how facebook might save advertising

October 11th

As this illustrious journal has previously noted the people of adland have recently gone a little doolalley over Facebook, the social networking site which is to MySpace as Pizza Express is to Pizza Hut. From Shoreditch House to Soho House they've been chortling about poking each other, laughing at each other's profile pictures and wondering what you're supposed to do if your boss tries to friend you. And while some have lamented the lost productivity (in agencies? have they ever been in an advertising agency?) it's clear to me that Facebook might be the one thing that saves advertising agencies from an ignominious slide into irrelevance. Because now, finally, there's a mass, popular digital tool out there that senior agency people are using for it's own sake, because they enjoy it, not because they need to be able to talk about something in a meeting.

I missed Facebook's importance when if first arrived. Obviously I had a go, as a regular jumper on digital bandwagons I had to, but I never really liked it. All I do is friend anyone who asks and decline every group I'm asked to join. It didn't seem to add anything to the repertoire of social tools I was already using and that stuck-up early-adopterness might be what kept me from seeing its potential for transforming Big Advertising.

My eyes were opened when I did a training session the other week, helping some agency management people get 'hands on' with web 2.0. I sat with a senior agency bod to create a Facebook account and encouraged him to hunt around in there for people he knew while I went to get coffee. I returned to find this suave, sophisticated suit jumping around like an over-excited school-boy shrieking his excitement that he'd made a friend on Facebook. It was rather touching. I know I've been a little hyperbolic here but it genuinely was very sweet, like seeing someone passing their driving test or getting the grades they needed for university.

And this is how FaceBook might save advertising, because the people who run agencies and talk to clients and make all the decisions might finally see what it is that gets everyone else so excited about this stuf; viscerally, in person, for themselves. Facebook is the easy-to-use, non-threatening, comfortably-middle-class version of web 2.0 and it might not last any longer than Friendster or MySpace as the social media flavour of the month. But if it acts as the nursery slope that helps senior ad people get the web it'll have served us well. You learn about digital stuff by doing it, not by reading about it. So put this down immediately and give me a poke.

Comments

[Lauren]

I think, that like all social networks, it all depends on how you use it. I use Facebook as the aggregator of my social life. What events I plan on going to, what movies I want to see, what I'm up to (twitter), what I'm up for (and won't you join me), etc. Just like RSS, why go everywhere for my info when you can go one place for the same?

Plus, I like the fact that facebook is visually boring. If the alternative is MySpace, then I would prefer a network that doesn't make my eyes hurt, thank you.

[Paul Fisher]

The most stunning part of this story is that an agency exec needed a "workshop" to understand web2.0.

The web is about to completely ruin these people and they'd rather have a 45 minutes session about the web and then get back to the businesses of sitting in self-conciously trendy offices dreaming up "real advertising" like a monkey playing the drums.

Cheerio guys.