Five Fatal Flaws that will kill Facebook!

Facebook is the undisputed King of social media have you ever heard that “if Facebook were a country it would be third largest in the world?” Well Facebook isn’t a country it’s a communications platform with some pretty fundamental flaws.

So let me be the first to say “the King of social media isn’t wearing the most remarkable suit of clothes I have ever seen.  The King is actually in the all together but all together, it’s all together the very least a King has ever worn!”

Five Fatal Flaws that will kill Facebook!

1)      Facebook technology is fundamentally underwhelming

Design wise Facebook is as ugly as it is big and with very limited personalisation the only brand consistency you get is Facebook’s!  The set up stage is clumsy and navigation is poor, confusing and inconsistent throughout the site leading to usability issues.  And finally in a marketing context I am not to see adverts for a credit cards offering “fast approval and high credit limit for people with a poor credit rating” beside my clients brands.

2) Facebook can be a Marketing and ORM liability

Online Reputation Management is a growing concern for businesses big and small.  If you are a big faceless corporation then “being social” is probably not in your DNA, you hire PR firms not to engage with the press but to control them and you are on Facebook because you felt you had to be.  Now if you are Innocent Drinks then your brand ethos and ethical business stance may well support more open social engagement with consumers but if you are Nestle, British Airways or Craft be very careful you might just be opening a direct channel to your customers for complainers or campaign groups .

Watch this BBC3 video that makes this point very clearly and will give you a laugh into the bargain.

3) Facebook facilitates low value interaction

Facebook can be high maintenance if you don’t continually post to your wall it very quickly looks out of date and you spend a lot of time ignoring updates, irrelevant friend requests and application updates.  Also do you really need to know who is playing the Farmville or Mafia Wars games?  Ever had an update telling you that one of your friends has just bought a new pig?  Or do you think sending Facebook “pokes” or “gifts” is high value?

4) Privacy is a Very Big Issue

When you create a global communications giant with a business model based on exploiting the personal data of anyone over the age of 13  you had better have an ethical and rock solid privacy policy.  Well the phrase “Facebook Privacy Policy” is a bit of an oxymoron, it is long complicated and contradictory; here is what a conversation with their privacy department might sound like:

You: Hi Facebook can you delete my account please? Facebook: If you want to stop using your account you may deactivate it or delete it. When you deactivate an account, no user will be able to see it, but it will not be deleted. We save your profile information (friends, photos, interests, etc.)

You: Well at least it won’t be seen by others anymore? Facebook: There are limitations on removal. Even after you remove information from your profile or delete your account, copies of that information may remain viewable elsewhere to the extent it has been shared with others, it was otherwise distributed pursuant to your privacy settings, or it was copied or stored by other users.

You: So only my friends could see my personal date and postings? Facebook: We cannot control the actions of other users with whom you share your information. We cannot guarantee that only authorized persons will view your information. We cannot ensure that information you share on Facebook will not become publicly available.

You: If I keep my account can you stop sending me all those spammy update emails? Facebook: You may opt out of all communications except those we deem to be essential updates on your account notifications page.  We may include content you see on Facebook in the emails we send to you.

You: So basically opting out doesn’t mean opting out isn’t there a law against that? Facebook: By using Facebook, you are consenting to have your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States and it will be processed and managed in accordance with the privacy laws of the United States…

You: Oh in that case I am deliriously happy!

5)      Facebook is already failing

How could it fail it’s so big and if Facebook were a country…?”  Remember Compuserve, E-groups, Friends Reunited, Geocities and soon Bebo?  All were once dominant in the online community / social media space and all now either dead or dead men walking.

The life cycle of communication technology platforms has changed the speed of adoption of the social media platforms has been phenomenal but it will be matched by the speed of redundancy. What goes up must come down.  Newsprint had more than a hundred years, radio, television and fixed line telecoms all had a good long innings but they are all now at varying stages of redundancy. Facebook doesn’t have an edge other than size and everything it does someone else does better Ning, Twitter, LinkedIn, WordPress etc – if there is a reason to use it is because your customers use it – so what happens if they leave?

Facebook would have to innovate at a speed unheard of for a social networking platform just to stay even remotely relevant. If size alone protected companies we wouldn’t be in the process of recovering from a global banking crises.

Conclusion

In my opinion it is a completely underwhelming piece of communication technology and its days are all together numbered. In the future we will look at Facebook in the way we now look at video recorders we all had one but not anymore.

Agree? Disagree? Want to prove me wrong?  Join the conversation by hitting the comment button below and let me know what you think.

Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp

Intelligise-Be Brilliant