Love it or hate it, MySpace did one thing right: it paved the way for facebook.

A few weeks ago I spoke to a group about social media, concentrating on Facebook, Twitter and Linked-In. At that time, I gave Facebook a very basic review and moved on. But after hearing about the changes being made to the site I started to do some more research. It blew my mind what Facebook was doing. So much so that I'm going to devote this week of blogging to comparing Facebook to what I believe are the other top two social media sites: Twitter & Linked-In.

Disclaimer: I am not saying these three websites are the same. In fact I think most businesses should establish a presence on all three. This is more about me organizing them by greatest  business potential.

Today I want to talk a little bit about some of the exciting stuff happening behind your Facebook profile and the key to what gives Facebook such awesome potential. Last week I covered the exciting new Facebook pages and if you regularly check your profile, you've probably already noticed the changes to your news feed. So, let's talk about lesser-known gems that you might not have heard about unless you religiously read Facebook's company blog.

Somethings you might not know:

• Facebook is available in Hebrew and Arabic. (70% of users are not from the U. S.)
• Facebook Causes have raised $4.5 million from 90,000 unique donors. (How's that for making an impact?)
• Facebook has a wiki just for developers.
• Facebook book is listening. There are multiple ways to give them feedback.
• Facebook puts all their statics on their site.
• Facebook does a ton of research (with your permission). You can participate even if you don't have an account!
• Facebook has made a ton of its coding open source.
• Facebook Connect allows you to integrate information on Facebook with other websites.
• It took me 5 minutes to find all this information.

Most of us log on Facebook, respond to mail, update our status, play around a bit and we're done. But there is so much more to Facebook. By looking a little deeper I realized that Facebook was listening, truly listening to what its users needed. The number one question I get from business owners is "But how do I use Facebook for my business?" And the answer has always been somewhat convoluted. Facebook heard that question and said, "Hmm... how can we make this better for businesses while still making the same social impact?"

They've done a ton of research on their new ideas. I know, I know, a new homepage makes most of us balk, (what? I have to think before I click?) but I have faith that the Facebook team picked what they felt would be the most intuitive and simple solution. In a month we won't even notice.

Facebook's philosophy, however is what really makes them stand out from other media. Share and Connect. That's powerful. And they are actively pursuing it in visible ways. I couldn't tell you what any other social media site's mission even was.

So what do you think? Do you hate the new layout? Did you learn something new from my little list? Are you ready to be in up in arms defending other social sites this week?

Big news on Facebook! No, its not more user-agreement debates, its Facebook Pages! The main thing to know is that Facebook wants your business to have a page with similar features to your profile. So here's the dirt.

The Highlights

• Enhanced Wall: Now you can share content to your Facebook Page Wall. (Much like profiles now, any video, photo, action will be posted there. Soon it will also show up on your Fans' newsfeed!
• Statuses: Like Twitter's "What are you doing?" Facebook allows you to post a status. Businesses will now be able to share what they are "doing" as well!
• Tabs: Profiles now have tabs with different organized information such as Info, Wall, and so on. Now your business can have Info, Wall and Photos provided by you and your fans.
• Analytics Tools: Wanna know who is viewing your feed? How many comments you get on each post? Facebook plans to make measuring tools available. They'll be called "Insight Tools". Spiffy huh?
• Boxes Tab: This is a tab specifically for applications. Examples of applications are: Discussion boards, Videos, Reviews, Photos, Events, and FTML (Facebook HTML) to create whatever you want for those of us with programmer tendencies.

Quick and Dirty
Pro: Woah! That's a lot better than a mostly static page with a wall. Awesomeness.

Con: OMG, the pages I'm fans of are going to spam me constantly.

Tips on Growing

Get in on all this new Facebook Page-y Goodness. Go read the full pdf about all the new features and start getting yourself out there. But resist the temptation to use your Facebook page like a Twitterfeed for your business. Use this to encourage interaction, not stifle your fan and followers. As with all things in life, everything in moderation.

Have you started using the new Facebook Page features? What do you think?
Image by hoyasmeg

The past few posts I've been focusing my research and attention on the phenomenon of social media. I have to admit it fascinates me, but the goal of course is to make it work, from a business stand point. How can online social networking help your business? And how do you choose from the hundreds of sites that make this available?

I'm going to deal with a number of well-known sites, each one I have reviewed in the last few weeks. Now I'm going to list out each service's pros and cons so they can all be compared.

Pros:

• Networking Intensive
• Open and chatty community
• real time answers.

Cons:

• Time intensive
• Navigation not intuitive
• Leans towards the internet savvy

Pros:

• Great way to "poll"
• Close to Real Time but simple to use
• Ability to automatically feed blog posts

Cons:

• Too much down time
• Often Tweeple are more interested in getting follower than networking
• Superfluous information

Pros:

• Community Opportunity
• Clean Profile look - user friendly
• Ability to create applications, events and blog posts

Cons:

• Audience not "marketing" friendly
• Networking more social
• Ability to be tagged in notes and images that may not be work appropriate

Pros:

• Massive Audience
• Forum opportunity
• Widely-Accepting to advertising

Cons:

• Spammy
• "Bathroom wall of the internet" - reputation isn't great
• Friend Collectors instead of clients

Pros:

• Simple, Clean, Business-friendly
• Opportunity to get business feedback
• Chance to get reviewed by clients

Cons:

• People may "reject" your link because they don't remember you
• Many users don't check-up on their profile regularly
• Not all people network with others they actually know

Pros:

• Viral effect for blogs
• Simple way to get noticed
• Easy to use

Cons:

• Many people "digg" things because their friends do, not because they like it
• Hitting the front page of Digg has been known to crash websites from too much traffic
• Millions of submission to compete with

Pros:

• Easy for any website
• Allows for site indexing
• Allows for reviews and keywords

Cons:

• Takes a little more time
• Can be bad for niche sites with advertising
• Allows the opportunity for people to rate you negatively

Pros:

• One of the longest standing Social Bookmarking sites
• Allows you to import bookmarks
• Ability to share of keep private based on user needs

Cons:

• Usefulness is merely just an extra link without good user connections
• A hassle without a toolbar extension
• Format is not instinctive

Are there any other social media sites you'd like to see reviewed and added to this list? Let me know what business tools you use.

Facebook Profile.

There's no question that more and more people are using social media. Facebook has become the next big thing; the cleaner, sparkly version of MySpace.

I originally started using Facebook back in college, mostly to keep track of my friends from high school. Facebook grew and started to allow high school students to participate as well and finally opened to the general public. As a social tool, to keep up with friends I have found Facebook to be invaluable, especially on the "college scene". However, as a business tool, I must admit I have my doubts. Some people find Facebook to work really well. But it seems that Facebook is a "viral" effect. Its like posting a youtube video, it hard to know what's going to suddenly take off and be the next big thing, and what is going to flop.

Facebook has a business section that you can explore which has more in-depth information. They talk about advertising and also applications. Applications are an interesting concept. They allow you to create a game or some other hook, which brings you users that you can then give your information to. There are plenty of website about how to "create a viral app" or the "best app design" but here's something to consider: The majority of people I know on facebook, who are average Gen Y users, think of application requests as spam. The majority of applications require you to invite friends before you can use it and so it maintains a vicious cycle. My senior year of college, these applications gained a nickname: FACEBOOK AIDS. That's right, we thought of applications like STDs; they spread quickly, everyone you touch gets it and it clutters up your entire profile.

However, there are way to make creative and useful applications. I use friendfeed's application on my profile, as well as a "free gift" one so I can send cute images to my friends to brighten their day.

You can also create a group or just a profile specifically about your business. This gives you a chance to link up with people you work with, went to school with or have been your clients. Of course then you have to figure out where to draw the line on personal information: do you post crazy pictures? What if someone else does and tags you in them? Do you list your birthday, phone number and religious affiliation? You have to decided how much you want to give.

I admit, I've not really used Facebook for business. I use it mostly social and list my business information. What do you think? Here is a blog that talks about business leverage in more detail and here is one that talks about the cons. Feel free to share your experience or other data. The debate rages on.