Your youth segment is not “really” chatting on Facebook anymore

Huh?

Let me explain what I mean. Here’s a brief history of Facebook from my own personal experience.

I joined Facebook sometime in mid 2006. It was only open to colleges and universities, quickly followed by cities.  Up until that point, the main conversation platforms for myself and my close friends other than in-person conversations, email and the phone were tools such as ICQ followed by MSN chat. Within a few months the majority migrated to Facebook even though it was a step back (lack of chat feature initially) at the same time it was a step forward (social element: 2-way, one-to-many platform, photo sharing, etc…).  

Facebook’s latest response to Google+

First thing I thought of when Google+ launched a few months ago was that they were making a big promotional mistake by making their USP (unique selling proposition) the fact that they allow users to create “circles”.

Why did I think it was a mistake?

One of the key things I remember that my strategic management prof would drill into our heads back in business school was to always differentiate between a “competitive advantage” and a “sustainable competitive advantage”. In Google’s case, the circle feature was clearly the former. In other words, a competitive advantage with a short lifespan; something that competitors could easily replicate.

Derive psychographic statistics from Facebook in 60 seconds

As promised, here is the latest from my “Learn in 60 Seconds” video series. Lesson #3: How to get psychographic statistics from Facebook. Let me know what other videos you would like to see in the future.