An open letter to all consumers

But now it is time to scoot over, because the era of You is over. Kaput. Finito. What matters now is your Network. Fun as you are, we actually want to speak to your friends and colleagues who respect your opinion. If you don't have too many friends, then please scoot over a little bit further.

You see, we marketers have figured out something rather brilliant: that rather than spend our energy convincing new customers that our brand is the one they want to interact with, or our product is the one they really want to use, we're going to hire you to do the job for us. We won't pay you, of course, but we'll still all be friends.

Logic is simple

The logic is simple: your friends trust you more than they trust us, so a recommendation from you (witting or not) is a powerful marketing tool for us marketers and brand owners.

Here, as an example, is how we plan to do this. You surf online right? And you use Facebook to connect with all your friends and colleagues, right? Excellent. Because now, if you take any predefined action on 44 other websites (think Amazon.com), we'll tell your Facebook friends about it. Signed up for a newsletter? Added an item to your wish list? We'll tell the world. The service is known as “Facebook Beacon”, and it allows you to share your online actions with your friends.

Don't throw your toys out the cot.Of course your privacy is important to us, so we will allow you to opt out of the notification service. But honestly, why would you want to? Isn't it fun that all your friends will know more about what you are doing, so they can do it too? Fun for us marketers, that's for sure.

Aggressive use

Ebay is going to be using Beacon aggressively. When you list an item to sell on eBay, you will have the option of telling your Facebook friends about it, so they can bid, or, even better, tell their friends about it. As the VP of ebay marketing Gary Briggs said, “In a marketplace where trust and reputation are crucial to success, giving sellers the ability to easily alert their network of friends – the people who already know and trust them – to an item for sale has the potential to be a powerful tool.”

Some of the websites that are participating in Beacon include: AllPosters.com, Blockbuster, Bluefly.com, CBS Interactive ExpoTV, Gamefly, Hotwire, Joost, Kiva, Kongregate, LiveJournal, Live Nation, Mercantila, National Basketball Association, NYTimes.com, Overstock.com, (RED), Redlight, SeamlessWeb, Sony Online Entertainment LLC, Sony Pictures, STA Travel, The Knot, TripAdvisor, Travel Ticker, TypePad, viagogo, Vox, Yelp, WeddingChannel.com and Zappos.com.

What does all this mean for you, the consumer?

Well, for starters you must start paying careful attention to what information about yourself and your activities are going to be public knowledge.

Now would also be a good time to formalize the purpose of your Facebook profile: is it a purely social spot to hangout, where you are surrounded by people who have seen you spitting your guts out into a toilet after one drink too many, or is it a business platform where you control your professional reputation?

It is also high time that you resign yourself to the fact that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Enjoying Facebook? Then allow it to profit from having you there.

What does all this mean for us, the marketers?

If you are a marketer, and you haven't woken up to the world of online marketing potential, now would be a good time to set the alarm. It's happening, and it is happening fast.

The good news is, the rules are still being written.

The even better news is that because of the ability to tightly define our target market (especially by location), we really do not have to be a Big Player to use the online medium to increase your bottom line. In fact, I could make an excellent case for why the dentist down the road from you would benefit from Facebook's marketing opportunities.

Viral marketing is not new, but it is being given extra fuel. As a marketer, understand that you cannot control the message, or the medium. That's scary, I know. What you can do, though, is concentrate on the quality of your product and the quality of your service.

And keep an eye and ear open to listen to your consumers. They will tell you when you stray.

That's for sure.

For more:

• Yahoo News: Facebook Admits Ad Service Tracks Logged-Off Users
  
• News24.com: Facebook soothes outraged users
  
• Mail & Guardian Online: Facebook users rebel against ad system