I am typically an early adopter. I've got to get my hands on the latest iPhone & BlackBerry. I absolutely have to dissect MySQL 5.0 as soon as it starts Beta and I'm a sucker when it comes to testing 2nd (and 3rd) tier PPC engines.

Yet, I admit it, it took me a very long time until I jumped on the FaceBook bandwagon.

It wasn't until two months ago that I created my personal FaceBook account and "joined the revolution".

It was around that time that a basic SoftwareProjects FaceBook application, surpassed 1 million "users", so I figured I have to check what the hype is all about.

Two months later, I became a FaceBook pro.

I accumulated 150 "friends", comprising of -

1. My real life friends (about 10%)
2. Friends of my friends
3. People I'd love to befriend
4. Celebrities within my niche

I joined dozens of networks, relevant to my niche. I formed new networks and contributed to ongoing discussions.

I met a lot of new people, made sure to update my FaceBook status and poked others when they poked me.

In short, I really gave FaceBook a fair chance.

--

Today, Monday December 3rd 2007, exactly 60 days after I began my personal FaceBook experiment, I decided to Deactivate My FaceBook account and kiss FaceBook farewell.

I'm going to keep my LinkedIn account for now (although the value of LinkedIn is close to nil, at least the noise level is not as bad as FB) and I'll be on the lookout for Social Networks version 3.0.

To summarize this experiment, here are 10 things we learned about FaceBook:

1. A FaceBook "friend" is not your real friend.

It just means that person have agreed allowing you to subscribe to their updates, much like subscribing to a twitter rss feed. In fact the correct terminology should have been "subscribers" and not "friends" but that's just not as sexy.

2. Having a FaceBook application with 1 million "users" does not translate to cash very well (we tried it). That is, unless you're looking to get paid for your skills, helping others develop their own FaceBook applications.

3. FaceBook ad traffic doesn't convert (you were right QuadsZilla)

Spending $5,000 and making $24 back is not fun. FaceBook users are not in a mindset to buy. Yes they might install your stupid FaceBook app, but no they will not be pulling their credit card anytime soon.

4. FaceBook is a Gossip site (thanks Loren)

No one puts their real life on FaceBook. Much like your business Resume is a glorified summary of your boring experiences, your social Resume is a superimposed perfect You.

5. All Your Data Are Belong To Us

FaceBook data is public. All your status updates, photos, wall posts, pokes and contact information, is readily available to anyone. Think about your future employer next time you upload a "me getting drunk" photo, or set your FaceBook status to "Damn. I'm so depressed, too much pressure".

6. You cannot use FaceBook to spy on your ex.

She knew you would, so she made sure her FaceBook profile would paint a picture that is ten times brighter than real life.

7. Simple is better (thanks Chris Pirillo for breaking it down)

FaceBook users are not technology saavy, yet the average learning curve for a new FaceBook user is very short. At the same time, the uber geek favors FaceBook for it's clean consistent interface.

8. People love FaceBook messages

It is typically easier to get a message read by an influencer in your industry, by sending them a FaceBook message ("from a friend") rather than an anonymous email message. But chances are, they're not going to take you too seriously either way.

9. FaceBook is not about Content.

Users with quality content are going to share it through their blogs, not their FaceBook pages.

10. FaceBook is a great photo-sharing and event-promotion tool.

11. (Bonus item) Prediction:

Social Networks version 3, is going to feature a mashup of:
* WordPress/YouTube (your Content)
* FaceBook (your Community, i.e. friends, partners, customers, fans)
* StumbleUpon/Digg (Recommendations engine) and
* Twitter (your Status) like technologies.

The combination of the four will enable more meaningful two-way dialogues with your audience, while maintaining full control over the end-user experience.

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What have been your experience with FaceBook?

Do you see FaceBook as a viable medium to drive quality traffic to your website? Or is it nothing more than a popularity contest?

Thank you for a great analysis! I got rid of my FaceBook account long time ago because I became addicted to it and it started taking waaaaay too much of my time.

FaceBook rocks as a social network and a way for folks to keep in touch with each other.

I don't think FaceBook was ever meant to be a business tool and I don't know how they plan on making money. I think most FaceBook users are teenagers anyway.

I think Brian is right. People use FaceBook to gossip and post pictures.

I know a lot of businesses and marketers see FaceBook as an opportunity and are desperately looking for ways to extract business value out of it, much like the early days of MySpace spamming. But in reality, I don't know that a business value exists.

I agree with the author that FaceBook users are not in a mindset to buy anything while surfing FaceBook.

You just have to be a lot more creative in order to market to a FaceBook user. For example you could offer free ringtones, or free netflix subscription or anything where they can signup without pulling a credit card and then get charged later unless they cancel.

I don't think FaceBook ads will ever work because of the mindset that was mentioned earlier.

The formula for monetizing FaceBook as I see it is:

1. Get lots of friends
2. Send some valuable content via FaceBook to increase the perceived value of your posts
3. Send a recommendation to an incentivized (signup for free, get charged later) affiliate offer, to all of your "friends".

You're probably not going to be able to get away with it too often, but if you're Robert Scoble and you have 5,000 friends, you can send a ringtone to all 5,000 very easily and would probably get high conversion rates.

Then again, 5,000 friends (maximum number of friends you can ever have on FaceBook - system limit) is really a small number, so it makes you wonder if it's all worth it.

Nothing more than a popularity contest...

so true - facebook is just another place where little kids can draw fishes on their walls. and too bad they do not convert! bah would have been nice tho

i think it,s a great post.

Reality ...hahaha ...Mike Great Article ...