Is the idea of a website dying?

[TRF]

Obviosly several billion websites aren't just going to vanish, but does big business concentrate more on their website or more on their facebook page?

I'm a web developer, have been for about 15 years. And I have been noticing how strong the social marketing movement has become. It seems the very best way to directly communicate with customers is via facebook and twitter, with the nod to facebook as the leader. What I find interesting is integrating social networking tools into a website isn't overly difficult, especially for larger companies that can afford a few good programmers. But they don't do it. Not only is it easier to just use facebook, it makes more sense from a profit standpoint. A company would be remiss NOT to have a facebook page. probably 50% of the information considered "news" about an organization would be disseminated quicker via facebook and twitter than by it's homepage.

And this model really works for ALL websites. News, Ecommerce, education etc.

I used to have a facebook page, and dropped it because it ate up so much of my time. It can be addicting, kinda like Redszone except with farms.

[Redsfan320]

I think you're onto something. Everyone has a FB now, and yeah, it does seem easier to update.

320

[westofyou]

We are spending huge amounts of cash on a new Portal, services and consumer facing businesses need a toolbox to service the consumer.

Facebook can't even touch the functionality required to run a business on the web, it's basically a revolving billboard.

[Caveat Emperor]

. A company would be remiss NOT to have a facebook page. probably 50% of the information considered "news" about an organization would be disseminated quicker via facebook and twitter than by it's homepage.

The problem, though, is that social media diminishes in it's primary value (being social with friends / collegues) the more it gets cluttered with business and advertising garbage.

There will eventually be a tipping point where peolpe start moving away from things like Facebook and Twitter when they become overly congested.

[Roy Tucker]

We are spending huge amounts of cash on a new Portal, services and consumer facing businesses need a toolbox to service the consumer.

Facebook can't even touch the functionality required to run a business on the web, it's basically a revolving billboard.

+1

Facebook is good for a presence and a "me too" thing and pointers to the real websites.

But Facebook is awfully lightweight when it comes to real e-commerce needs. At my last job, we took a deep dive look at Facebook for a possible corporate usage and there just wasn't much there. Not to say they won't put it in in the future, but it's like woy said, a revolving billboard.

[TRF]

I don't think it can replace the functionality of commercial ecommerce software. I do think businesses are using it to promote their products more than they use their websites to do it, which is a sharp contrast to, say, 5 years ago.

The college i work for is trying to do a lot of their promotion around facebook, something i resisted at first.

It seems to me, the company website is now the backend, with social media sites the public face, at least for now. The industry trends change so quickly that if you become involved in designing an application, you can miss some stuff if you don't pay attention.

[TRF]

The problem, though, is that social media diminishes in it's primary value (being social with friends / collegues) the more it gets cluttered with business and advertising garbage.

There will eventually be a tipping point where peolpe start moving away from things like Facebook and Twitter when they become overly congested.

I'd say Twitter is overly congested now. That and it's a powerful direct mail marketing tool, even if the marketing seems to lead towards personalities rather than products.

So Chad whatever the heck his last name is now, tweets to his thousands of followers that he's changing his name back to Johnson. More than a few of those followers will be looking to be the first to get the new jersey. A ripple effect.

[Roy Tucker]

I don't think it can replace the functionality of commercial ecommerce software. I do think businesses are using it to promote their products more than they use their websites to do it, which is a sharp contrast to, say, 5 years ago.

The college i work for is trying to do a lot of their promotion around facebook, something i resisted at first.

It seems to me, the company website is now the backend, with social media sites the public face, at least for now. The industry trends change so quickly that if you become involved in designing an application, you can miss some stuff if you don't pay attention.

Yeah, Facebook is the big thing now so everyone wants to have a presence there. You'd be stupid not to.

To me though, it has a feel of a square peg in a round hole when it comes to businesses and products. It works well for people and personalities, but a FB page for Tide HE just doens't work well for me. Its all a flat structure that will get incresingly harder to navigate. Kinda like the .com domain.

Like CE said, it may reach a tipping point where its all too clogged and convoluted, like what happened to MySpace.

[TRF]

MySpace fell, IMO due to a complete lack of standards. It was cool if you were 15 right up until you couldn't read it.

Maybe dying was the wrong word. Evolving is better, and it is evolving faster than i expected. If Facebook manages to integrate an e-commerce package with some robust functionality, smaller sites will gravitate to it. I may not want to be friends with Tide HE, but I might want to be friends with Tascosa Hot Sauce. It would be a place to exchange recipes and purchase the product. Skyline Chili, could be another example.

[Reds4Life]

I work for a Fortune 10 company, and for us the website is still king. We don't use facebook, or twitter. They have all kinds of custom portals and just about everything you could imagine. But, since the company is so large, they can afford to spend tens of millions of dollars on IT, and they do. Nothing is outsourced, we have internal staff for it.

[The Operator]

The problem, though, is that social media diminishes in it's primary value (being social with friends / collegues) the more it gets cluttered with business and advertising garbage.

There will eventually be a tipping point where peolpe start moving away from things like Facebook and Twitter when they become overly congested.

I agree.

I remember for the longest time you couldn't even register for facebook unless you had an active .edu email address. I was glad they relinquished those requirements because I had a lot of friends who chose not to go to college.

But, all of the "Farmville" and "Mafia Wars" and things like that, not to mention all the corporate stuff flooding onto it daily, it's becoming less and less fun to use.

It also got a little bit weird when my mom started asking me how to make a facebook page. :

[Caveat Emperor]

It also got a little bit weird when my mom started asking me how to make a facebook page. :

Or when I got my first friend request from a superior at work / judge I practice in front of.

Thank you, privacy settings.

[reds1869]

Or when I got my first friend request from a superior at work / judge I practice in front of.

Thank you, privacy settings.

In my case student friend requests are a problem. Former students who are now adults I will gladly "friend," but there are real ethical concerns with current ones.

[Kingspoint]

The problem, though, is that social media diminishes in it's primary value (being social with friends / collegues) the more it gets cluttered with business and advertising garbage.

There will eventually be a tipping point where peolpe start moving away from things like Facebook and Twitter when they become overly congested.

You hit the nail on the head there. That's why facebook and twitter became what they became and why something else will replace them just as quickly.

People hate ads. The more they can get away from them, the better. They will always move towards the place with fewer ads. And, of course, the ads will always follow them.

[Kingspoint]

I work for a Fortune 10 company, and for us the website is still king. We don't use facebook, or twitter. They have all kinds of custom portals and just about everything you could imagine. But, since the company is so large, they can afford to spend tens of millions of dollars on IT, and they do. Nothing is outsourced, we have internal staff for it.

Since you live in Cincinnati, I wonder who that could be? Hmmm.