BusinessWeek had the effrontery to run yet another Facebook story (YAFS) with the sorry headline, “Fogeys Flock to Facebook.” I may be over 40, but damn, I am in no way prepared to handle the unbearable weight of that description.
So screw BusinessWeek. I could point out, as the article does, how Facebook signs up 150,000 new users a day or how the 35-and-up crowd now accounts for more than 41% of all Facebook visitors, but instead I’ll turn to a more telling comment on the story made by David Mullings, a 26-year-old entrepreneur.
I run my own company and use LinkedIn, Facebook and MySpace – but each of them serve a slightly different purpose. If I had to choose one though, it would be Facebook. Where else can I have Guy Kawasaki, author of “The Art of the Start” as a friend and actually get a reply from him? So far Facebook has succeeded for me where LinkedIn has failed – connecting me with VCs and Angel Investors. On top of that, Facebook has allowed me to connect with interesting individuals from all over the World because of the groups – especially the Web 2.0 group. All these sites are tools and how you use a tool is less important than what the tool can do in the first place. LinkedIn is limited for what I want to do. Within 1 week of joining Facebook, I secured an invitation to Boston College to present at their Entrepreneurship Club in September – top that LinkedIn or MySpace.
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I suspect that Facebook is well suited for Mr. Mullings aggressive style. I can’t imagine that Boston College magically located him just because he had a page on Facebook.
Still very unconvinced that most people want or need a service that combines social and business. The appeal of LinkedIn to most of my peers is that, as I’ve heard from a number of people “you mean I don’t have to actually do anything other than click “accept?” I’m not going to have to talk to these people or join up in some sort of group with them, right?”
So for Mr. Mullings, Facebook allows him to connect with other people who want to be connected with- who actually want to talk to some 26 year old entrepreneur.
Most people, I have to say, don’t.
(1) In terms of Boston College, the President of the club contacted me via Facebook for two reasons:
– He saw some replies I had made on a discussion board in a Facebook group (Web 2.0 entrepreneurs)
– He read my blog because it AUTOMATICALLY imports into Facebook
So without Facebook I would not have in fact been invited to BC this fall.
(2) I want to learn from others, as well as share my story – LinkedIn is no good at that compared to Facebook.
LinkedIn has its role, but I am more interested in sharing my story and promoting my ventures (I intend to land my speaking engagements and eventually right a book).