Facebook for Business debuts: 1-up over 'social-only' Google+

By | July 27, 2011, 3:58am PDT

Summary: Facebook for Business debuts, teaching businesses how to take advantage of the Facebook platform. Who said social was a fad?

Last night, Facebook’s latest “feature set” is set towards the business end of the social network user base.

Designed for small, medium and large businesses alike, the new Facebook for Business Center is the company’s attempt at bringing nay-sayers and skeptics towards the 700 million users and advertise, sell and “grow your business”.

If you were expecting jazz bands and an all-singing all-dancing welcome, you may be disappointed. In reality, it consolidates pages, adverts, sponsored stories and platform elements of the site and assists business newbies into how Facebook can work for them.


(Image via Flickr)

As Colleen Taylor points out, the timing for this is key. With so many Facebookers defecting to Google+, yet with a brewing controversy over ‘real names’ — something Facebook users have had to contend with for some time — the timing for this business update is important for competition.

But as Google+ is still in its infancy, yet to be used en mass by businesses, and still only used by a small proportion of the users that Facebook has to offer, Facebook is effectively asserting its dominance over the up and coming star of the social world.

While social is not going away any time soon, Facebook is an immensely powerful platform to take advantage of. But with skeptics dismissing social as a fad, it will fall down to one, simple thing: get in, or your business will fail.

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Topics

Zack Whittaker, a criminologist who studied at the University of Kent, Canterbury, is a journalist, writer and broadcaster.

Disclosure

Zack Whittaker

I worked briefly with Microsoft UK in 2006 but no longer have any connection with the company. Regardless, I remain impartial and unbiased in my views.

I don't hold any stock or shares, investments or industrial secrets in any company, but have signed confidentiality agreements with a number of UK and U.S. organisations, whose names I am not at liberty to disclose.

I was involved with Kent Union, the University of Kent's student union, undertaking voluntary, non-salaried, elected positions between early 2009 and mid-2010.

No other company, body, government department, non-governmental organisation or third sector organisation employs me or pays me a salary in any capacity whatsoever.

As a freelance journalist, whenever expenses are given and taken by a company that is not CBS Interactive, these will be disclosed in each relevant post to ensure transparency.

I currently work with a UK law enforcement unit, but this is an entirely separate position which bears no connection to other work.

(Updated: 23rd October 2011)

Biography

Zack Whittaker

Zack Whittaker, criminologist who studied at the University of Kent, UK, is a journalist, writer and broadcaster.

After studying criminology at university, though still in his early-20's, he has already had a series unconventional work and voluntary positions. He has worked with researchers studying neurological illnesses like Tourette's syndrome (which he suffers from), has given lectures on the nature of disabilities in the public community, and occasionally ends up speaking on television and radio discussing the events of the day.

He first had academic work published at the age of 22, then still an undergraduate, and has been cited by a wide range of publications: from the Huffington Post, Business Insider, AllThingsDigital, The Atlantic Wire and CBS News.

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RE: Facebook for Business debuts: 1-up over 'social-only' Google
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0 Votes
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Contributr
Fail?
dahowlett 27th Jul
'But with skeptics dismissing social as a fad, it will fall down to one, simple thing: get in, or your business will fail.'

That's a bit strong isn't it?
0 Votes
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Already happening I thought
root12 27th Jul
I thought businesses are already advertising on Facebook, that's the way Zuckerburg has made his billions.
@root12
I think these are mostly simple banner type adds as opposed to having accounts with company profiles with ads.
Personally I can see where they are going with this but I cannot see it besting having dedicated websites.
0 Votes
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Fast changing landscape
kraterz 27th Jul
G+ may be in its infancy, but this landscape is changing extremely quickly. As a business owner, I would use FB for a little publicity, nothing more, and definitely not as the major source of my revenue or customer base. I wonder what things will look like in a year's time.
0 Votes
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What?
facebook@... 27th Jul
Is this an old article? I see no new functionality in Facebook for Business.
0 Votes
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Gee, What Vision You Have Zack.
sikboy@... 27th Jul
So the totally dominant Facebook, is (plus) one-upping (very clever there Zack) 4 week old G+. Wow, that's really amazing coming from Facebook, isn't it.

The fact that a 1 month old network can start making Facebook jump and put out a webpage that is supposedly about business, is what's really amazing.

Write something interesting and stop making us waste our time reading your excuse for an article.
The fact that Facebook seem to be trembling before a one month social network which is, as of now, 30 times smaller than them says more about the upcoming battle than this mere redesign says about how dependent any business(model) might on a single social network.

Social is not a fad. Ok, facebook is not a fad either. I don't think Google has real intention of crushing Facebook(they have enough problems with accusations of monopoly elsewhere), but appearing so might be part of the game. The immense value Google is bringing to social imo is showing that we don't need to take Zuckerberg's b*llshit about privacy being a delusion of our heads. Google's playing the field in such a way that they will force Facebook to revamp its privacy design. That's quite enough for me.
0 Votes
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Message has been deleted.
shekharverma Updated - 28th Jul
Someone reported my comment as spam instead this comment above, which is the one you intended to report I think.

An addendum to my last comment: Also Google has concretes plans of adding an app platform and business profiles, it's just not the right time (probably according to their own strategy).
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