SmallBizResource Blog -- SmallBizResource

What Can Facebook Do For Your Business?

Posted by Naomi Grossman Sunday, Sep 23, 2007, 01:36 PM ET

My daughter just showed me her Facebook page. It's cute, she "friends" people, she's got a "wall" where people leave comments.

But is it a small business tool?

In InformationWeek, J. Nicholas Hoover makes the case that there is a business angle to the site. He writes that "Facebook is home to more than 1,000 business-oriented community groups, including Facebook for Business, with 5,300 members." But for perspective's sake, he adds that "Facebook's "I Use My Cell Phone To See In The Dark" group has more than 100,000 members."

In larger sized companies I can sort of see how the site can be used to facilitate communication within departments although, as Hoover points out, "While social networks open to anyone's membership are an iffy proposition in some companies, they can serve as templates for businesses creating social networks behind a firewall."

Those businesses have the resources to essentially create their own social networks.

But what can small business people get out of a social networking site like Facebook?

The only thing I can think of is as a cheap way to get the word out about your product or service. But are the teens and college kids that largely populate the site interested?

I still think most people use this site for fun or, at most, to hunt for jobs. Are any of you small business owners out there putting Facebook, or any of these social networking sites, to work for you? Let us know how.

Networking & Communications | SmallBizResource