The New Community Rules

Chapter 7. Getting Social: Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and Other Social Networks

Social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn are powerful for message broadcasting and for brand awareness. Because these sites inherently connect people with similar backgrounds and interests, hub pages dedicated to products and services are often invoked either by fans or by marketers/businesses out a desire to create strong associations between individuals and products. On Facebook, the two predominant marketing tools are the application or Facebook Page; on MySpace, it is the customized profile. In this chapter, we will look at how to use these sites and how they benefit marketers aiming to expand the reach of their products.

Introduction to Social Networking Sites

In this book, you’ll see several different types of social media marketing channels, from social networks to social bookmarking sites and social news sites. “Social networks” and “social networking sites” are generic terms for sites that are used to connect users with similar backgrounds and interests. Social networks are profile-based sites that encourage users with relatively comparable backgrounds to meet and initiate relationships with one another.

Social networks are some of the most popular sites on the Internet. For example, Facebook and MySpace are in the top 10, according to website statistic service Alexa. For some users, these social sites are an addiction. Employees have been criticized for spending too much time ...