On July 21, 2010, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg published a post on the Facebook blog that announced the social networking site had officially passed the 500 million global users mark (check out his video message here).
To celebrate, Facebook put together a number of stories about how the site impacted users’ lives. To take the positive brand images further, Facebook launched an app that will appear on 31 partner sites (including the White House’s Facebook page) that asks Facebook users around the world to share their own stories about how Facebook has affected their lives in positive ways. The app is called Facebook Stories.
This is a clever branding initiative by Facebook that leverages customer testimonials and feel-good messages to present the brand in an extremely positive light. Following the negative criticism Facebook has faced in recent months related to its lack of privacy with users’ personal information, the Facebook Stories initiative is being launched at the perfect moment.
Having the Facebook Stories app appear in the tabs of 31 partner sites, made up primarily of non-profit organizations like UNICEF and the American Red Cross, is another clever move.
But that’s not all. Facebook team members will also be hitting the road on a Facebook Stories road trip to visit towns around the United States to meet the people behind the stories. It’s probably safe to assume that this road trip will lead to a video element for the Facebook Stories initiative, particularly since people can ‘enter’ for a chance to have the Facebook Stories road trip team visit them and learn their story about the impact they made using Facebook.
Will the effort work to restore confidence in the Facebook brand? That remains to be seen. It’s unlikely, but it certainly can’t hurt. What do you think? Can Facebook Stories have a significant impact on repairing the Facebook brand?
Susan Gunelius is the author of 10 marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and technology books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, an award-wining blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com, and her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, TodayShow.com, and more.
She has over 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Today, her clients include large and small companies around the world and household brands like Citigroup, Cox Communications, Intuit, and more. Susan is frequently interviewed about marketing and branding by television, radio, print, and online media organizations, and she speaks about these topics at events around the world. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.
