Summary
Consumers, marketers and social networks will continue to rethink and evolve the notion of electronic connections. Advertising and marketing dollars will continue to move online to take advantage of electronically enabled relationships.
Analysis
Facebook has lifted more of the curtain on the potential of social networks and how consumers and marketers will redefine economic relationships. Although Beacon can be viewed as extremely intrusive it can also become a highly desirable tool for business relationships.
We need to remember that Facebook offers companies and individuals the ability to create groups and networks that are open to the public, secured and administered by a company representative or completely private. The simple ability to create a private network for employees means that Beacon could be a wonderful means to generate enthusiasm and loyalty within the employee network by using the Beacon technology to add value to the sales team or even to a select group of customers.
As in many new technology innovations, we frequently miss the value or its best purpose and need the market to show us how it can be used in a beneficial manner. Facebook Beacon as a method to track consumers and broadcast our every move to our friends and acquaintances may be very intrusive in a public forum, but as a technology platform for building customer loyalty or employee loyalty, I say it is an impressive development that will be very welcome in relationships that mutually benefit from the exchange.
In my opinion, the future of marketing is personalized, measurable, transactional and integrated. Facebook Beacon meets all four of these criteria and should provide great benefit as we become more familiar with its varied uses. Every digital platform and interactive marketer should make note of this new capability and think of how to leverage the notion of what Beacon offers. It is only a matter of time before its real value is understood and used for the benefit of many. Companies to watch that can build on this ability include MySpace, Google, Yahoo!, Amazon, Microsoft, Digital River and email service providers such as SilverPOP, Responsys, ExactTarget and others like them.
