FACEBOOK GOES ON SALE They say you can't buy your friends, though a new service from an Internet-based social media marketing company is about to prove that old adage incorrect. uSocial.net -- the company who recently began selling followers on Twitter -- has just launched a new suite of services for Facebook, enabling people to purchase friends and fans depending on their needs. But why would someone want to buy their friends on Facebook? Well according to company CEO Leon Hill, that's a very easy question to answer. "Facebook is an extremely effective marketing tool as anyone with a large number of targeted friends or fans can attest to." Said Hill. "The only problem is that it can be extremely difficult to achieve such a following, which is where we come in." uSocial say they are able to very accurately target friends to be added to a user's account by interest group or industry and also geographic location, making marketing any product or service to them extremely easy. Orders are being taken on the site now and more information on uSocial's new service can be gathered by going to http://usocial.net/facebook_marketing. Is Social Media a fad? This morning, Phil Cooke (http://www.philcooke.com) who lives in LA and is a Christian media producer, linked to a new YouTube video that puts the impact of these sites into some perspective. *By 2010, Gen Y will outnumber Baby Boomers *96% of them have joined a social network *It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million users *It took TV, 13 years to reach 50 million users *It took the internet 4 years to reach 50 million users *Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months *If Facebook were a country it would the world's 4th largest after China, India and the US Fascinating statistics - the challenge is how to use them in your business or organisation. if you need a quote or just want to understand where the Digital World is headed - .... A recent story in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/magazine/30FOB-medium-t.html?ex=1267502400&en=f7e903e7a9a19300&ei=5087&WT.mc_id=NYT-E-I-NYT-E-AT-0902-L14 I found interesting the quitting association here: leaving exodus and leaving church. Put "Why I Quit" into Google, and the search engine proposes you look into both "Why I Quit Facebook" and "Why I Quit Church." If you aim to be a lapsed social networker, wikiHow, the collaborative how-to guide, provides a useful step-by-step way to disengage, emotionally and practically: wikihow.com/quit-facebook. AN INQUIRY You're not the first to think it's creepy to have your personal life commercialized. Jürgen Habermas has been especially eloquent about this. Start with "The Theory of Communicative Action." Copies are available on AbeBooks.com. Also interesting on this score: "The Purchase of Intimacy," by Viviana Zelizer. Shalom/Salaam/Pax! Rowland Croucher Justice for Dawn Rowan - http://dawnrowansaga.blogspot.com/
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