Facebook continues to amaze in its effort to be pure and make a buck by selling its members down the river. On the purity front we had the aureole-gate tits up lunacy, taking down pictures of breast feeding women. Stupid, but when you consider that the CEO is only 24 and a geek, he probably does not have enough sexual experience to understand sex, its consequences, or the bond that women have for their children.
Whopper-gate demonstrated that Facebook ‘friendship’ is no more valuable than ,”you were worth less than one-tenth of a Whopper.”, in the words of the Matt Walsh, the creator of the Whopper Sacrifice Campaign. Friend em, fuck em, and kick them to the curb. This campaign ran for 10 days before Facebook figured out that it was the credit default swap of the digerati and wannabes. Not the message you want to send if you are trying to be the Boys and Girls Club of the internet.
The blessing of whopper gate was the resound silence of virtual PR agencies, who in a moment of clarity figured out that Facebook is not the place to run campaigns, because 99% of the people on Facebook don’t give a shit about PR or advertising. They did realize that a vast number of people on facebook who are likely to respond, to a carefully crafted virtual media campaign will sell your ass down the river for 24 bucks and a few beads,(the original cost of Manhattan) or a tenth of a whopper. Probably not quite the demographic they were trying to convert.
The bad news is that this is providing ammunition for the Social Media Loons who are gonna use this to turn their time on Facebook into billables as ‘Brand Reputation Management’. BRM is just the annoying kid who runs screaming to mommy and daddy every time somebody says something negative. Positive remarks are billed separately. And PR still wonders why folks regard them with the same contempt usually reserved for used car salesmen and lawyers. Yes, it is getting crowded in the bottom of the barrel.
The latest attempt to monetize is Facebook Credits. This is where you can give virtual credits to your ‘friends’, who in turn may do the same for you. You get credits by buying them in Facebook’s virtual gifts store — $1 for 100 credits.
Holy Monetization PixelBoy!! Money will buy you love! I wonder if you can redeem your credits for whiskey and hookers from the virtual gifts store?
Having folks toss virtual pennies at you is electronic lap dancing. It may feel good now, but you will have to do the laundry later.
This is one great post, really nails it.
Especially the sad, clueless geek—of course!