Facebook Doesn't Help Me Find Anything

• How do you leverage social media for SEO?
• Ignoring social media just stopped working
• Google needs its own social network
• This is not a post about Google+

On a number of levels I agree with you and empathized with your point(s). That being said, I'm not so sure Facebook's intention is for you to find anything - other than "friends". From there I would take it a step further and say that your expectations are more likely than not atypical as compared to 99.44% of all FB users.

Does Facebook have the potential to meet your needs? Yes, I believe it does. However, when view through objective rose colored glasses, Facebook is actually quite a bit of squandered potential, and unlikely to progress past the fodder it currently celebrates.

IMHO, of course.

I never considered the search aspect of Fb. Never used it that way.I can see how my list of many unknown friends might sway search in the future if it's connected with the search engine. I have started to forms groups on Fb which helps me keep track of people I actually know. There are several levels in reality. There are friends, people I used to know, followers for business and business prospects. I did finally start a fan page just because it was easier for me to send invitations to our events but I repost on my personal Fb anyway. It really covers all bases for me. Having my personal Fb account and a fan Page satisfies the social and business aspects for me. If our tweets and facebook updates are important enough to us to keep up with then certainly a Fan Page is no less important in reaching those who want to be reached. It's really just giving them every avenue to get what THEY want. Is in not really just the same as a blog with different parameters? I think I will try searching on Fb today. You got me thinking.

Hi Jennifer,

Glad you took the leap to the fan page. Keep us posted on how that works out. People have advised me to do that, so maybe I need to take the plunge, too.

Finding things in Facebook is part of what I am driving at, but if you search in the Bing search engine, your Facebook data is also affecting THOSE search results, so it's very interesting to see the ramifications.

Thanks for your comment.

I took some time to test the social network activity. Presently I am a member of two networks, facebook and LinkedIn. facebook is my "social" network. People I know personally and wish to maintain a continuing personal relationship. LinkedIn is my "professional" network.

My sphere of influence is relatively small and therefore the number of unsolicited "friend" requests is still manageable. I do ask "friends" to move to the appropriate network based on the social or professional nature of the relationship.

Depending upon the size of an organization and their business model, I could make a case for a network presence on Twitter, facebook, linkedIn, or any one of the other networks. These networks are business tools and as such should be applied according to the business case. An artist friend of mine has very successfully used facebook as a business marketing tool. The social network fits perfectly to his business model

Your concluding comment, "The more I think I know about social media, the less I think I actually know" indicates you know much more than you realize. A good problem solver will "observe", "evaluate", and "act". You have already recognized a situation and started to place it in your context. I look forward to your future writing on your decisions.

Mike, you pointed out perfect the "weird" side of social media - connecting with plenty of people you actually don't know, all these only for business. Frankly, I'm using those sites only because is trendy and to promote the websites I manage, however I don't like at all this kind of "socialization". Unfortunately, the tomorrow's world is getting more and more impersonal...but with lots of "friends"!

All the best,
Victor Tuszing

Facebook is by and large a recreational social media channel – at least for the moment. As brands stampede to Facebook, that may change, but let’s consider the dynamics as they stand. For about a year, my main activity on Facebook was playing Farmville – a non-business endeavor if ever there was one. But, while playing the game, I was exposed to many ads I took action on (they were relevant to my business and personal interests). While playing the game, I checked out Fan pages my friends talked about in my News Feed. Not only did I frequently become a Fan of those brands, I spread the word to my friends. From what I can tell, my behavior is typical. Bottom line: Business and pleasure mix on Facebook. Brand exposure and conversion opportunities can spread through Facebook networks quickly and in high volume....
Best regards

Mike,
Well written post. I think the future of search has really changed with the ever increasing popularity of Facebook. I can definitely relate in terms of "accepting" everyone as well, and having that back fire in terms of an actual usable network. I have started to take the power of Facebook more seriously considering the world wide impact and audience. Thanks again for writing.

Arnold

Mike, 2 words: Facebook Lists

You can use them to separate your various "friends" into categories.

I too started the same as you with Facebook and didn't see its potential or really understand how to use it. But then I started adding family and people I knew in "real life" as Facebook friends and it did get confusing.

With Facebook Lists I now have categories such as:

Conference Friends
Family
Real Life Friends
Industry people I've never met

etc.

Then I can quickly browse through each of those streams separately and they don't get jumbled up. Of course, what's missing right now is the ability to create status updates just for a certain list. I imagine FB will eventually do that as that's more in line with what you need.

Mike,
I share your doubts about the usefulness of adding social media into the search nexus. I'm also perplexed with the overall business use of social media in general. I understand a certain value to an overall TOMA (top of mind awareness) campaign -- and perhaps greater value to *certain types* of businesses -- but ultimately I think it dilutes the value of having a standard Web presence.

It seems that the narrowcasting value promised by the Internet is quickly turning toward the hit-and-miss broadcasting of older media. Adding social media palaver to SRPs will only make finding relevant results that much more difficult.

Mike-

I think you've missed the potential of Facebook (or social media). I just gave a presentation on this topic of how social media will present a clearer picture for search results than an algorithm can solely by itself.

Friends, by nature, have common interests - not all common interests, but some common interests. While not all of your network may be intimate associates of yours, you do have some common interest (books, subject matter, actual friends, etc.). And, by the way, you should really have a page so you can keep your "worlds" separate (business associates vs social networking friends) - as opposed to using your own profile to connect with every and anyone...but I digress.

Here's how I see this going down:

Search Engines return information based on an impersonal algorithm of 200+ pieces of information. But, it's not "information" we seek.

Social media provides perspective and opinion based around experience from a (trusted) network of friends and associates.

When you take "information" and layer "perspective from a trusted network" on top of it, you have "insight." Insight is what searchers are REALLY looking for when they query...not just information. And, it is a shame that you've missed out on this wonderful opportunity for the next generation of search.

This is no different than word of mouth...if 2 friends say to see one movie and 10,000 say to see another, my bet is that you are taking the recommendation of your friends. Friends within a complete social network are the ultimate search engine...I am so interested to see where all of this goes...

Thanks for the thought provoking post. I enjoyed it.

So many good comments from everyone--thank you. I am going to ask my kids about Facebook lists, Jill. Thanks for the advice.

Yes - grouping friends into lists is helpful. I have a Facebook friend who has two separate profiles - one for work and one for her personal friends/family. Keeping track of two profiles might be a little more work, but it would allow you to post separate updates.

My feeling is that if you create great content, people will share this via FB or Twitter, whether you are an active user of either of these social media networks or not. If I am not mistaken this will me far more important to your search position than how many friends you have.

(I sincerely hope I'm right because nobody wants to be my friend!)