Well, it looks like facebook has decided to make another move to increase the addictiveness of their social networking platform:
(HT to Mark Johnson @ TechRepublican)
From CO-ED Magazine:
Facebook is set to launch a highly anticipated chat feature in the next 2 weeks to allow for real time communication within the popular social network.
While I can see this being just as annoying as the “poke” feature, I also see great value in something like this for issue and political advocacy campaigns, especially if there are features like group chat available.
One of the most difficult things for political campaigns who reach out to young people is actually getting them to show up to events. Sure, a campaign will see that 200 students signed up for a campaign event near campus, but the reality is that if 50% of those people show up, you can consider that a phenomenal turnout.
I think part of the reason for this is because its so easy to click “accept” or “confirm” when you receive something in your inbox without thinking about the timing and/or purpose. However, when you add another level and point of communication to your outreach efforts (in this case the chat feature), I think it becomes much more likely that your conversion rate from online to in person activities will significantly increase, simply because people will have to think about what you are proposing before they enter their reply in the chat box.
I’m sure it seems foolish, but I’m sure everyone can think of event invitations that they have received on Facebook and only clicked “attending” because you supported the person hosting the event.
Furthermore, if there is a group chat feature in this implementation, just imagine how easy it would be for organizations, campaigns, etc to collaborate in real time on a site young people frequent more than most others.
Another good example of how something like this could really have a place in politics/nonprofits is by having exclusive chat sessions with elected officials, organization presidents, etc for those members that have gone above and beyond the call of duty.
Whether that be a reward for someone who has helped grow the organization by recruiting members using the “causes” application, or simply by suggesting new contacts for the fan page, this additional point of contact could have a variety of implementations in the political and nonprofit worlds.
However, if this new feature cannot handle group chat, I think that it could be seen as a lacking product that can be more annoying than anything.
Either way, Facebook is doing an excellent job of keeping people hooked while still raking in millions of dollars in advertising revenue.
2009 Facebook IPO? Anyone? Anyone?
