200,000. This is the approximate number of the new users who create new accounts on Facebook every day. For many of the Kenyan people who use the internet, facebook has become a way of life. It has become a platform where people meet new people and become friends, get to know of various events that are happening and get to catch or the latest gossip, tips, upload photos, write on someone’s wall, tag friends in photos,…….. Facebook is a gateway to the virtual world that Kenyans are being introduced to. In facebook, people can kiss, chat, send messages, send flowers, poke, throw strawberry at someone, track what friends are doing and do all sort of things that are done in the real world. Facebook is fast building an interconnected web of networks that are joining people all over the world with over 150,000 people joining facebook every day. Facebook is going to transform the way people behave and relate.
Facebook is very flexible and can be used innovatively by different people and organizations to achieve different objectives. Below are some innovative ways that people can use facebook.
Social web has become an integral part of marketing plans in organizations that want to stay ahead of the curve and facebook has played a big role. Companies such as Coca-Cola, Adidas and Mazda have used facebook to advance their brands. For example, Coca-Cola launched a Coke Tag on facebook that people can use to promote themselves. Mazda invited facebook users to design a new concept for Mazda car during the Mazda Design Challenge. Mitsubishi has created a profile on facebook for its innovative electric vehicle(i-MiEV). The Adidas celebrate originality brand campaign was supported by facebook and youtube videos. Mars snackfood has used facebook in a very innovative way. Using the Facebook Celebrate application, people can give each other virtual gifts like candy bars. If they give a Mars candy bar, the recipient gets a virtual gift and a coupon for the real thing. Clinique, Harley Davidson, East Africa Breweries and more use free gifts as ads. When a user sends a virtual gift of a product with their brand name on it, their brand gets a nice bit of advertising. The possibilities for brands to leverage the social web, including social networking sites such as Facebook, are incredible. Is your brand on board yet? Don’t get left behind!
Improving recruitment experience through facebook
Human resource managers are now using facebook to investigate prospective employees before they hire them. Careerbuilder.com recently did a survey of American hiring managers and their use of facebook. Of the 3169 hiring managers who were surveyed, 22 percent said that they screen potential employees using social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. Of those 22 percent, a little over one third of them have found content that made them drop the candidate from consideration for jobs for content ranging from drug-taking, excessive drinking and sexual promiscuity. Do you check candidates out via social networking sites before you send them on to your clients? How often has a Facebook profile or a MySpace page made you change your mind?
Non-profits can use Facebook
Non profit making organizations can use facebook in many innovative ways for instance, fundraising campaigns, communicate with potential supporters, to stir and broaden support for important social issues, to empower members to engage in their own actions, to organize, promote and manage events, to promote your organization's blog, latest news and meetings, to raise public awareness and money for advocacy efforts, to find and recruit volunteers, to create a single branded page of your organization's work and to stay in touch with core audiences on an ongoing basis. Dollars for Darfur, the brain-child of high school students Nick Anderson and Ana Slavin, is a nationwide fundraising competition among high schools to raise money for the advocacy efforts of the Save Darfur Coalition and humanitarian assistance for Darfuri refugees. The Facebook page encourages students to post ideas for fundraisers and talk about the crisis. It also encourages students to visit the organization's website and create a personal fundraising page for their school. With Facebook pages application, nonprofits can create a single branded page. The best thing about these new pages is the ability to post videos focusing on the work of your organization.
Facebook for Musicians
Musicians at every level have been eager to find a way to promote themselves to the millions of music fans. Any musician, whether signed to a label, independent, or just starting off in college or high school, can promote themselves inside of Facebook’s highly personal and highly viral environment. Through “My Band”, an innovative application designed to help artists promote their music on Facebook, artists can post unlimited songs, band info, show schedules, and even a “join the mailing list” function directly to their Facebook profile page. Their friends can play and share full-length tracks, add them to their own pages, and even buy the music and tickets. “My Band” even provides artists with stats about how their music is spreading. Over 750,000 artists are using “My Band” application on facebook to promote themselves and their music.
Facebook and the Church
Churches are taking advantage of this new community created by face book. The facebook Page for your church is a good way to get your church into social networking scene. With Facebook being so popular, having your church where people are having your church involved where your members and others are involved is a great way to connect with people. The Facebook Page allows your church, as an organization, to have an official presence in Facebook. You customize the Facebook Page even use HTML and Flash.
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