Dec 5, 04:45 am: Why should you be on Facebook?

In an article for Harvard Business, Forrester’s Charlene Li writes:


Let’s start with a fundamental premise – that all business is social and personal. Business involves people and communications and we all prize “networking” skills and opportunities. Businesses don’t strike deals with each other – people do. And we build bonds by talking about everything from sports teams and the weather to our families and hobbies.

So we as business people already engage in social networking every day, primarily through phone calls, emails, meetings, and events. The same activities take place on social networking sites – people share the tidbits and moments that build relationships.


She’s writing about business but it’s true of foundations as well: People are the ones doing the work, making the change, calling the shots.

But this line of thinking can too easily lead to fundraising and asking someone to be an ATM is not the same thing as engaging with them. And it’s still hard to figure out what that engagement can look like. Here’s what Charlene writes about that:


But remember: The notion of creating social applications is only 6 months old – we are in the early days here. Business-oriented developers are just now waking up to the possibilities, and the audience that would use these tools are just discovering social networking. It’s going to take some time for these two sides to find each other and develop an ecosystem for business applications.

And that’s the key. Not thinking that every problem is money or advocacy but thinking about other ways to engage and talking with motivated developers about what can happen.

tagged: , , , , ,

Marnie Webb  |