I’ve worked in social media since before Facebook was introduced to Harvard undergraduates and the term “social media” existed. Now a 50 billion dollar company, I’m consistently struck by the disruptive impact of Facebook’s executive decisions that force developers, advertisers, and corporate partners to rethink and adapt well-planned business strategies.
Privacy settings, API changes, terms of service, user interface design—all of these core aspects of the platform must be carefully evaluated when multi-million dollar brands make decisions on how to build and engage their communities. And they change unannounced, fan pages become deleted without notice, forcing seasoned executives, developers and legal teams into crisis mode.
There is a consensus of opinion between almost everyone I know that the industry is hostage to Facebook because the platform is gatekeeper to 500 million+ consumers. But as a long-term life partner, the relationship is one sided. There’s no listening, no feedback, you shower it with money and get no reciprocal love back. It’s like the young trophy wife Bunny in the Big Lebowski—pretty, attractive, and enticing, a status symbol that ultimately doesn’t listen to your needs.
The initial appeal of Facebook to early adopters was its open platform, which spawned a literal gold rush of innovation in applications fueled by eager investors and marketers. The symbiotic relationship that once drove the meteoric growth was exciting as new romances often are, but now that mature businesses have to plan for the future, raising the communities we helped give birth to into mature children looks like a one-sided picture.
The truth is, corporate partners want to appear like The Dude, care free and easy going, but the reality is they are more like Mr. Lebowski—the other Jeffrey Lebowski, disabled, unable to adjust so easily because some Chinaman took his legs in Korea. They want Facebook to be at the center of their marketing strategy, to have fun working together and nurture a relationship with millions of people that visit the platform every day. But look at a pattern of erratic behavior and your gut instinct tells you that Facebook married you for your money.
Like being married to a young trophy wife owing money all over town, companies spend millions in unnecessary staffing and development costs attending to details and last-minute changes. It’s akin to the scene in the Big Lebowski when Bunny returns at the end and—oops!—she just forgot to tell everyone that she was leaving for a while. There was no kidnapping after all, but we have to act like there was one—always, because unfortunately we just can’t plan that far ahead.
Let’s hope with a $50 billion dollar valuation and investors like Goldman Sachs that Facebook will grow up a bit. Enough building new features and making decisions that leave us frantic, take some time to think about your corporate partners, who would love to hop in the convertible and head to Malibu on a moment’s notice but unfortunately have infrastructures more akin to a wheel chair. If not, perhaps it’s time to file for a divorce, and reluctantly pay alimony but shift your marketing dollars towards building a lifelong partnership with a platform more reliable—a social media partner that really wants to raise a little Lebowski.
The Wallstreet Journal recently published an article proclaiming the 
