The Anatomy Of A Facebook Meme

Apr 6, 2009

This is definitely the worst thing I have ever read on Mashable! Ok maybe worst is a little harsh. I am a big fan of Mashable and think that a lot of the insight there is great and of huge use to the readers. However this isn’t the case for this article, I have read some of Dan Zarrella’s other stuff and I thought it was good, but this piece co-authored by Alison Driscoll is weak.

I will keep the rant brief, but this is the first thing that literally made me spit beer out…

“Alison is an interactive copywriter and social media consultant who specializes in Facebook marketing.”

It is difficult to express how ridiculous that sounds, reading through the list of things which they recommend doing there is nothing on there which is more than what every 13 yr old Facebooker knows and already does.

So I thought it might be nice to have some Twitter fun on this, see what people thought of me becoming a Facebook marketing specialist, here’s my tweet followed by the replies I received:

Looks positive hey?

10 Comments

facebook, funny, mashable, twitter

9 Comments

Laurel Papworth • Apr 6, 2009 @8:36 am

I teach Facebook marketing courses through professional development at the Uni of Sydney and inspite of the fact that nearly 7 million of Australias 21 million population are on FB, most marketing people coming through the door still don’t “get” the basics of engagement on Facebook.
Actually, the most common question I have is “what is a hyperlink and why do I need to use it?”. So yes, baby steps, baby steps 😛
Colin • Apr 6, 2009 @9:14 am

Thanks for your comment Laurel.

Interesting angle, I think this probably proves the point that a lot of Marketers who are ruining social media activities really do not have a clue.

The people you refer to who don’t get the basics, have they been attempting campaigns on FB already? Whilst totally in the dark?
dan zarrella • Apr 6, 2009 @2:11 pm

Colin, thanks for the feedback, but I’m failing to see any substantive criticism of the content of the article. Just ad hominem attacks with your Twitter friends.
Colin • Apr 6, 2009 @9:33 pm

Hey Dan, thanks for the comment. Let me explain the article a little more…

The focus is on the facebook marketing specialist title, and thought it would be interesting to see what my readers thought of that prospect. You can see their responses, not particularly positive, in the tweet replies I received.

I would be happy to post up some more thoughts on the article over the next few days. In this post I stated that the majority of things in the article are already done by non professionals. I steered clear of passing comment on the things which I felt are wrong to be encouraging the use of.
dan zarrella • Apr 7, 2009 @6:34 pm

@colin But by that measure if I can get more than 3 people to say its an ok title then you’re wrong?
And of course these things are done by non-pros, the point of the article was to catalog all the ways that a meme can be spread through facebook.
Colin • Apr 7, 2009 @10:59 pm

Can or should?

The best example of this is tagging people in pictures they are not in… Yes I can use this as a technique to spread a Facebook meme, but should I? Hell no! I think I would just have liked to see the specialists stay clear of obtrusive, unethical practices like this. It sits the same side of the line as an email marketing specialist recommending getting Nigerian “bankers” to offer me money etc. Admittedly this is an extreme example but I hope you see my point?

P.s. As you can see, I have reined the article in a touch.
Dan Zarrella • Apr 8, 2009 @12:42 pm

to be totally honest I’m more concerned with whats effective than with what fits pretty arbitrary standards of “ethics”. This is marketing, not church.

You work at a social agency, what’s your title?
Colin • Apr 8, 2009 @4:49 pm

I keep my work and this site very seperate, as these are my views and not those of my agency. Therefore will not be posting my title, for the record however it does not include the words, marketing, specialist or Facebook anywhere in it.

Maybe I sit on the naive side of the fence where ethics is an important part of a successful marketing campaign…
Kimberly Bell • May 5, 2010 @11:22 am

I also promote some of my affiliate links on Facebook by making Facebook fan pages and also by advertising on Facebook.**`