For awhile we've been pushing the idea of Facebook evolving to support business social networking alongside the "social" social networking. But in order for that to work, the site needs to find a way to shed its image as a beacon of college hooliganism -- Facebook is a place to post party pictures, not product pitches. But even so, the appeal of leveraging Facebook's social graph for business is too good to pass up. As we've noted in the past, there are already huge business networks on Facebook -- 30,000 Microsoft employees, 8,500 Googlers, etc. Those relationships are ripe for exploiting for business networking, but there is a prevailing feeling that that's not what Facebook is for.
Even though the stigma that Facebook is not suitable for anything serious exists, there are indications that people want that to change. Last July we published list of our picks for the top 10 Facebook apps for work and despite the post fairing poorly on social news sites like Digg, it did very well and generated a good deal of discussion. Other "serious" apps, like Causes, have done extremely well on Facebook and attracted millions of users. But still, it is hard to get anyone to get any real work done on Facebook.
Today we were emailed about a new GTD app on Facebook called Get Stuff Done. It's a solid group networking and task management tool, and in just a few days has over 200 users -- but prospects for long term success are bleak. Two other project management apps that we wrote about in Facebook last November, Projects and MyOffice, barely register on the platform these days. They have just 1,000 and 3,800 users respectively according to Adomonics.
Clearly, there is a potential for Facebook to be a useful productivity tool -- it is one of the web's best address books, and plays host to some of the richest social data, which could be used for very worthwhile purposes. But it has yet to shed its "fun" image. The top 40 apps on the Facebook platform are all of the "play" variety. And of course, Facebook doesn't want to completely shed its college clothing, it parlayed that core "fun" networking image into a $15 billion valuation.
About 5 months ago Stowe Boyd seemed to predict that in 6 months Facebook would be a viable competitor to LinkedIn. Since that time Facebook has taken some steps that clearly make the site better suited for business networking (granular privacy controls, friend groups, friend suggestions, etc.), but as we approach that half year threshold the "not for work" image remains.
A couple of days ago Nick O'Neill wondered if productivity apps would ever find a place on Facebook. It is hard to answer that question with a flat out no, because the opportunity is just too great. As Facebook's core audience of early college users grow older and enter the work force, if the company can retain their attention, then certainly Facebook could be a worthy platform for business networking. But evidence points to that being doubtful to happen any time soon.
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I think the business networking aspect of Facebook combining the "friend suggestions" with a specific knowledge of what kind of business connections you want (a la LinkedIn) would be very useful - it may make connections (and OPPORTUNITIES) you weren't otherwise aware of.
I agree that the productivity aspect of Facebook isn't that compelling, probably because you just use your normal favourite GTD website - there is no real reason to use a GTD within Facebook unless you have Facebook as a main page (Pageflakes, iGoogle etc).
Posted by: Charles Widdicombe | April 23, 2008 3:51 PM
Simple answer? It won't. Facebook seems to have taken their target market as 'anyone with a pulse' which doesn't seem to point to a busines focus. I'm not saying you *can't* use Facebook for professional things... but people don't. All of the notifications I've got are that I've been poked, superpoked, vampired, sent karma... it is, basically, useless. It's not even meaningful interaction with my friends.
The entire concept of one page where all of my interactions exist really has to go... real social interaction is going to happen in different ways using different tools for different purposes. Twitter, friendfeed, a blog, IM... those are ALL social tools. Facebook's the AOL of the early 2000s. It won't go away, but despite it's dominance it's not the be-all, end-all of social interaction. And with it will go the concept of the social network site. I hope.
Posted by: rick gregory | April 23, 2008 4:41 PM
Is this a joke? You cannot unring the bell. That means that once a college hooligan site always that in the minds of serious companies. While they might be able to make some inroads they will never be able to really crack that nut. Some other company will come along and make this market. Sorry.
Posted by: jenkins | April 23, 2008 5:00 PM
@jenkins: I disagree with your premise. Facebook is barely four years old and still a very agile company. There is no reason not to believe that if they play their cards right, attracting business users to the Facebook platform is possible.
@rick gregory: I agree with you about all the noise that has been introduced to Facebook via the platform. That's a serious issue that Facebook will have to deal with going forward.
I disagree that the "single page" concept is wrong. I think many users, mainstream users especially, want less to deal with. Information overload comes on quicker for mainstream users than for early adopters (who are used to using a million different services). Unfortunately, the platform approach has led to a lot of noise and overload within the Facebook ecosystem -- but that's another issue.
I think if you could convince someone that they can keep one profile to manager all their various activities, rather than many, most people would be interested. That future is still within Facebook's grasp, in my opinion.
Posted by: Josh Catone
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April 23, 2008 5:15 PM
One example is FaceForce a SalesForce integration of Facebook:
https://www.salesforce.com/appexchange/detail_overview.jsp?id=a0330000003z9bdAAA
Posted by: Subhash | April 23, 2008 5:31 PM
The sad problem with Get Stuff Done is it just doesn't do GTD. I really wish it did. It won't let you tag (categorize) tasks or view lists of tasks by tag/context. See:
GTD Software Comparison Table
Apps touted as GTD but missing the boat are listed at the bottom. If you're trying to GTD or something like it, it saves a lot of frustration to use a tool with the "Right Stuff."
Posted by: Kevin Crenshaw | April 23, 2008 8:52 PM
Facebook is already being used, at least to some degree, as a business network. I've had headhunters contacting me on facebook.
Posted by: dani19 | April 23, 2008 9:55 PM
I think Facebook is a very valuable network. But it still isn't really geared towards business users.
Take searching, for example. LinkedIn's UI seems to me to be geared more towards searching and the search results are very informative. You immedietely see how far away from someone you are in terms of degrees, you see recommendations and total contacts.
Look at what's on their "Advanced" searches:
Facebook: Relationship Status, Interested In, Looking For, Political Views, Age
LinkedIn: Name, Title, Company, Location, Industry
Look at what's in the "Interested In" field:
Facebook: Men, Women ;)
LinkedIn: Potential Employees, Consultants, etc.
'Nuff said
Posted by: kayvaan | April 23, 2008 11:09 PM
"despite the post fairing poorly on social news sites like Digg"
there are allready too many "top 10" lists on digg and other sites, I wish you could filter them out
Posted by: hoberion | April 24, 2008 1:07 AM
Even though I didn't really see Facebook as a viable competitor to LinkedIn some months ago, mainly because of all the stupid applications, users' mad profile pages and how unsuited it all felt for business, I have to say that Facebook have been really successful over the past months in taking on those problems and making Facebook more usable and serious, moving on the right path to make them business-friendly.
Now, I do see the big possibility of them moving in on LinkedIn soon in the business arena and proving successful in it.
Posted by: Mohamed Marwen Meddah | April 24, 2008 3:14 AM
"As Facebook's core audience of early college users grow older and enter the work force..."
Good point. The first generation of Facebook users should graduate in a few weeks.
Posted by: Mary Specht | April 24, 2008 6:18 AM
We’ve got an app called workspaces... it allows user to upload, collaborate and edit docs online.
I understand that lots of people will always view work and Facebook as mutually exclusive. I think it’s important not to view Facebook as a place to work, but rather another channel to network and reach others whom you might want to collaborate with.
Posted by: nopadon | April 24, 2008 7:03 AM
Opened an FB account, then hardly used it again
Posted by: HeyHey | April 24, 2008 10:00 AM
Perhaps an equally valid questions is when will people be ready for Facebook as a business tool? Not just from a corporate IT perspective, but also a personal perspective.
I don't know about others but I like some seperation between work and play. I personally don't want my business associates to have the same level of access, or the same picture of who I am as a person as my close personal friends. And a lot of my friends could really care less about what I do and how I present myself as a professional.
Can one platform provide this level of seperation of concerns? I'm doubtful and think one site can not suit all desires and needs.
Posted by: Travis Retzlaff | April 24, 2008 12:26 PM
Great point Travis. I use Facebook and LinkedIn right now and frankly don't really feel a strong need to consolidate into one network for the very reasons you specify.
Posted by: kayvaan | April 24, 2008 3:07 PM
What a stupid post you dipshit. its garbage. facebook is not for business.
Posted by: Kumar Kapoor | April 24, 2008 3:43 PM
Thanks, Kumar. Very well reasoned response. My mind has been changed by your brilliant analytical skills.
@Travis: I think that's why Facebook has been taking steps toward making the network suitable for bookmarking slowly. You have to ease people into the idea.
Posted by: Josh Catone
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April 24, 2008 3:56 PM
I enjoy Facebook. Now that I am moving out of college I am hoping it forms into a more serious website.
A couple problems I see is the low quality apps that exist. Its frustrating to me when there are dead links on apps and pages loads extremely slow (on the apps and Facebook side).
The "richness" of all the AJAX is also unbearable sometimes. There is just SO much going on in a typical Facebook page that it's annoying.
My thoughts..
Posted by: Bob | April 25, 2008 12:44 AM