Likely not.

Facebook has already become the 800 million pound gorilla (it has 800 active million users worldwide). It will likely grow and the money it collects from its IPO will likely help it reach some strategic goals, but the core aspect of its product will likely not change much if at all.

Maybe it will get better and maybe it will get worse, but change? Let’s see …

• Facebook offers personal profiles to anyone willing to sign up for an account and provide certain specific private information to the company based on its user’s term of service.
• Companies can set up a brand page and promote themselves to users through that page.
• Developers can build apps that interact with Facebook and allow users to engage with marketers, businesses, and savvy development agents.
• Facebook also offers paid advertising models for businesses wanting to reach new prospects.
• You can interact with Facebook through you desktop computer, laptop, smart phone, or tablet.

What else could Facebook offer? What else likely to be offered as a result of the private company becoming public?

Of course, new technologies could lead to Facebook expanding its offerings to its consumer base, but that would happen anyways. The company already has made billions of dollars so the money it collects from the IPO will not likely give it much more financial clout that it already has. So why go public?

It is likely that investors and shareholders realize that certain information is going to end up public anyway so why not be the first to make the disclosure? It’s a good political move for Facebook to go public, but don’t count on the IPO changing the service in any drastic way. Social networking will continue as it has for the last five years.

First, I’d like to know how you can buy a hashtag, but that’s an aside. The real issue is what happened after McDonald’s changed its hashtag from #MeetTheFarmers to #McDStories.

The original hashtag was meant to introduce McDonald’s Twitter followers to the company’s promotion of fresh produce. It worked well. Then, in a flash of brilliance that turned out to be not so brilliant, the company’s social media manager decided to open the door to the universe by expanding its Twitter promotion. Enter #McDStories.

Who doesn’t have a positive McDonald’s story, right? Indeed. And who doesn’t have a negative one. Duh.

You can probably guess what happened next. Followers started using the new hashtag to relate their own McDonald’s stories – chipped molars, regurgitation, food poisoning …. The list goes on.

I think the big lesson here is not how to respond to negative reactions on Twitter or some other social media site. Rather, the real lesson is how to prevent it from happening in the first place. This all could have been prevented had McDonald’s not insisted on opening the door to the universe. All they had to do was keep running the promotion that was working.

When things are going well, don’t change them. Rule #1. Rule #2 is, always ask what might go wrong.

Had McDonald’s social media manager lived by those two rules we wouldn’t be talking about them right now. That second question is particularly important. In social media – and on the World Wide Web in general – once something starts spiraling out of control, it’s hard to get a handle on it. If it’s out there, it’s out there. So put some thought into your moves before you make them. Ask, what can go wrong with this? If the answer is something too big to control or too embarrassing to let go on, don’t make your move. Do something else, or nothing at all.

Like old-fashioned coupons, you can use online coupons to drive new business to your storefront or website. And it works.

One of the things that makes it work is social media. If your offer is so good that your prospects want to share it with their friends, then they will share it will their friends. They’ll share it on Facebook, Twitter, and through e-mail. They’ll share it on any social network where they have a presence, and they’ll use it too.

Online, you can offer the types of coupons that you can off line. You can offer 2-for-1 deals, minimum purchase discounts, coupons that are good only for certain days, perpetual coupons that are good any time of the year, and you can be as creative as you can be with your traditional off line coupons. Your customers can print the coupon and bring it to your business, download it to their mobile phones, tell you the coupon code when they call in their order, or enter the coupon code into a field on your website form.

If you think it through all the way, you’ll see that online coupons are another opportunity for you to reach new customers and increase your business. And they’re as social as other online tool.

Twitter had originally accepted a minimum of $2 million from 20 large companies on the scale of Coca-Cola and Disney for the privilege of being the first companies to have brand pages on the microblogging platform. The pages look quite nice.

The big question is, when will the rest of us gain access to Twitter brand pages and how much will it cost us?

It’s obvious that Twitter is using this opportunity as a way to raise operating funds. But the problem, as I see it, is that the companies spending the most amount of money and getting in earlier will have an advantage over companies with smaller pocketbooks. They’ll effectively be the Twitter users that set the policy for the rest of us. They could use Twitter to shut the door on their competition, and may already have.

Has Twitter sold out to the highest bidder? Has it become a haven for big brands? Will it go by the way of eBay and alienate its smaller, less wealthy users?

Only time will tell or provide any answers to these questions. Meanwhile, if you’ve got $25,000 in your pocket, then you can buy yourself a Twitter brand page. Someday, you might be allowed to establish a Twitter brand page for your company for a monthly or yearly fee. Average that over a lifetime and you could very well spend $25,000, or more, for the privilege of tweeting 140 characters at a time.

Let’s hope that Twitter doesn’t become the social media website of the rich, for the rich, and by the rich.

That’s right, Google+ has improved its +1 button.

The new options include:

• Choosing a width for your Google+ button that works for your website’s design
• Finding a badge that works with the dark background of your website
• Using a badge that also shows your Google+ profile’s circle count

Google+ pages can also display a Google+ badge, which makes them a lot more attractive as well.

It’s already been proven that websites with social media badges get more shares, Likes, tweets, and +1s. Social media sharing is a great way to connect with new followers and potential customers. Google+ is a new social media site that also carries search engine marketing benefits so you can no longer discount it. I highly recommend using it.

Another thing you can do through your website that you should do is encourage your website visitors to add you to their circles on Google+. It’s easy to do and it carries a ton of benefits. I think those benefits are going to get better.

If you’ve been wondering about using social media badges on your website, start with a Google+ badge. Work your way up from there.

Pinterest is an interesting social media experiment. And it looks like it could become one of the powerhouse websites, especially for women, its largest set of users.

The cool thing about Pinterest is that it is highly graphic. Take a look at its home page and you’ll see all the photos and images, and it isn’t cluttered.

The way it works is you set up your own pinboard. You can have one for your company just like Mashable has. And just like Mashable’s, it can be branded.

Notice how Mashable’s pinboard has the Mashable name in it. That’s great for reputation management and branding. Then, on the left, you can see the big Mashable logo with the website URL underneat. Again, that’s great for branding, but the URL back to the website provides a useful inbound link for SEO purposes.

If you look at the pins that Mashable includes on its pinboard, they’re not all self-promotional. They spend a great deal of time promoting other items around the Web. That’s great stuff. It’s the way that it should be done.

You don’t have to be a rabid self-promoter to be successful in social media generally or at Pinterest in particular. You just have to have a solid strategy for your online content, a strategy that includes promoting others while branding yourself. That’s the best social media strategy in the world, and your company can make that happen.

It has its fans, to be sure. Among them are some of the Internet’s biggest voices.

On the other hand, there are some pretty big voices that have criticized it sharply. And they make some good points.

One of the things that has people concerned about Google+ is Google’s policy of favoring Google+ results in its search engine index over its competition. Until now, there has been no real solid proof that is happening. But a new bookmarklet titled Don’t Be Evil is showing the proof in a very uncanny way. You can preview and drag and drop the Don’t Be Evil bookmarklet to your web browser by visiting the Focus On The User website.

The interesting thing about this bookmarklet is its development team. The Focus On The User website says it was built by engineers at Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, “in consultation with several other social networking companies.”

John Battelle, one of those sharply critical voices who is also an Internet journalist, writes about it on his blog.

So here’s the million dollar question: What does this new information in this social media war mean to Google’s, and the Web’s, future? Will the U.S. Department of Justice see Google’s ranking practices as a violation of antitrust laws?

It would be interesting if they did. The result would likely be, at the very least, a forced change in Google’s ranking policies that cause it to rank websites without a preference for Google+. The question is, would that be better for searchers or worse? Google already claims to be doing what is best for the user, but their competition disagrees. What do you say?

Here are 5 types of social networks you might consider for your online marketing needs:

1. Plain Old Vanilla – If you haven’t heard of Facebook, then you probably live under a rock. It’s not the only plain old vanilla social network online, but it is the most popular.
2. Social Bookmarking – These sites, like Delicious.com and countless others, allow you to save a link with a summary of your favorite web pages.
3. Question & Answer – Getting more and more popular every day, sites like Quora and Yahoo! Answers allow users to log on, ask a question, and get an answer from the crowd. Sometimes you’ll get several answers that you can choose from. And the community can often vote on the best answers.
4. Video Sharing – These sites – sites like YouTube and Vimeo – allow users to upload videos that others can view online. And you can use them to drive traffic back to your website.
5. Blogging Communities – Blogging has become the trend of the decade. So why not join a blogging community. There’s one for women called BlogHer and then there are more generalized communities like LiveJournal. They are places for bloggers to meet, share their ideas, and network over conversations.

There are plenty other types of social networks as well. Pick the type that best suits your needs and jump right in.

Really? Do you need that many?

Personally, I think one account at the popular social media websites is enough. If your employees want a personal account at LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook, then allow them the privilege of their own personal accounts. You might even give them some leeway in promoting corporate events and products – with some guidelines, of course. But you don’t need multiple social media accounts.

In a word, it’s overkill.

I would add that it is time consuming and costly to manage more than one account at any social media website. If you have 30 Twitter accounts, you’ll need that many employees to monitor and manage them. Maybe – MAYBE – one employee can manage 3-5 of those accounts, but that would be a full-time job. You still have to pay their salary.

A better use of time and resources is to have one account at each social media website. You have your marketing team manage those accounts – one manager per account. And make sure they talk to each other. You want your social media accounts to work in tandem, not against each other. Make it easy on yourself, not more difficult.

As Seth Godin has been known to say, “Markets are conversations.” Are you discussing, or dictating?

With the rise of social media, websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+, marketers now have to get good at holding conversations. Your audience expects a dialogue. Are you providing it?

I like John Battelle’s distinction between dependent media and independent media. He places sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ in the “dependent” category because bloggers and members of a market niche depend on them for delivering their messages. And receiving those of others. “Independent” media consists of blogs, niche communities, and other websites owned by individual bloggers and website owners.

If you are still dictating your message to your audience, then you are likely alienating them. This is the age of conversations. Join them or start them, but don’t shun them.

Savvy marketers in 2012 use their blogs as launching pads for conversations. They then invite their audience to engage and join that conversation where it is happening. Sales take place only after the marketer has built up trust. You earn that trust by respecting your audience.

Today’s media is social media. You aren’t on TV any more.

Awesome!

This makes me wonder whether Google+ Hangouts can be used for marketing purposes. I don’t see why they can’t. In fact, I know they can.

Brands can set up a Google+ page, but to do so they first need to have a Google+ account. That account has to be a personal account.

So let’s say your CEO gets a Google+ account then sets up a Google+ page for the business. As a page, he could start a hangout and invite anyone he wishes. What he invites all of the page’s circles into a hangout and while inside the hangout he entertains a little while providing a bit of an uplifting marketing message?

The hangout could just last for a minute, but during that minute the CEO could field questions from the people in his circles providing for an interactive marketing moment.

Welcome to the new world of marketing and advertising. Social media is getting better all the time.

In the absence of case law, a case like this is far from open-shut. In fact, it could get dirty. But I suspect that PhoneDog Media saw an opportunity to bully for money.

Ask any lawyer and he’ll tell you that a business should “aggressively” protect its trademark and other business interests. Otherwise, the company could lose them. It’s a standard line, and its one that is often interpreted to encourage business owners to pursue litigation for even the most extraordinary and awkwardly absurd situations.

I’m not saying this situation is “extraordinary and awkwardly absurd,” but if you read the company’s response to The New York Times, it smacks of legal double-talk.

“The costs and resources invested by PhoneDog Media into growing its followers, fans and general brand awareness through social media are substantial and are considered property of PhoneDog Media L.L.C. We intend to aggressively protect our customer lists and confidential information, intellectual property, trademark and brands.”

When employers and employees begin to make handshake agreements regarding the latter’s social media accounts and using them on behalf of company business, it’s an area of law is very murky. It is in both party’s interest to get a contract. It could save a lot of headache in the long run and spell out the particulars that could make a lawsuit unnecessary and avoidable.

Disclaimer: This blog post is not intended to be legal advice. Seek an attorney before making decisions about your social media accounts.

I like the last paragraph of the article cited above:

If the Harvard Study is right and “peer influence is virtually nonexistent,” that doesn’t mean it’s time to throw in the social media towel. All it means is that you may need to adjust your thinking. Instead of pushing to bring new lambs into the fold, sell to the ones you already have corralled.

First, it’s long been a business principle that it’s easier to upsell to current clients than it is to sell to prospects. Nothing new there.

But the study that says that people become friends because they are already interested in the same stuff more than people interest their friends in new things isn’t really new information, is it? I mean, isn’t that how it works in the real world? You become friends with people who have similar interests. You may, once in a while, talk a friend into taking an interest in something new on the basis of your existing relationship. So what?

The so what here is that, though rare, social influence does happen. While it might be savvy marketing to put some money into that influence, there are more cost effective online marketing techniques. And they’re not hard to find.

Timeline has been billed as a new way to use social media. Instead of the traditional profile, your entire life story will appear as photos, videos, posts, stories, and whatever else you post on Facebook. There are two ways to get Timeline right now.

1. You can go into Introducing Timeline and click the green “Get Timeline” button at the bottom of the page; or
2. You can wait until you see an announcement at the top of your profile.

If you’re in a hurry to get your Timeline active, go to Introducing Timeline and get started. But beware. You have 7 days to review your Timeline and remove anything you don’t want to be seen publicly. After that, it’s live and you won’t have a choice any more.

Now the question is, can you use your Timeline for your business? And the answer is, Sure, why not?

The Timeline can essentially be used the same way you currently use your profile for business. The difference is you can now include prominent photos and videos. Everything you upload or post will go into your Timeline. That includes business-related and personal. This could be a great tool for sole proprietors, freelancers and entrepreneurs.

Facebook is moving forward. Are you?

Unfortunately, not everyone can have one just yet.

But with 76% of small businesses saying they use Twitter, that open-to-public launch could come soon.

Currently, Twitter brand pages are only open to a few big brands such as

• American Express
• Best Buy
• Bing
• Chevrolet
• Coca-Cola
• Disney
• General Electric
• McDonald’s
• Nike
• PepsiCo
• Staples
• Verizon Wireless
• Heineken
• Subway
• and Paramount Pictures

just to name a few.

Once Twitter’s brand pages go public, it looks like small businesses will have a troika (triumvirate?) of social media brand pages to promote. So the big question is, what will be the most effective way to promote all three brand pages for maximum effectiveness?

It’s become apparent that each of the social media websites cater to specific personality types. Marketers have discovered that Twitter audiences and Facebook audiences do not line up as the same. Therefore, promotions to each service need to be unique.

That will undoubtedly be the way going forward as well. When you run your brand page specials, you’ll have to have one for Twitter, a separate one for Facebook, and then one for Google+. Are you ready?

• Do you have the resources to manage multiple pages? For every page you have you’ll need at least one administrator. Does your administrator have time to manage those pages while also attending to their other duties within the company?
• Do you have the money to outsource the administration of your Facebook pages? If you cannot have someone inside your organization manage your pages, then you’ll have to pay someone else to do it. Is it affordable?
• Does each Facebook page have a strategy? It’s conceivable to have a Facebook page for each product you sell or each division within your company, but you also need a strategy for each page. Who is responsible for developing that strategy and is implementation feasible for each page you want to develop?
• Do you have enough content to fill each page you want to develop?

Facebook marketing has become a strategy all on its own. Make sure you have the proper resource before you implement a Facebook marketing strategy, including multiple pages for your business.

• Facebook settles privacy dispute with FTC. Of course, there were no fines levied, but Facebook will have to undergo a biannual privacy audit for the next 20 years. Will that change anything? This specific ruling may not change much in the near short term, but I’d expect to see more privacy laws in place to protect online consumers and Internet users.
• Did Facebook purchase Gowalla? Neither Facebook nor Gowalla are confirming these rumors, but CNN reported it as true.
• Facebook is opening an office in New York. The office will be an engineering office and they are now accepting applications.
• Facebook Insights includes negative feedback. If you have a business page on Facebook and you want to know when someone has left negative feedback, you’ll now be able to see that in your page metrics through Facebook Insights.
• Facebook will run a mini-web series. Looking for entertainment? It’s supposed to be a documentary.

With all this talk of Facebook, if you run a business and you want to know the best practices for marketing through Facebook, talk to someone who knows how to meet your needs.

Unfortunately, some businesses – big businesses, in particular – are still trying to play the mass media game. But it doesn’t work. Not in conversations.

The Internet allows consumers and marketers to enter into a conversation where they can mutually agree to terms that benefit both parties. That’s what commerce has traditionally been based on. Both parties receiving a benefit in exchange for a benefit. And that’s what the Internet fosters as well. You and your clients can enter into transactions that lead to mutual benefit. But it starts with a conversation.

Online, conversations generally take place through social media.

If you’ll open up accounts at the popular social media hot spots – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ – then you can enter into conversations with your customers, or prospective customers. Then you can take those conversations to your blog and ultimately to your internal communications – videoconferencing, phone, e-mail, etc.

Don’t overlook the power of conversational marketing. It is a two-way street that offers untold benefits in the digital age.

Social media has only been around a short while, but it’s undoubtedly the way to market your business online today. And I don’t mean in the usual way that most Internet marketers today think of as social media.

The big secret in this industry is that most Internet marketers are about five years behind the times. Yes, five years.

They’re still trying the hard sell. They’re still pretending like SEO is the holy grail of online marketing. And they’re still banking all their social media coin on social bookmarking. But that’s not what social media is all about.

What it is about is building relationships. It’s about attracting the type of person you want to do business with. Nothing more, nothing less.

When you employ a successful social media campaign, you’ll know in the gut that you’ve made the right connections. And many times that translates into positive SEO. But if that’s your end goal, then you’re doing it wrong.

A look at the numbers is really telling:

Very Effective:

• Facebook = 36%
• Twitter = 14%
• Video sharing = 14%
• LinkedIn = 10%
• Review sites = 7%
• Google+ = 5%
• Local/daily deals = 5%
• MySpace = 1%

Moderately effective:

• Facebook = 47%
• Twitter = 32%
• Video sharing = 23%
• LinkedIn = 24%
• Review sites = 12%
• Google+ = 7%
• Local/daily deals = 6%
• MySpace = 2%

Don’t use the site:

• Facebook = 4%
• Twitter = 24%
• Video sharing = 47%
• LinkedIn = 38%
• Review sites = 65%
• Google+ = 70%
• Local/daily deals = 76%
• MySpace = 81%

I don’t think anyone is surprised that more than 80% of small businesses aren’t using MySpace. What is surprising is that 76% of small businesses aren’t using the local and daily deals websites. Or that 65% aren’t using review sites.

While it’s easy to say that Facebook is effective for the small businesses that are using it, it’s really difficult to compare it to sites they aren’t using. Can we really compare?

Who’s to say that review sites and local deals sites wouldn’t be more effective if more businesses didn’t use them?

The question on everyone’s mind is whether or not there is a social media site poised to give Facebook a run for its money. Right now it seems that Google+ might have the mojo, but getting small business owners to try it seems to be the challenge.

If you are a small business owner and you’re ready for social media, are you going to try Facebook? Do you see an alternative?