Has Facebook improved our lives?

Everybody knows Facebook. But not everybody loves Facebook. With something like 770 billion page views per month however, it is worth considering what it would be like in a world without Facebook. State of Search has given it a shot, with some interesting infographics illustrating the level of integration that Facebook has achieved in our lives in its short life span from inception in 2004 (also see infographic on a world without Google).

I personally do not log in very often but still enjoy the fact that I am connected with old friends and classmates. If I travelled to say, South America, I can imagine posting it on my wall to see if any of my friends or classmates happen to live there. Quite useful. Other than that I cannot see myself posting “I’m having chicken for dinner” as that level of detail surely doesn’t interest anyone.

Wall posting is however popular and companies can utilise it, like a mini stage, to proclaim less formal messages to their audience. These messages can be directly linked to a company’s product suite, or what tends to be more effective is if the posts are short, interesting, funny and on perhaps industry related news – or even completely random.

Metrica Radar, our own social monitoring and engagement tool, now has the functionality to publish stories, posts or tweets which mention your brand directly onto Facebook (re-tweeting or # tweeting is of course also possible). Facebook has certainly come a long way from simply being an advertising channel, and is now becoming quite the established communication and engagement tool.

What is your take on Facebook – can you live without it?

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