In the midst of the open graph announcement, privacy concerns, and design changes out of the blue, I was surprised to see a call out for beta testers on the Facebook homepage.
Here's what they're looking for:
Help us build the future of Facebook.
We at Facebook are preparing to launch a brand new product to the world. We think it will be as exciting as Facebook Photos and Facebook Events, but we need your help to make it great.
As a beta tester, your job will be to ask great questions and provide great answers about your favorite topics. Economics? Skydiving? Relationships? Mexican Restaurants? It's up to you. You'll be the first person outside of Facebook to use this product. Your expert writing will be seen by tens of millions of people â€" including job recruiters. And we'll bring our best beta testers out to California to tour Facebook headquarters and meet the team.
This sounds very similar to Wikipedia, and with the new Community Pages filling that space, what could they be possibly planning now? Honestly, I think Facebook is having an identity crisis. They are no longer at the point where they should be throwing stuff against the wall and seeing what sticks. With over 400 million users and major brands creating engaging pages for their consumers, there's a huge opportunity to build on what's right in front of them, not something new.
I think that Facebook should monetize the brand pages and give companies access to more functionality that will allow them to connect in the most relevant way possible with their unique consumers. What major brand wouldn't want to pay a fee to customize their space on Facebook and not constantly run into hiccups once Facebook decides to change something out of the blue? And with Facebook fans being valued (albeit questionably) at $3.60 and a new study claiming someone who has Liked a brand will spend an average of $71.84 more each year on that brand's products or services, this seems like a no brainer.
Maybe it's because I'm a marketer, but even as a consumer, I would love to have improved interactions with brands on Facebook. Pages allow for an authentic engaging experience, as opposed to ads which just are disruptive and sometimes annoying. So why not shift spending from traditional ads and move towards creating brand pages that foster relationships with consumers? Isn't that what Facebook at its core is about?
What do you think?