I’m not normally one for just interjecting my personal feelings into this blog… but there ya have it.
Ignoring all the fun/games/etc… that are one there, let me give you a few things to think about with regards specifically to Affiliate Marketing…
1. It is like a brand new web. Since opening up the platform to 3rd party development, a wide variety of applications have sprung up… You can think of an application as the same thing bascially as a web site. It is self contained, interactive, etc…. Now, I will grant to anyone that the early round of application development has been mostly games and other non-business genres…however, this is really just how the “first” web started. From there, we all developed it into what it is today.
I get a lot of wide eyes when I say this usually…but I think that it is entirely feasible that a whole new generation of online users will not even use the WWW at all, but will perform all tasks online specifically on Facebook. To them, being “online” will mean being on Facebook…not being on what we consider to be the web. This new generation will grow up online not knowing who the powerhouses on the web are… they will recognize only the powerhouses on Facebook specifically. What does this mean for you? as an affiliate or developer? That means that you have an opportunity to build up a powerhouse brand if you develop a quality application on Facebook. Take this one example… when the “Facebook generation” gets to the point where they want to buy/sell some stocks… They aren’t going to know that E*Trade is the spot to go (using E*Trade as an example) … they are going to search specifially on Facebook and find whoever it is that has the best system.
2. Networking is way easier. It is like talking to all of your friends or colleagues for 2 minutes everyday…knowing what they are up to and what types of things they are working on, etc… but without having to actually talk to anyone. Of course, talking to them is better… but in an era when we are all so busy it is nice to be able to “stay in touch” with friends and feel much more connected to their lives even if you don’t get a chance to actually catch up in person.
3. They have (at least for now) controlled the problem of Spam. Anyone who uses MySpace at all is aware of the problem… 10 times per day you get “friend” requests from people who are really just trying to get you to sign up for other sites (usually of the adult nature). Facebooks more controlled environment, as well as their strict policy which limits an individual to only one account, is a huge step forward. To date, I have not received a single “friend request” or message in Facebook from anyone who isn’t legitimatly either my friend, business colleague, or truly interested in talking with me.
4. You do actually meet and network with people who you otherwise would not meet. I developed kinda a silly little application called “Food Porn” – before you laugh, it is about people uploading pictures of food – usually from fancy restaurants or of their own creation … I didn’t know about the community either before I developed the application, but now it is really fun to watch new people join the community and share their photos.
Anyhow… If you are an affiliate marketer, you probably know more about your own customer than I do. My idea here is not to preach to you that you are “behind if you don’t do this”, or that you “need to do this”, etc… My idea is to inform you that there really is a whole new source of traffic out there – one that I feel presents a huge opportunity to all of us. Affiliates specifically are in a better position than anyone because online retailers are for the most part way behind in developing any kind of strategy for social networks or Facebook specifically. As a more flexible, creative, and fast-moving entity – an affiliate can lead the way and generate a lot of short-term and long-term profit in the meantime.
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