by Aurelio Peña
THIS SOCIAL networking website called Facebook is beginning to replace the functions of my Yahoo and Google mails, that even spam mails have started disappearing. Since I’m not really someone who needs to do a lot of business networking to promote any product or service, I don’t get mails on my Inbox anymore.
What’s happening? Since I’ve lost touch with my two sisters who are now working and residing in the US, I don’t get any emails from them, probably because they don’t know my email address.
Now, with Facebook, I got these little messages from them ,”Hey Brod, how are you doing now ?” etc,.etc and can actually chat with them on this website, amid all the cyber “noise” comments coming from from your many friends and links to hundreds of other friends.
So, for many weeks now, my other email addresses in Yahoo and Google have fallen silent, with friends and even potential clients contacting me thru Facebook—which suggests just how powerful Facebook has become even in the businessworld.
Don’t be surprised to find companies, organizations of all kinds, even the highest government officials like Barack Obama and Noynoy Aquino on Facebook. (Yup, since I’m a fan of Obama, I’m now one of his millions of friends, too. Are you, too?)
Global firms in fact, have started to make their presence felt in Facebook, after realizing that the current 500 million users represent their biggest market for consumer products. It’s a huge market for global products that need a global reach.
Its much easier to sell something on Facebook than in Yahoo or Google because your selling message still looks like an innocent “comment” which everybody reads, unlike in those two popular websites where selling messages have lost all credibility and treated as “spam” .
In media, television and print journalists also find it easier these days to get “reactions” and “comments” that can be quoted in most newspaper and TV reports. This is usually done by calling or texting a “source” whose comments are essential in a story.
For various advocates, like the groups behind “Mindanao Massacre”…“Stop Killing Journalists” or “Peace in Mindanao”– this supposedly social networking site is becoming a battleground for feelings and sentiments on current issues of concerns. It’s no longer surprising to find Facebook users with different political bias fighting each other over issues.
We don’t know just how far Facebook will bring its present half-billion users, but one thing is certain, it’s no longer just “social networking” but slowly turning into “political networking”, “business networking” , “advocacy networking” etc, etc which are beginning to overwhelm the “social” aspect of this popular website.
(Any comments ? Just post it on my wall at Facebook!)
