Who’s your friend and who’s not? Facebook users can get a rude awakening. Since publishing our three-part series on Facebook in mid-June, I’ve been personally addicted to building a network and exploring the applications offered in the Facebook social community. At the same time, the number of LinkedIn relationship requests I’m receiving has increased exponentially. Suddenly, I’m immersed in social networking, a phenomenon I’ve been following closely, but until now considered the domain of the twelve to twenty-four demographic.
What has stunned me is the breadth and depth of corporate executive participation in Facebook. Facebook is clearly no longer exclusively for the .edu crowd. The implications for executives, however, extend well beyond the obvious connections and networked links. Facebook, LinkedIn and other executive social networks are redefining relationships, self-perceptions, and the very nature of friendship.
I’ve been surprised by the quality of relationships I can initiate and foster on Facebook. Bob Kerrey, former Senator and president of the New School; Wagner James Au, who I quoted in my new Virtual Worlds book; Procter & Gamble interactive marketing executives Vivienne Bechtold and Ted McConnell; AOL founder Steve Case and his wife Jean; Craig’s List founder Craig Newmark; CNBC host Jim Cramer; Google’s Tim Armstrong; Mark Cuban; Don Graham of The Washington Post; Jason Calacanis; YouTube founder Chad Hurley; CBS interactive chief Quincy Jones and his CMO Patrick Keane; Lachlan and Elisabeth Murdoch; AOL’s Ted Leonsis; Bob Pittman; Steve Newhouse; Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales; Steve Wozniak; Carat’s David Verklin and Sarah Fay; Zenith Media’s Peggy Green; Sean Finnegan of OMD; Strauss Zelnick.
Equally interesting are those who have not yet become complicit in the Facebook revolution. The interactive heads of many media agencies, network executives, agency media executives. While a who’s who of interactive media is engaged with Facebook, most of the traditional media community is still … well, traditional.
Through Facebook, I’ve reconnected with Jarl Mohn, who I haven’t seen since he retired from Liberty Media years ago; exchanged e-mails with former AOL programming chief Jim Bankoff and ex-NBC entertainment president Scott Sassa about my new JackMyers website, which they learned about through my Facebook profile update. I’ve found and “friended” Jaclyn Myers, a Purdue student; Jackie Myers, who graduated last year from Salisbury College; Jacqueline Myers of London, Canada; Jack Myers of London, England; Jackie Myers from Kansas; Jack Myers of Michigan State; Brian Myers of The Boston Consulting Group; Jonathan Meyers of Forbes; Al Meyers of Turner Broadcasting; and Ashley Meyers, a hostess at Les Deux in Los Angeles who “gets paid to party.”
Even spending a few minutes on Facebook, you find people you know. Join and do a search for Jack Myers. You’ll find me and while you can’t immediately access my profile page, you can access my listing of nearly 700 friends. Among them, you’re sure to find some people you either know or you’d like to know. Simply send them an invitation to become your friend. “Friend” me first so you’ll have a mutual friend and up the odds of having your invitation accepted.
It get’s interesting when your invitation is either accepted or ignored. Why is someone who I thought was actually a friend and colleague ignoring my invitation? Is he simply not paying attention, or is he consciously "dissing" me? What will I say and how will I act next time I see him? Should I ask why he didn’t accept my invitation? Should I simply avoid the topic? The rules of business friendships and relationships are being changed by Facebook and other social networking sites. A new layer of business judgment is coming into play that we did not anticipate and that most of us are not prepared to manage.
You better not sign up for Facebook unless you plan on paying attention. But you’re making as much a statement by your non-participation as you are by your presence.
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