Pop Culture Christens Social Media

I was watching the Simpson's this weekend when I saw this little gem. Mark Zuckerberg made a "cameo" appearance on the show this week. Even better, he's a cartoon character who's "Facebooking" (just made up a word). This episode appeared on the same weekend the "Social Network," which features a less likable depiction of Zuckerberg, came to theatres.

Coincidence or conspiracy theory? Who knows?

We do know the movie boasted a pretty good opening weekend draw, spawned a copycat picture, and is receiving Oscar buzz and critical acclaim.

Whether or not you believe the two are an evil marketing plot, it all confirms one thing - Facebook, and thus social media as a whole, has officially been christened as part of pop culture. It may sound crazy, but the fact someone is willing to turn Zuck into a cartoon character on a long-running and popular television show, and that the characters on that show are using Facebook, AND that the movie was number one this weekend goes to prove that social media is relevant. People care about it and it has become a fixture in our lives. It's no longer just for kids. It's a viable platform for communication and business. It's a piece of Americana. It's not a fad and guess what? It doesn't appear to be going away anytime soon.

In my business I often encounter people who say I don't want to get into Facebook or "the Twitter" (I love when people say "the Twitter"). When it comes from a business owner's mouth I'm stunned. Twitter and Facebook alone boast over 600 million users. That's just two of the hundreds of social networking sites out there. Even if you account for overlapping, that's still an incredible fount of potential customers, donors, and users of your products and services. Cutting social networking out of your online marketing strategy is essentially cutting off a very viable source of new business.

This is not an endorsement of Facebook or for Zuckerberg. Love him or hate him (and there are definitely people on both sides of that camp), he's changed the way we communicate and do business forever. I mean seriously, in 20 years how many real life CEOs have you seen on the Simpsons? Yeah, me neither. Guess its just a matter of time before we see the Twitter movie and an appearance on the Simpsons for Jack Dorsey.

Getting Friendly With Social Media

By Eugene Kane of the Journal Sentinel 

The new Facebook movie opened up at the top of the box office last weekend, which no doubt came as a big surprise to many observers.

Who would have guessed so many people would log off Facebook long enough to watch a twohour movie?

"The Social Network" was as eagerly anticipated as any recent Hollywood film based on a hot new trend. After all, 500,000,000 Facebook users can't be wrong. That's right; Facebook has 500 million members across the world.

The most amazing thing to consider about Facebook - and its social network counterpart Twitter - is its rapid growth over such a short time. Not so long ago, these kinds of outlets simply didn't exist, at least not to anyone who didn't live in a college dorm.
In 2004, a Harvard undergraduate named Mark Zuckerberg came up with the idea to create an all-purpose networking site on the Internet that would serve his peers group, only to watch it mushroom to the point where adults in just about every modern country in the world have some sort of Facebook connection.

Clearly, it's not just for college students anymore.

The network Zuckerberg created made him rich beyond his imagination as it grew into a daily touchstone for millions of "friends" of all ages who regularly communicate, update their status, hit "Like" to agree with something and send birthday wishes.

Facebook is free of charge and allows single individuals to amass as many as 5,000 friends for their page in order to create a virtual online community network.

I use both Facebook and Twitter in my career and personal life. My social networks include family, friends and colleagues but also local and national news sources including elected officials and assorted celebrities. They are not all "friends" in the way I usually use the word, but it's better than "followers," the word Twitter uses, which frankly suggests cult-like behavior to me.

The rise in social networks represents an essential tool for journalists who want to distribute news and information over the Internet to a new audience in a new form. Social media like Facebook and Twitter have been derided as frivolous, mainly because of the people who used it in a frivolous fashion to post mundane updates on ordinary life.

(OK, guilty as charged. Sometimes.)

But when big news events happen - an earthquake, a flood, a crackdown on dissidents in Iran - the value of these bold new avenues to relay information becomes starkly apparent.

Because it's the first movie to tackle the subject, "The Social Network" is more concerned with Facebook's origins as an entrepreneurial venture by a young genius than with explaining the impact of technology that has redefined interpersonal relationships during the first decade of the 2000s.
One thing's for sure, Facebook and others are definitely not a fad. Every public school system, in particular, should start training students how to use the current social media to their best advantage. Just like dinosaurs that became extinct because of a too-small brain, failure to recognize changing conditions could signal a death knell for those who get left behind.

Believe me, there will be nothing to "Like" about that.