Facebook's deal with the Devil

2011-06-15 11:57:14

I was listening to the radio the other day (a rare thing in this era of streaming everything, but I didn't feel like plugging my phone into the car to listen to Pandora...). A song wound down and the voice over came on saying, "Join our Conversation on Facebook" and the next song started. No address, no mention of the radio station I was listening to, just a plug for Facebook.

An absolutely free plug for Facebook...

I figure Mark Zuckerberg must have signed some kind of deal with the devil. How else can you explain this stampede of companies abandoning their company websites in favor of promoting Facebook?

Yes, I'm on Facebook. Yes, my mother, my siblings, my nephews, my nieces, my ex-wife, my friends, my friends from high school, my casual acquaintances from conferences, my virtual friends I met on Twitter... yes EVERYONE is on Facebook, but that doesn't mean EVERYONE left the web.

What's really amazing about this "Send all your visitors to Facebook" is that Facebook actually gives us the tools to have a Facebook conversation, right here, right now.

I just copied a bit of code into my blog, and BAM, you can join the conversation without having to go anywhere. You get all the benefits of letting people make comments that appear on Facebook, but you keep your visitor on your own website.

See, this is why I think Facebook has a deal with the devil -- the devil is in the details, and Facebook has gotten so big, and so detailed, that the devil has a great place to hang out -- and in the meantime, Fortune 500 companies will continue to promote Facebook. For free.