Face up to people power

7 Days 10 Jan 10;

The social networking site is being used for a host of causes. But are the campaigns making any difference?

Your boss probably snarls every time they catch you on it, while certain colleagues appear to fill every single hour of their working day on it.

But 350 million people can’t be wrong, and social networking site Facebook could well be of some serious value in the modern age.

The average user spends 55 minutes on the site a day. Could that actually be time well spent?

Well, several recent incidents highlight just how important the phenomenon of social networking on the web really could be in the 21st century.

The social networking site hit the headlines again this week after Pears Traditional Soap, the world’s oldest brand, abandoned a new recipe on the back of an online campaign.

Unhappy users claimed that new ingredients had seen the soap ‘change considerably’. One ‘Bring Back The Original Pears Soap’ campaign later, and it appears as if the manufacturers have bowed to people pressure.

Similarly, an incredible one million music fans mobilised through the web site and set up a campaign which helped American rock band Rage Against the Machine to the UK Christmas No.1 spot over X-Factor singer Joe McElderry.

A new campaign recently launched already has a staggering 130,000 fans of the cult British comedy ‘Gavin and Stacey’ onboard, with the hope and belief that people power in the modern age can force unwilling writers to perform a U-turn and script a new series.

Paddy Smith, technology journalist, believes the concept has helped individuals shape global communication campaigns.

“As a campaigning tool, sites like Facebook are pretty oversaturated, but the fact that some chap in Essex can sit in his bedroom and out-market Simon Cowell to the Christmas number one is testament to its potential,” he says.

“Cowell had a weekly prime-time TV show, billboards in major towns across the UK and more column inches than you can shake a microphone at. “Jon Morter, the 35-year-old who started the Rage Against the Machine campaign, had a PC and a Facebook account.

“It’s handed the power of global mass communication to the individual, and that can be used for anything from inviting a few select friends to dinner to mounting an international campaign on a serious issue.

Facebook’s what you make of it - powerful marketing tool, pointless timesink or perilous identity theft trap.”

Of course the phenomenon is nothing new to the UAE.

HH Sheikh Mohammed, Ruler of Dubai, has his own page and over 118,00 followers. The vice-president of the UAE last year
conducted a Q&A session with journalists and talked about a range of issues including democracy and labour rights.

Elsewhere, more than 26,000 people have signed up in a bid to free the controversial whale shark from the Aquarium housed in Dubai hotel The Atlantis.

Facebook, first launched in 2007, is now also seen as hugely influential by brands in the world of marketing and advertising.
American clothes shop The Gap ditched TV advertising altogether for their recent ‘Born To Fit’ campaign, instead running with a Facebook-based campaign.

Over half a million users have signed up for the page which is aimed at giving the brand ‘credibility’.

But the credibility of a a new ‘bra colour’ status update, recently launched to help raise awareness of breast cancer, has come under fire. Critics have accused campaigners of ‘slactivism’, as any change in status does not help fight the problem or educate.

Similarly, three million have signed up to ‘Stop Global Warming’.

But with just over $38,500 raised on the page, perhaps it’s not quite as easy to part with cash as it is to simply sign up for a campaign.

Good cause or not, a 55-minute stint is still likely to get you into trouble with the boss.

Paddy explains: “Of course, it’s open to abuse, and that’s why a lot of offices block the site.

You don’t want your staff spending all day playing games on Facebook. On the other hand, you probably do want them leveraging the power of social media to generate new business. It’s a tricky call.”

But whether you’re logging in for a good cause or not, individuals must take care.

“As for privacy concerns, those are real and potentially dangerous.” Paddy warns. “My advice is never to put anything on Facebook or any other social network site that you wouldn’t happily give to someone in the street. It’s the users who post their private information.”