing in on one billion users, as they begin their roadshow for the initial public offering. They’re rumored to be valued at $104 billion and think they’ll raise $16 billion when they go public…the largest Internet offering in history. Last summer it became the first website to reach one trillion pageviews (TRILLION) and nearly three billion likes and comments every day.

Most of us use the social network. Many of us are addicted to it (cough, me, cough). We struggle with accepting, or ignoring, friend requests and some even obsess over who is unfriending them on a daily basis. The more we use it, the more comfortable we become with it and our boundaries change on what is acceptable and what is not.

We now live in this very strange world where we consider people we’ve never met in person real friends. When I talk about this when I speak, particularly to business owners, they just shake their heads. It seems strange we’re making friends online, with or without ever seeing them in person. Some even make the joke their kids have 250 Facebook friends, but no one to go out with them for dinner.

Are We More Lonely?

Facebook arrived when Americans seemingly are more alone. “In 1950, less than 10 percent of American households contained only one person. By 2010, nearly 27 percent of households had just one person.”

But living alone doesn’t necessarily mean you’re lonely. I was listening to Barry Moltz interview Susan Cain last week and she talked about how half of our population are introverts. This doesn’t necessarily mean we don’t like to be around people. It simply means, while extroverts get their energy from being around throngs of people, introverts get their energy from a quiet glass of wine with a friend or reading a book. Just because we don’t like to be out every night at a rave does not mean we’re lonely.

Facebook, and the other social networks, give us the ability to “talk” to people without actually having to talk to them. When clients ask us who we recommend they put in charge of a particular social network, we always recommend they start with the introverts inside the company. Social media allows them to make friends and break the ice behind the comfort of their own computer screen, which makes them much more comfortable and productive at trade shows, conferences, and networking events because they’re not meeting people for the very first time.

Solitude is Altered Forever

The appeal of Facebook, of course, is it allows us to combine distance with intimacy. I always say Facebook is my own personal stage – I use it to see which jokes, which updates, and which photo captions people will find most engaging. I use this “market research” when I write, when we work with clients, and when we create new content. But I would never actually get up on a stage and perform. It’s not in my DNA.

The Atlantic article goes on to say, “The real danger with Facebook is not that it allows us to isolate ourselves, but that by mixing our appetite for isolation with our vanity, it threatens to alter the very nature of solitude.”

We never take a break. Human beings have always created elaborate acts of self-presentation. But now we do it before we get out of bed and right before we plump our pillows and close our eyes for eight hours. Yvette Vickers’s computer was on when she died. It stayed that way for a year and no one noticed she wasn’t commenting or participating in the conversation.

I don’t know. I’m torn. In one sense, I think Facebook feeds our need to be social and in the other, I wonder if all this technology and accessibility really is making us more lonely.

What do you think?

In Chicago, we don’t have to look far to begin this conversation. A little more than a year ago Groupon was offered $6 billion from Google (an offer they turned down in order to go public, which they did less than a year later). At the time, I predicted they would falter and never see that kind of money again.

I didn’t make this prediction because I have some crystal ball that tells me what’s going to happen and gives me winning lottery numbers. I made it because I was reminded of what happened during the dot com bubble.

We just watched Facebook buy Instagram for $1 billion (a year’s worth of profits) and insane valuation numbers being thrown ($96 billion) around as Facebook prepares for their road show.

This is a lot of money for companies that don’t make money (excluding Facebook, who has figured out the profit game). I’m reminded of 1999, when venture capitalists were paying big money for great ideas and lots of eyeballs, but companies without business plans or a way to make money.

During an event I attended last week, Carol Roth reminded the audience a company is worth what just one person will pay for it. Hence, Instagram was worth $1 billion to Facebook because they clearly have something the giant social network does not.

And Chris Dixon says no good VC firms invest in companies with the idea they’re going to flip them. He says this is a bad strategy and they’re much better off investing in companies that have a good chance to build a very profitable business.

But is this enough? Did we learn our lesson from just 12 short years ago? Or are we quickly careening toward another mistake that could have been prevented by studying history, setting aside our egos, and forgetting about greed?

They want to lower the number of people who die each year waiting for an organ donation.

What? Facebook, the social network? Yes, indeedy.

More than 114,000 people in the United States, and millions more around the globe, are waiting for a donated organ that will save their lives.

Many of those people – an average of 18 people per day – will die waiting, because there simply aren’t enough organ donors to meet the need.

And Facebook is set on lowering that number, if not eradicating it all together. They have nearly one billion users. Even if they got only 10 percent to add that they are an organ donor to their Timeline, you have 80 million people who are setting an example.

Of course, that doesn’t mean all 80 million will become organ donors today, but it does mean awareness is being created and, as we all know, peer pressure does some amazing things sometimes.

The experts say people so publicly declaring they are organ donors could spur others to sign up at motor vehicle departments or online registries. But, more importantly, this could  create an informal alternative to such registries that could lead to more organ donations.

That is because having it on your Facebook wall could provide the evidence of consent family members need when dealing with whether to donate the organs of a loved one.

The whole thing is a completely unselfish move – if something tragically happens to you, you make it easy on your family to make that decision and you save someone else’s life.

All you have to do is log into your Facebook account, click on your name, click on “life event” above your status bar, click on “health and wellness,” and you’ll find it in the first slot.

Seems to me like a no-brainer. I’m off to change my status to include the fact that I am an organ donor. Will you join me?

The web is dead!

I guess all those business owners who’ve told me all these years that their customer doesn’t use the web were right. I really hate being wrong. It rarely happens.

Yet here we are. What are we going to do?

I discovered this disturbing news as I’ve been reading about the Facebook purchase of Instagram. You know, the $1 billion purchase they made of a company with only 12 employees and no revenue? Yeah, that one.

I’m scared to death there is going to be another bubble burst. I’m scared to death we didn’t learn our lesson just 12 years ago in the dot com era. So I’m reading everything I can to try to figure out what the heck is going on.

And, as it turns out, it’s not a bubble stretch. The web is just dead.

The web has been dead for nearly two years, when Wired called it so in August of 2010. I didn’t get the memo because I’ve been using it for the past two years. I guess this is one of the few times I haven’t stayed ahead of the trends.

In all seriousness, people are spending more time in mobile apps than they do online, according to the International Telecommunication Union. And, another thing that is interesting is this (according to Flurry):

Since 2007, more than 500 million iOS and Android smartphones and tablets have been activated.  By the end of 2012, we estimate the cumulative number of iOS and Android devices activated will surge past one billion.  According to IDC, more than 800 million PCs were sold between 1981 and 2000, making the rate of iOS and Android smart device adoption more than four times faster than that of personal computers.

The smartphone rate of adoption is four times faster than that of personal computers.

Which means people really are spending more time in apps than on the web. And, because of that and because Facebook doesn’t have a great mobile app, the Instagram purchase begins to make sense.

While I wouldn’t count the web out just yet, there are a few things you should be considering:

• Is your website mobile-optimized?
• Do you still have flash? If so, get rid of it!
• Are you considering Siri with the content you produce? She gives search results through apps before the web.
• Are you paying attention to apps such as Yelp, TripAdvisor, Foursquare, and Belly?
• Are you making it as easy as possible for your customers/clients to buy from you using their phones?

If you aren’t business ready for smartphones, the time is now.

P.S. I’m sorry if I made anyone worry yesterday. I got up to write and then decided, because I’ve been on the road so much, sleep was more important than a blog post. I went back to bed. But everything is fine!

Today’s guest post is written by Lisa Gerber.

We have an important announcement: Effective immediately at Arment Dietrich, we will be disconnecting our phone service.

We no longer have the time or the resources to answer the phone. It just keeps ringing. And it won’t stop! People have questions! And they want us to do work for them! But we don’t have the time. So we’re shutting it down.

Preposterous you say? We agree. We’re not really shutting down the phone. But this is exactly the message you’re sending when you say you don’t have time for social media.

Lisa Jenkins sent me a link this week: Idaho Fish and Game has suspended their Facebook page. They no longer have the time and resources to manage the page. They are getting nasty comments; attacks directed at employees, and they are unable to respond to the questions on their wall in a timely and efficient fashion.

Now, let me preface this by saying I’m not necessarily putting Idaho Fish and Game at fault here. I know government funding has been cut way back, and I am not privvy to what’s going on internally.

But I wanted to address this from a different perspective: You can’t afford to shut down your Facebook page much much more than you can’t afford to operate it. ESPECIALLY if you’re getting a lof of questions and feedback on it.

So someone needs to figure that out. I’m not sure who.

Let’s dissect the arguments:

Comments get nasty: According to Idaho Statesman, 

“There have been several occasions when the discussions became extremely heated,’’ said Mike Keckler, Fish and Game’s chief of the Bureau of Communications. “Name calling occurred, profanity appeared, and posters too often attacked Fish and Game employees by name, and each other, in ways that we didn’t think was appropriate for a state agency-sponsored page.”

I get that. It’s not cool at all. There are a few ways to handle this:

• First, you need to have a commenting policy. Put it in your About tab. Say you welcome constructive criticism in a respectful manner. Profanity and personal attacks are not allowed, and will be deleted. Then you can point to something when and if you need to delete a comment.
• Sticking your head in the sand doesn’t work. You should want to understand where all the nastiness is coming from. If it’s trollers, fine. Delete and move on.But if there are valid points, don’t you want to be able to address them internally and respond externally?

Next argument:

“It was also difficult for Fish and Game staff to get answers to many of the questions from readers because they couldn’t forward them on to employees with the specific information. Fish and Game can do that on its website.”

Fair enough. At least they still have an outlet for answering questions, but your audience is spending a heck of lot more time on Facebook than they are on your website. They are far more likely to stop by and throw a question on your wall while on Facebook than to take the effort to navigate to your website, and find the place where they can ask.

Solution?

• It’s not that hard to have more than one person on Facebook. Put a system in place so if there is a question for Susie, the page admin can comment in response and tag Susie. Now, Susie gets an email and she jumps in there to respond. It doesn’t take any more time and effort than if you’re forwarding an email or transferring a phone call.
• Or? Make Susie an admin too! Now she is monitoring the page regularly and can jump in when needed.

The Facebook page is the new telephone. It’s  no longer a question of having the time and resources to have a page. The question is, “How are you going to find the time and resources?”

Today’s guest post is written by Thom Holland.

Which do you trust more, an advertisement on TV or the word of mouth recommendation that you got from a friend?

Your friend …of course.

As marketers, you already know that.

We’ve always known the best customers come from word-of-mouth referrals. They cost less money to acquire and they typically remain a customer for a longer period of time.

Great entrepreneurs know how to leverage success. They’re able to get happy clients to convince their friends to become new clients.

During the past decade, advertisers have been hard at work, racing to see who can create a business model that successfully capitalizes on people’s social relationships.

First, let’s look at a few examples of companies attempting to put this idea to work but most importantly, I’m interested in how we an apply it to our own businesses.

Three Examples of Monetized Word-of-Mouth Business Models

1. Klout Perks
   

   As most of you know, Klout is a tool that tracks how “influential” you are and gives you a score based on your level of influence. They partner with businesses and offer influential individuals “perks” (free stuff from the business).For example, if Klout thinks you are influential about shoes they may convince Nike to give you a pair of free shoes. The thinking is you will talk about them, your friends will listen to you, and they will want to buy the same pair of shoes.

2. Facebook
   

   You’ve probably noticed their “sponsored” ads on the right side of the screen. The idea is pretty simple; when you “like” something on Facebook, businesses can advertise to your friends that you liked that particular item.

3. Multi-level marketing networks
   Marketing pyramids have long since moved products for companies by tapping into people’s social networks. In return, they typically get a commission from each sale.The interesting innovation here is a few of these networks, such as FHTM, are now selling services that “you already use.” In other words, individuals within the multi-level marketing network make recurring revenue from services such as TV and cell phone bills.

So…is Google getting left behind?

…not likely.

Google is moving towards more personalized advertising; they’re just being a bit more discreet about it.

We know Google personalizes search results based on search history. However, they are now attempting to use insights from social circles as well.

Consider the screenshot above. When set to personalized results, ads appear with reviews that were created by friends. When switched, the ads go away completely.

What does this mean for businesses?

Position yourself for success.

Let’s face it, whether or not we’re okay with where advertising is going, we probably won’t be able to stop it.

It’s a trade-off. In order to provide better and cheaper products, businesses need more detailed information about their target audiences.

The question is, how can you position yourself to capitalize on this evolution?

Two thoughts come to mind:

1. Build relationships. You need to focus on building a business relationship with your partners. Grow your networks with every day people. The goal here isn’t to exploit these friendships but to help people when it’s appropriate. Whether you’re talking to the IT guy or the CEO, treat them both with respect and understand they are both incredibly valuable.
2. Don’t forget the basics.  Things change but it doesn’t mean you should throw away the fundamentals. Continue to keep in mind things like customer acquisition costs and customer lifetime value.

Your turn. What are your thoughts?

Here are a few questions to get the discussion started. I’m curious to hear what you think.

1. What other businesses are attempting to create a business model capitalizing on social relationships?
2. Which business model do you think will prevail?
3. What are some additional ways to capitalize on these trends?
4. How much of a privacy issue does all of this present?

Thom Holland is the co-founder and CEO of Beckon.

As I travel the country and spend time with business leaders, it’s very disturbing to me how many have firewalls installed that prevent their employees from using the social networks during business hours.

As if they aren’t just using their phones to get online during the day. Some business leaders go so far as to take phones away as soon as a person walks in the door to prevent even that.

I really don’t understand it. Unless you’re running a daycare for adults, is the trust level so low you can’t expect they’ll get their jobs done if they spend 10 minutes on Facebook during the day? We can allow smoke breaks, but not social media breaks.

It blows my mind, but I didn’t think it could get worse.

And then I read about some companies requiring employees to hand over their social network passwords in order to get hired.

Stop. The. Madness.

This reminds me of the companies that read people’s emails, looking for reasons to fire them. This happened to a friend of mine. She sent an email to a recruiter from her Hotmail account, they were reading anything going over their network, and they fired her.

It didn’t happen to me and I felt betrayed for her. And, really, who has the time?

Thankfully Facebook is stepping in, speaking out against businesses who do this.

Facebook chief privacy officer Erin Egan writes in a Friday blog post:

In recent months, we’ve seen a distressing increase in reports of employers or others seeking to gain inappropriate access to people’s Facebook profiles or private information. This practice undermines the privacy expectations and the security of both the user and the user’s friends. It also potentially exposes the employer who seeks this access to unanticipated legal liability.

If you are a Facebook user, you should never have to share your password, let anyone access your account, or do anything that might jeopardize the security of your account or violate the privacy of your friends.

Reports of such practices are widespread. In June 2009, the city of Bozeman, Montana made headlines when it was revealed that its job applications forms asked for usernames and passwords for the job seekers accounts on “social networking,” including everything from Facebook and Twitter to YouTube and Google.

Earlier this year, the American Civil Liberties Union took aim at the Maryland Department of Corrections after it asked a Maryland man for his Facebook credentials during a recertification interview.

And last week, the Calgary Herald reported on a similar incident in Canada.

It’s even against our civil liberties for employers to hire or fire based on what we have on our social networks.

Employers: Watch how you monitor the social networks for candidates and employees. You could get in a lot of trouble if you’re too closely monitoring the personal activities of your team.

Employees: While it’s still important to be careful what you post online, if anyone asks for your passwords or writes you up (or, worse, fires you) for something you’ve posted on your personal network, you have some recourse.

This doesn’t apply for anything posted on business social networks so mind your Ps and Qs.

I’m trying to decide if I’m going to write about it. Typically I would, but I feel really sorry for their head of corporate communications because everything blew up on his second day on the job.

Yes, his second day.

Justin Brackett and I were talking about it yesterday and I said I didn’t know if I would want to fix it or if I would say, “I did NOT sign up for this” and walk out. He thinks I’d do the former. He’s probably right.

So I don’t know. Perhaps I will write about it next week.

And, Illinois saw our former Governor head off to prison in Colorado. For 14 years.

I really wonder how that conversation at home goes. Does his wife tell him she’ll wait for him, as if he’s going off to war? What does he say to his kids? Fourteen years is a looong time, particularly when your kids are little.

And, with that, I give you Gin and Topics for the week.

5. All PR Pros Are Not Liars. In response to The Guardian blog post I wrote about earlier this week, PRSA CEO, Gerald Corbett writes an OpEd discussing why all PR pros are not liars.

4. Apple Hit with Siri Suit. This kills me. Some guy is suing Apple because he can’t make Siri do the things the commercials say she does. She works just fine for me. She even calls me Princess Gini. What more do you need?

3. Yahoo Asks Federal Court to Shut Down Facebook. Riiiiiiight. I guess when an acquisition by your company is turned down, the next thing you do is sue to have them shut down? They do know it’s FACEBOOK? I don’t understand lawsuit-happy people. Why can’t we all just get along?

2. Email Still Marketing Workhorse. Here’s the thing. Everyone has email. Not everyone uses social media. So why do we keep forgetting about the 40-year-old tool?

1. Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs. I left the best for last. If you haven’t yet read the OpEd Greg Smith wrote about his resignation from the top post, it’s really worth your time. There are lots of lessons you can take from it, including not calling your customers Muppets.

Have a great spring weekend, everyone!

Today’s guest post is written by Lisa D. Jenkins. 

It all starts very innocently. Joe or JoAnne (I’m an equal opportunity offender) down the hall wants to bring The Business into the 21st century by putting it online.

First stop, Facebook. Why? “Well, because EVERYONE is on Facebook! We have to be there, too.”

Excellent. By the way, EVERYONE just called and they want to know when you’re meeting them to shave your head and jump off the bridge. I digress.

With no discussion of the stuff that matters – regulation, strategy, or execution –  someone is named Supreme Ruler of Our Online Marketing Universe, a title endowed with absolute authority to claim or create profiles and publish across the internet on behalf of The Business.

The Supreme Ruler owns the access information, creates the content, represents The Business, carries the conversation. The Business is suddenly popping up in online directories, consumer review sites, and social networks.

Communities are built and there’s a big group of people following everything. It’s all sunshine and lollipops. Until that employee is dismissed or resigns and, subsequently, disgruntled … and a rogue is born.

“It’s like the worst Groundhog Day scenario ever.” That’s how a new client initially described waking up every morning to see his Facebook page hijacked and pointing his audience to a new, local competitor every day. There’s a button to Press In Dire Situations just like this. Go ahead, I’ll wait …

Okay, moving on …

I spent weeks searching out profiles across the Internet trying to establish ownership and control so correct and accurate information could be repopulated. I was successful with every listing excepting the Facebook presence, which was set up as a page under the profile of the ex-employee, using the business name in the custom URL.

I know – don’t get me started on how adhering to the Terms of Service could have saved a lot of bother. I was able to have the relevant business contact information removed and have the offending page changed to a profile but, ultimately, my client had to kiss that community goodbye and start again. It was a hard lesson.

Three Ways to Help Your Business Avoid Rogue Behaviors

• Have a clear online marketing policy and guidelines signed by all your employees.
• Create a dedicated email address, shared by the owner, and the Supreme Ruler of Our Online Marketing Universe, which is used to administer all online profiles.
• Develop a log of all existing online profiles, including access credentials. Keep it updated; an audit report must be produced upon request and if the report provides outdated information, loss of employment is a possibility.

It’s easy to say “hire smarter” but sometimes things (and unethical people) happen. It’s not pretty and, although the public may be understanding, reputations suffer and valuable ground is lost.

What is the worst rogue attack you’ve ever seen? What other safeguards do you recommend to protect businesses from the threat of angry ex-employees pirating online profiles?  Who else gets a migraine every time they see a business using a Profile instead of a Page on Facebook?

The gentlelady from the Pacific Northwest yields the floor.

Lisa D. Jenkins is a marketing and public relations professional growing into her Big-Girl Business Panties one terrifying decision at a time.  She loves quirky t-shirts, red wine, Guinness, and will die literature poor.  You can find her on Twitter @LisaDJenkins.