Ahmed+N+final+report

Ahmed N **Table of Contents** Executive Summary “Briefing on the Social Networking Sites” “Business on Facebook” "Focus Group Result” Recommendation Attachment 1: "Bhangra Explozion" Attachment 2: “GUCCI” References

Since 2003, Facebook has a rapid increase in the number of members. Everyday, people around the world join Facebook and create new accounts that include profiles, advertisements, or events. It started off as a social networking site, but now it is becoming a primary method of advertisement. Until now, businesses have followed several methods of advertisement including signs, displays, newspaper, TV ads, magazines, mails, etc. However, the invention of Facebook has given businesses an innovative style advertisement. At present, business advertisements and event promotions can be spread across the globe in the shortest amount of time and free of charge through Facebook, which makes it a vital component in the advertising department. Many other social networking sites have been popular in the past but Facebook seems to hit the top of the list. MySpace was the original inventor of this new tend of social networking sites, however, overflowing spam created many problems for its users. Facebook is now at a point where it is becoming a pert of life for many of its users. Also, it is beneficent to several people, businesses, and organizations around the globe. We recommend that in the next few months Facebook takes the following steps: · Allow the usage of nicknames on Facebook foe security purposes. · Provide a business user with multiple pages to advertise. · Make a section on the page with the “description of products sold” · Create a special link for performers of specials events for more insight.
 * Executive Summary**
 * Advertising a business: In a unique and appealing manner, Facebook allows its users to create a page about their business that needs to be advertised. Once the page has been created, it can then be sent out to infinite people in a form of an electronic advertisement. If the users are interested, they can then respond by accepting the invitation from the administrator.
 * Promoting an Event: Similar to advertising a business, an event promotion shares the same concept, except that it is a short term advertisement. The invited members just have to answer if they will be attending the event or not. Answering this question gives the administrator of the advertisement, an estimated number of people that might show up.
 * Seasonal Specials: Advertising seasonal specials such as, vacation packages, hotel specials etc, is another way by which the consumers are attracted. Members of the Facebook click on the ad and get the details of what the package has to offer.

Social networking sites allow people to connect to others around the world via any computer with an internet connection. They enable people to interact, communicate and businesses to advertise. Personal contact information, hobbies, business contact information, interests and many other things can be viewed on these pages. Private messaging is another option for any personal information shared online. Users can upload and tag pictures and videos while others make comments on them. Several interest groups are made on Facebook for the users to join and relate to. The two biggest social networking sites are MySpace and Facebook. When MySpace was first established in 2003 by Tom Anderson, it was available to everyone around the world. Within days, it gained so much popularity that people around the world created interactive personal profiles and uploaded photos, videos, and music. Sending messages to each other multiple times a day became a common habit. This seemed to be the quickest and totally free of cost way to keep up with friends and family. MySpace concentrated more on entertainment. Later, Facebook jumped in with almost the same but a bit more elaborate idea. It was accessible to mainly college students. Only after a couple years, the inventor of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg realized the demand of their new and elaborative invention, and opened it for everyone including, high school students and businesses. “Many large corporations are famous for keeping this type of tool under lock” (Lee). Facebook, the more modern and updated version of social networking sites brought to the people several ideas that MySpace lacked. On Facebook, each user can post a status and update it anytime. The privacy factor allows the users to share personal information in a form of private messaging. These messages are only active between the known users. The “poke me” concept was also introduced by Facebook. Another thing that makes Facebook different from MySpace is the use of nicknames and the navigation of unwanted pages. MySpace allows the use if nicknames, however, Facebook requires all users to use their real/full names. Facebook is much more organized and has fewer amounts of popup windows and unwanted web pages, while MySpace is overpopulated with spam. Another option on Facebook called “News feed,” allows member to view all the recent actions that have been taken by their friends on Facebook. Overall, Facebook has well set up and neatly organized profiles. It is easy to navigate through the profiles to find the info you want.
 * Briefing on Social Networking Sites:**

Several businesses now depend on this new development which allows them to expand in their market. It helps them spread out and go beyond their expectations by displaying their advertisements on Facebook. Businesses have always advertised in newspaper, TVs, and magazines. However, this electronic method of advertisement has given many businesses a bright chance to set up in the corporate world. Facebook provides the options to advertise new businesses, special events, seasonal packages etc. Advertisement of new businesses on Facebook is really effective. They are noticed by all users around the globe. Apart from pop up windows, Facebook brought a new way of displaying ads. Every time a user log on, a new business ad is posted on the “news feed” section. When clicked on, the page displays all the necessary details, the business’ name, address, telephone, direction, hours etc. if users are interested in a particular business then they can join that group. “The business networks on Facebook are already enormous and it would have more business contacts than LinkedIn” (Catone). Promotions of special events are more popular on Facebook than the new business advertisements. These short terms ads are usually a page long that display the name of the event, the location, the prices of the tickets, and the number of people attending etc. upon receiving the invitation, the users have to respond to whether they will be attending the event or not. Answering this question gives the administrator of the advertisement, an estimated number of people that might show up. Pictures and videos from the previous events can be viewed on the page to get a visual understanding. All the members attending can communicate and discuss the details on the wall of the page itself. The promotions of events are not only restricted to the celebrity related events, however, people can actually create personal event pages such as; graduation, birthday, club parties etc. Seasonal specials such as vacation packages, hotel offers, or even “free coffee day by Dunkin Donuts” attract the user’s eyes. This type of advertisement helps the business create more customers and revenue in a shorter time period. Consumers are attracted to the word “free.” So a free donut will drag many customers/users of Facebook to a nearby Dunkin Donuts and get a free cup of coffee while they purchase the donuts and other things at regular prices. So, displaying a short term ad will increase the volume of customers as well as the sales of a particular business.
 * Business on Facebook:**

When surveyed, most students agreed that they hardly clicked on any ads advertised on Facebook. And if there were any ads that were being clicked, they were mostly clothing advertisements or party promotions. When I asked what makes them click on a particular ad, Faizan responded, “I mostly look out for any party on weekends or special clothing offers by certain companies, but that’s about it!” · Drink specials on parties · Sale on clothing or appliances · Vacation packages · College event promos · Bright flashing colors with “win a free iPod” · Dinner with a celebrity · Another mouse pointer moving at the bottom asking for you to click · Automatic sounds played on certain ads. The results show that the actual business advertisements are successful in getting their point across. Ads such as drink specials, clothing sales, college events gather way more guests as opposed to the ads with flashy colors. Users are aware that the disliked ads such as, “Win a free iPod” and “dinner with a celebrity” are bogus, which is the reason why they are not clicked on.
 * Focus Group Results:**
 * R****esults of Survey**
 * Liked Ads**
 * Disliked Ads**

We recommend that in the next six months Facebook takes the following steps: · Allow the usage of nicknames on Facebook foe security purposes. · Provide a business user with multiple pages to advertise. · Make a section on the page with the “description of products sold” · Create a special link for performers of specials events for more insight. Facebook should allow the usage of nickname for security purposes. Having the profiles with real names may increase risk factors for all users. Sexual predators may be able to find all information necessary of any member on Facebook. Also, providing the correct name, email, contact altogether online is never a good idea. Business users on Facebook should be able to advertise on multiple pages. The pages should be linked to things such as products, delivery services, specials, flash movie of a business etc. any events advertised should have separate links to the performer’s information. When clicked, the users should be able to read about the performers in details. Any products sold on Facebook should have a separate link that displays things like size, quality, price, new or used, etc.
 * Recommendation:**

This attachment is an example of a Concert promotion that was hosted by an organization called Pakistani Student Association (PSA). The page contains of all the necessary information including the name, number, address, and also the number of guests attending. This attachment is an example of a business advertisement by a clothing company called GUCCI which is also inviting users from around the globe
 * Attachement 1: Bhangra Explozion**
 * Attachment 2: GUCCI**

1. Lee, B (2007, Feb 27th) Facebook Blog [] 2. Catone, E (2006, Mar 2nd) Business of Facebook [] 3. Gold, B (2007, June 10th) Key Features http://mashable.com/2007/06/10/facebook-hammers-myspace-on-almost-all-key-features/
 * References:**