I’ve read three articles this week stating that you no longer need a website when you have a Facebook page.
I wholeheartedly disagree. I’ve covered this before in my post, “You Don’t Own Social Media“.
Three years ago everyone was on the Myspace and Geocities bandwagon. Before that it was AOL. Before that MIRC. Still want to put your entire business on Facebook?
Remember Homestead? Friendfeed? Yahoo groups? Tripod? Classmates? Friendster?
Remember when they were dominant?
Also consider that China has banned or censored use of Facebook, Skype, Youtube, Google and Twitter. In addition, native Chinese sites hold sway. For example, Baidu is the dominant search engine, not Google. Social media is popular too, but again, it’s local sites that dominate with Renren and Kaixin001 amassing some 100 million users between them.
Even Mark Zuckerburg has said, ‘How can you connect the whole world if you leave out 1.6 billion people?”.
Like it or not, we are part of a global economy. Do you want to alienate the largest increasing economies that reside in Asia?
Ask yourself these questions:
What if Facebook decided tomorrow that it was shutting down?
What if they decided that business accounts will cost $1000/month?
How is their tech support?
How often do they make changes that we don’t see coming?
How bad is their spam filter?
How reliable is their service?
How is their customer service?
They have also made it very clear that they own everything you put here.
Do you want that?
I much prefer ownership of my physical, digital, and intellectual property thank you.
Basing your entire online presence on Facebook is like putting custom rims and paint on a rental car or building a house on public land.
I think that is a very irresponsible thing.
I definitely see the power of Facebook and I put new businesses onto it all the time. I actually recommend businesses be on Facebook and tap into the power. I just don’t believe that any business should hedge all their bets on borrowed land.
We all need to own our own piece of digital real estate. It’s the only way we can maintain some semblance of control and ownership.
Excellent article. The reminder about Friendface etc and especially myspace is hugely important. I don’t see facebook goi the same way in the near future but you need to own your own content. Your facebook page is there to get people to it where you can deal with them on your own terms not facebook’s.
I see Facebook staying strong but it’s still a risk.
I think it is completely misguided to suggest that all you need for your business is a Facebook Page, where you let someone else make the rules for you. Yes have a Facebook page but you need a place where you OWN your content and can do what you want with it.
Ownership is the key factor. We should never relinquish it in exchange for rental property.
[...] Chris Eh Young“Three years ago everyone was on the Myspace and Geocities bandwagon. Before that it was AOL. Before that MIRC. Still want to put your entire business on Facebook?” [...]
Hey Chris, I actually just had a conversation (via Facebook) with a few people that thought it was a great idea to have their business website only on Facebook. Their argument was that Facebook wouldn’t just leave or make them pay something…
Thanks for shining light on this subject again and spreading your wisdom and words with us!
Jason
@jasondyk
Agree 100% – anyone who thinks a facebook page instead of a website is “good enough” is missing out on the MAJORITY of their potential audience, not just China. If I want to buy something, I don’t go to facebook, I go to google. If you aren’t there, you aren’t getting the sale.
I just used China as an example but I do agree. Facebook may have become the top destination on the internet over Google but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the results are as relevant.
Facebook and social media in general should be used as complementary tools, not stand alone ones.
Personally I prefer to own and and full control over my IP and content. Facebook pages are great, but could change at any time.
I love my FB page and use it to engage with people, and also for micro-blogging, but it would never replace my website.
Exactly my point. Facebook is a great platform but we should never relinquish ownership in exchange for rent.
Love the post, mate, and the examples you use. It’s something that’s all too easily forgotten when people talk about using social media (specifically, Facebook) for their main online hub.
Good to see Zuckerberg acknowledge that it’s not the all-encompassing behemoth that many often cite it as.
Cheers, fella.
Thanks for stopping by Danny.
It must have been tough for MZ to admit that he wasn’t everything to everyone.
great article and I definitely agree! Facebook and other social media outlets are good add ons to have to promote yourself and your business but in no way should be the way anyone conducts all of their business just for the reasons that you entailed using past examples.
Social media sites should be outposts, not hubs. Thanks for your comment.
Chris, I entirely agree with you and the majority of the comments here. However, @jasondyk brought up an interesting point. Who are the people that would use Facebook as a website replacement? Is there a point for the mom and pop pizza store down the street to figure out how to get and maintain a website or just use the format they use to talk to their high school buddies? This would allow them to easily post store hours and an occasional special but it would have a small impact if one day it would disappear.
That being said, we use our website as a way to professionally showcase our work and Facebook shows more of our personality. If it was to go away or be manipulated it shouldn’t be hard to adapt and move on.
~Bruce
@OmsPhoto
I advise any business to make good use of Facebook as a platform to engage customers and build community. I would never advise it as a website replacement though.
The only time I could see using Facebook without a website is for those with lean startups or bootstrappers. They could use Facebook until they can pay to have a website built.
It is true that once, with a Facebook page that we have already replaced most of the role of web sites that we have. And with social media Facebook, we can do long-distance relationship online and have more friends of course.
Hi this is Armando, owner of Doctor of Leaks leak detection/repair out of Palm Springs, CA. As an internet newbie i was still trying to decide the importance of having a paid website or investing purely on facebook & social media. Reading this article has definitely helped me make up my mind on what to do.
Thanks Chris