My notes from the 2012 O+A Sessions

In his talk about Facebook and the future of the social web, Facebook’s Paul Adams explained the power of the Social Graph API and how it will change not only the way that we interact with brands, but the way that we use the Internet. He also made the argument that once a user uses a site that correctly users the Social Graph, they will never go back to sites without it.

Most people in marketing and advertising misunderstand Facebook. They don’t understand why people come back every day.

Employees at FB don’t think about tech coming out now. The reason? Tech changes fast, but people change incredibly slowly.

• There is an exponential increase in the speed at which tech is invented.
• People aren’t able to change any faster.

Branding and marketing as a discipline is also very new – 150 years at most. And yet we have trouble adapting to new technology.

“This new tech will produce forgetfulness of those who learn to use it, because they will not practice their memory. You offer the appearance of wisdom, not true wisdom” – Plato referring to the written word

Each new technology brings panic about the loss of privacy – mobile phone is a good example – “people can get a hold of you wherever you are.”

The telegraph was supposed to cause the death of the Newspaper – it was real time communication for the first time. Yet we still have daily papers.

Every time a new media tech comes along, people apply the ways they work with existing media to the new medium.

• People who first used written word wrote like they were talking
• The printing press was first used to print huge manuscripts instead of books because that’s what scribes did
• The phone was supposed to be a broadcasting device like newspaper
• The TV was just a radio with pictures
• The web was and is treated like print or TV

Facebook advertising has been treated like traditional media, but it’s not.

Facebook is about people and their relationships.

• It’s much like a dinner party where you see someone you haven’t seen in a long time.
• When someone comes along and interrupts you, you get ticked — That’s what invasive advertising is like online.

If you want to be successful online, you need to build brands like you build relationships — many lightweight interactions over time. This strategy works fantastic on Facebook.

• They add up to be something that is much more interesting than simply single updates. A summary of your music history or recent restaurant choices is more interesting than a single post about one song or meal.
• After a while, many lightweight interactions lead to a time when getting heavy is appropriate.

Three huge trends that are happening on the Internet
1. The web is being rebuilt around people.

• The web is only 20 years old. We are just coming out of beta.
• It started as a content delivery mechanism.
• Now, the web can be customized based on our Facebook information or our web history.
• Etsy allows you to connect with Facebook and pull a friend’s interests in — it filters its offerings based on their likes.
• This is a much better experience than a static web. Once you’ve experienced it, you’ll never want to go back.
• In a short time, you’ll turn on your TV and it will tell you what you will find interesting based on your history, preferences and friends.

2. The amount of information we can access is increasing exponentially.

• There are a thousand new articles added to Wikipedia every day on top of new articles.
• While the amount of information we generate or can access is increasing exponentially, our memory isn’t. So we will turn to our friends to help store all this information.
• NO MARKETING OR ADVERTISING IS MORE INTERESTING TO PEOPLE THAN THEIR FRIENDS.
• Fighting for attention is basically a race to the bottom.

3. All this information will be everywhere

• People are going to have access to this information everywhere. They will be able to get recommendations from their friends in real-time.
• Mobile is basically like the car — it’s a technological marvel.
• But the car itself  wasn’t what was interesting. It’s the car’s effect. It created suburbia and changed commerce.
• People will be able to reach out to friends and get price comparisons and recommendations any time