Facebook just announced their Open Graph initiative.
This represents a seismic shift in the marketplace. It is so far removed from traditional “destination” thinking that every marketer and executive should make note and pay attention to its evolution.
The reason I say it is a seismic shift is because of the thinking that it demonstrates. It comes across as a consistent view of the world that is open, connected, multi-dimensional and potentially viral. It is different than linear thinking or thinking that is driven to a “destination”.
Consider the Internet and how much of it is driven to a destination. The destination I speak of is the web site. It is a site – a destination, an address - that you go to…
http://english.alrroya.com/ ;
www.cnn.com ;
www.emirates.com ; and so forth. These are properties, destinations that people search out and go visit.
The Open Graph initiative that Facebook speaks of allows any user to turn any web page into a Facebook page. I believe this allows the “web” like nature of the Internet to evolve and change based on the connections that people attach to web pages and link back to their Facebook profiles and activities.
In effect, the social graph that people build up over time on Facebook becomes extended to sites outside of Facebook and interconnected with other users that have visited the same sites. The many-to-many nature of relationships will continue to become visible and entwined with each other. Not only does this apply to destination sites on the Internet but also to physical locations that are geographically identified, photographed and recorded through GPS technology and smart phones.
So what do you do if you’re a marketer that prefers linear thinking - thinking that physically brings people into your retail storefront or your resort in the UAE? You use catalogs, direct mail, telephone calls, entertainment and events; or perhaps traditional television and radio?
In answer to my question, you can bury your head in the sand and pretend the social world is not for you. Or you could abandon everything traditional that works and jump entirely into the social web experience. I don’t recommend either of these positions…
Instead, I suggest you continue to do what works and make sure you are experimenting, testing and participating in the social web. Marketing is a very different experience when your customers take on the role of selling your products; or denigrating your products in a multi-dimensional, many-to-many connected world that is viral by nature.
The Open Graph will absolutely accelerate the viral nature of the Internet. When individuals can visit your web page and make it part of their social graph and expose that graph to their friends you must recognise this is not a passive or single dimensional medium.
It can literally create a crowd of people that are sharing their opinions with each other about your products and services. At the very minimum you want to be in the middle of that crowd participating in the conversation.
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