When I was a kid, I used to stay a lot at my Aunty’s in Marske-by-the-Sea on the North Sea coast . It was great fun. I loved the beach, even if it was freezing cold, which it often is up there! I remember vividly my cousin Diane posting a note (which was there for years) on the back of the bathroom door that said, “Smile, you’re on Candid Camera,” referring to a TV program from the 60s. Little did I know at the age of 8 how ironic that was. It took me until I was 38 to read George Orwell’s “1984″.

We have spent the last 30-plus years locking down our homes with mortice locks and deadbolts, but we seem to have completely forgotten about our personal privacy, which can actually leverage equal damage. Now, it’s too late. Privacy is gone. That longstanding aspect of our lives is as extinct as the dodo. Our data has been assimilated by the big social networks for up to 7 years, by Google for 12 years, by mobile phone companies for 20 years, and by the banks and governments for even longer.

Its an ordinary day, but you’re doing something special; you’re meeting friends for a coffee in a store down town. You’re chatting, you’re gossiping, you’re catching up,  discussing the merits of disposable nappies or, the latest offering from a mobile network company. Suddenly, right there next to your table somebody starts walking up and down with a placard showing the brand name of those companies on it you have been talking about. You laugh at it, you try to ignore and after a few moments become irritated by it.

Then, even ruder, you’re having a conversation about your next holidays in New Zealand and up pops a message board right there in the middle of the table. It might be quirky to begin with, even fun, but eventually that interruption becomes nothing short of bombardment. That’s what and will happen on a fundamental basis in the future. And it won’t stop there. That person that was walking up and down with the placards with the nappy brand on it, was discreetly looking through your handbag taking data that will help that same person market to you when you’re sat on the loo and on the intercom in your new car when ‘social’ introduces itself to the driving experience. Welcome to in real life what Facebook and Twitter are doing to you online. Of course you know that.

Most of us would admit that when Facebook launched way back in 2004, it was a game changer. It stole the show and created demand for social networking, which individuals across the world didn’t know they needed. In the last year, though, Facebook has changed, as it becomes busy fulfilling the demand not of its users but of the brands that drive its revenue and shareholder value, other brands will see that the gate has opened and the horse has bolted! Opportunities are everywhere, and everything can be remade. Unthink is just one of the first out of the traps.

Facebook’s changes in the last few weeks are just tweaks. Seriously, they’re not revolutionary. When Henry Ford brought the first mass-produced motor car to the market in 1908 it changed the world, but since then the industry has just been fiddling with the original design. When James Dyson launched a snazzy new vacuum cleaner it was a game changer, but since then all they have been doing is fine tuning.

Its a modern day newspaper, the only difference is the conversations happening in the stream. Effectively, Facebook’s days as a truly social network are over. Its stepped over the precipice into the world of advertising and broadcasting. That’s okay. We are learning that broadcast and social can live in harmony as long as the audience find it acceptable.

There are now two distinct groups inhabiting Facebook; the consumer and the brand. The consumer of products, conversations and information, and brands, that are quite literally trying to gain attention and sell product. There are some huge challenges ahead for both groups and not least Facebook who really are only the enablers and facilitators in this huge caldron of digital and social.

Consumers will fall into two categories:

1. Those willing to tolerate the constant broadcasting and advertising of the mighty and imposing brands now occupying Facebook space. They will choose to just ignore it (like we do TV and newspaper advertising) and carry on with sharing conversations and information with their peers. Or, they will actually start to engage in social commerce, by actually buying products via the adverts on Facebook.

Now the dust has settled for a while let’s keep this simple, I detest complication! Its not a case of whether Facebook goes for an IPO, its just a matter of when. On balance it looks like the company is going to be forced to make the move legally combined with demands being placed on it by its current investors and employees. By October 2011, it will have accumulated more than 500 shareholders so under The Securities Exchange Act of 1934, it is obliged to start reporting its performance and submit a plethora of auditing. It’s candidly easier for the company to go public. Employees (there are 1400 of them) seem to be pushing hard as at present they are restricted on cashing in on their stock. And possibly more importantly, if there is a slow down in Facebook’s growth, it may be indicating its peaking. That makes sense for existing investors to sell, but makes no sense for new investors to buy stock.

I was kindly asked by Social Me to write this blog post. Social Me is a collaboration between Chris Hall (Cow Bell) and Kate Spiers (Wisdom London.) www.socialme-dia.co.uk/blog

The ‘following’ or the ‘liking’ is not a tick box activity – if so, it just renders social media worthless. We seem to have become obsessed with numbers, how many friends, fans and followers we have. It’s immaterial, superfluous and limiting.

We all use social media in differing ways. That’s fine. In fact, it’s downright cool, however, there is no point in having 1000, 5000, 10 000 followers if you are not enabling anything. Whatever the number, we have to start thinking quick about how to build relationships with people. That means serving our fans imaginatively, energetically and profitably over the long haul.

Relationships don’t develop, cement and become strong without attention. We need to wander around, understand and actually show up to our social media communities. We are not collecting numbers. We are collecting human beings who want conversation and interaction. Our primary role on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin etc is to help followers/fans fulfill their goals whether it be connecting, conversation or participation. We do that by intrinsically understanding what people value, and what inspires and motivates them. Simple.

Well that’s quite an audacious statement. If we are to believe Dunbar’s theory, we can’t have a close relationship with more than 150 people – which is perhaps why we have become sucked into the chasm of irony: broadcasting on social media. Trey Pennington talks about “I see you”, meaning that you believe and communicate that all followers are important and special. He is right, but it does leave us wondering how the to deal with it when the list gets longer and longer each day. How do you stay close to 1000 people?

A suggestion; consider looking at your Twitter/Facebook/Linkedin followers as an eco system that has a number of sub communities encased within it. Each follower is of equal importance. They are just different. The value, information and engagement you have may be diverse. Look at the communities that are local, where you can meet face to face. Or remotely-based where ‘eye balling’ will be difficult. Perhaps it might be business sector or interest specific. Then use the tools we have to converse, share, participate on a regular basis with ‘common’ groups of people. And, occasionally mix it up too!

If you are not being attentive or interested, you’re saying something about how much that person means to you. It’s about constantly offering recognition and showing people that you have noticed. Everyday we need to be able to demonstrate, as much to ourselves as anyone else, what we have specifically done that has helped/supported the differing groups in our social media communities.

If you don’t do this, then what the hell is the point?

You can’t avoid it. You can’t sweep it under the rug and you certainly can’t run like hell. We know the online world is starting to overpower the offline world. We can now start to show case studies of how big corporates are radically overhauling their marketing budgets towards social media activity.

People are talking about it, having conversations about it, delivering seminars about it, meeting about it, discussing it and, of course, doing it! You can’t stop what’s happening but you must understand this social media explosive wave of communicating with customers and spreading ideas. The implications are both fascinating and daunting.

It’s evolving rapidly and is causing huge problems for companies large and small. Marketing campaigns you’ve used over the last 3 years have become irrelevant. Before you think I’m thrusting Facebook down your neck and recommending you immediately create fans stop! It’s too late now just to test it out, you’ll fail. You can’t do what I did 18 months ago and plunge into it with no armbands just to see what it was like and whether it was for me. I did! I love it and hate it at the same time. But, life has moved on, its too serious for you to see it as a side issue.

I know how people are feeling, particularly those who haven’t done anything on the social media front yet and those who are wanting to rack things up this year. It presents a paradox; exciting and overwhelming! The key thing to think about is that actually the technology doesn’t really matter….it can almost do anything! What we all need to focus on, no matter what stage we are at, is how social media can help you � to develop relationships with people.

Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff in their book ‘Groundswell’ quote “people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions like corporations.” I � would add that this is not a trend that is about to go away, in fact, its likely to blow your business model apart over the next few years. As I mentioned earlier, its not something you can dabble in anymore, you need understanding, structure and strategy.

With hindsight, I’d consider following these four steps before embarking on a marketing approach that is not a spectator sport:

1. Read, read and read. Follow people who know what it’s all about and understand why its happening.

2. Understand what it is! It’s not just Facebook and Twitter. Consider some case studies.

3. Think about how you can use it to develop relationships with your customers, suppliers, people and community. It’s about allowing participation and having a conversation.

4. Then, with help, build a strategy that can be implemented. A focused approach that doesn’t expect miracles overnight but that gradually and solidly sustains your marketing over the long term.

Hope that helps!