Media Week

Stephen Davies at PR Blogger (www.prblogger.com) has written a fascinating piece about the role of Facebook. So far it has largely gained attention for being an arena for lobbying to building support (witness the HSBC student rebellion) and according to Stephen another is potentially brewing for Egg.

I don't think companies can ignore Facebook especially when there are groups dedicated to brands. My instinctive thinking is that PR is more suited to Facebook. Creative applications and an innovative presence on Facebook can certainly help the perception of companies and build word of mouth followings. Any social media strategy has to reach out to all social media networks, listening to what is being said and joining in conversations. Sure the numbers might not always be huge but the influence could be significant and you can always promote a presence on Facebook in other ways as other campaigns would be promoted. The act of companies participating in Facebook will be a good exercise because it will encourage the company to join social media networks and learn about the new environment and put the company in a better position to relate to these networks going forward. When you have a presence on Facebook there are obviously actions you can take to build the community around your presence. Additionally, I think it is crucial now that PR companies work with technology specialists. Marketing and PR is largely impossible without technology support and it is those marketing and PR people who are comfortable with technology and understand it  and want to explore the possibilities who will do best. Finally I don't think plonking ads on Facebook is going to do much good. I think the value of PR is that it enables you to integrate yourself within the community of Facebook but it has to be done sensitively, respecting the environment, you have to be open about who you are and if it is simply dull corporate propaganda it will not work at all.