After a failed bid for Twitter and my own rather unscientific anecdotal observations of reduced activity, it seems Facebook has rallied together for a redesign of their interface, one which appears to be one of their more momentous evolutions of the platform yet.

Though Facebook is not receiving the buzz that some of the newer tools are receiving, they are beginning to mature as a platform in terms of development and their user base.
As of January 2009 Facebook can count over 150 million users of which the largest growing demographic is the women over 55 bracket and the former college only hangout is now home to an audience of which 45% are over 26 years old.

As advertisers try to figure out the conundrum to reach consumers in an age when media consumption is in a revolutionary state there seems to be a race amongst the social networks to prove, who can deliver the best channel for brands and organisations to reach their customers.

Facebook is making moves to tap into the deep search of Twitter which has only started to scratch the surface of its potential in helping brands identify conversations, real time word of mouth and engage their consumer base.

For the average business, large or small, Facebook is a part of the online marketing mix that cannot be ignored. It is the largest online social network with the broadest reach and over the last few years it has become the lowest common denominator of personal web presence and the rolodex of online contacts and a graph of our offline network.

Their new developments and design seek to extend their role in our social interactions online and offline.

Here are three new features and how you can leverage them to engage your community.

Newsfeed

The new newsfeed is a big departure from what the average Facebook user is used to, however twitter and friendfeed users will be instantly familiar with the real-time messaging, user aggregation and threaded comments.

Facebook has always done a great job managing the integrated flow of online and offline interactions and has harnessed those interactions better than any other platform. With the new design they are looking to ramp up the real-time content, user interaction through the comments and add more rich media from posted links, FB Connect enabled websites, brands and Facebook Pages.

The advantage of this is that Facebook will become more than a static newsfeed of pictures and status changes and become more of an aggregator of real-time content and conversations.

One priority they made in the new design was emphasis on the communications from the brands which has been a major sticking point for brands trying to gain traction on Facebook. The new design embraces and integrates brands into the conversation.

For a smart marketer this gives you a great avenue to engage and provide value to users. However it is important to understand that Facebook is an avenue you share with people’s social lives and the line should be toed carefully.

Pages

Pages were designed to be the corporation presence on the active social network. However over the last few years I have been continuous disappointed with the road blocks to communication and engagement by the format.

The biggest issue was that people weren’t returning to pages. Though there was greater flexibility in the apps and code that could be added, it seemed the content was closed off from users and the updates feature that was developed to be an alternative to the inbox messages were not being opened.

Now with the redesign the pages are a unique identity similar to the profile in their ability to contribute to the social networks and the newsfeed.

By creating a page for you brand you now have a new way to reach your customers in real-time, communicate effective and provide value through rich media.

This can become a great tool to reach out, engage and provide value to your customers but you must also be careful not to bombard your ‘Fans’ with marketing messages.

Take note, it is not an advertising medium it is a tool to engage and provide value.

Toolbar

I personally have found Facebook to be static in the past but the new Facebook Toolbar for Firefox does a great job in helping you manage your Facebook profile without logging in.

You can post articles or status updates to your newsfeed while surfing the web.

Does this mean you should tell your Facebook friends what you had for lunch?

NO

But it is a great tool to post pertinent and insightful content that will help you reach your consumer base.

So what does this mean for businesses? Well this is unchartered territory. Facebook is still very much a personal space and the users are not used to interacting with brands. However if you go in with the mentality to connect and provide value it could be an interesting part of your marketing strategy.

This is a social network, approach it the same way as would a real life networking event. Please don’t be ‘that guy’ that hands out flyers at every networking event.

Photo credit, escapedtowisconsin