Webs@Work

Facebook is addictive and you can only envy its traffic which has grown to 42 million members. Dropping its college-only membership policy to allow anyone to join has fueled its meteoric growth. So has opening up an API to allow any developer to add applications that Facebook members can use on their accounts. This means other companies can take advantage of the Facebook masses.

Steve Outing of Editor and Publisher has collected interesting opinion about whether or not to devote some resources to Facebook applications:

In a nutshell, our attitude towards Facebook is ‘this too shall pass.’ We see no reason to buy into Facebook’s walled-garden approach; our time is better spent serving OUR audience instead of trying to feed on Facebook’s detritus like a Ramora.
Jacob Kaplan-Moss, Lead Developer, Lawrence Journal-World

It’s a great way to market at very low cost. Why not put a Facebook-using staffer in charge of this, providing them a leadership opportunity and exposing yourself to a growing, young audience at minimal cost?
Robert Niles, Editor, Online Journalism Review

We need to make sure that the social space is relevant to our news organization — or make certain that we are relevant to it. … I believe it’s vital to develop strategies to leverage the power of the social networking space, if the news industry wants a future. This audience no longer or seldom goes to the print medium for their news and information. I believe that Facebook’s initial value is as a marketing tool to connect to the online audience and make it smart for them to come to us for reliable, local information. Whether it’s in the form of widgets that they can load and share, or just being part of that space so we can understand it enough to be able to connect with them and let them know that we’re not necessarily just their father’s news anymore.”
Karen Ryder, Marketing Manager, Cape Cod Media Group

We use radio and television to try and get new print subscribers. We should use online to try and get new audience to our websites. This is a no-brainer. I just wish I had resources to develop applications to use on Facebook.
Kathy Schwartz – Director of Marketing Operations, Pocono Mountains Media Group