Everyone likes friends. Friends are there for you when you need them. Friends are there to talk to you, hang out with you, have good times with. Friends in the Web 2.0 world (ugh buzz word) can mean something completely different though. Friends on Facebook may mean something to one person and something completely different to another. Friends on Twitter? You have followers. You follow them back possibly. Are they your friend? Sure. Some of them are. Others? No way.
So what’s the big deal about having a bunch of friends online? From what we’ve seen,Web 2.0 friends are there to share your ideas with, retweet your tweets, post links to your blog and help create an online presence for you or your brand. When I saw this blog today about Burger King encouraging users on Facebook to ditch friends on Facebook to get a free Whopper, my first reaction was: WHAT?. Then I thought: BRILLIANT. Getting rid of friends is actually a positive thing these days.
There is too much noise out there on social networks. There is no reason to follow 5,000 people on Twitter or friend thousands on Facebook because honestly…you’re probably not going to listen to all that they’re saying so what’s the point? You need to listen to targeted people that supply content that you’re interested in. Then, you need to respond and interact. This builds your brand and adds value to the community. Brands should do the same and interact with their audience—not just the mass community. While this may not be the overall goal of the campaign, I’m interested to see the results. How easy is it for people to just clean up some people they’re not interested in hearing about anymore for a free burger? Then, when they realize how great it is to clear out some of the clutter, will they continue to do so for their personal benefit?
What do you think?
Photo courtesy of Paul Watson.
