Molson's Facebook Photos Failure

Keep on the lookout for some changes to PhotoGraph! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

Throughout the Stanford Facebook Class many opportunities have been presented to us. We have collectively seen how interested the corporate world is in Social Networks. Why wouldn't they be? The demographic present on most social networks is very lucrative. Social networks present an opportunity to build your brand in a very trusted and open setting, between friends. We all saw the success of the Dylan app, allowing for self-expression while plugging the upcoming CD. They obviously understood the audience and why users add apps.

When reading about the Molson photo contest, I immediately knew that Molson was walking on a slippery slope. After browsing many photos while developing PhotoGraph I have seen a very prevalent pattern. In the United States Facebook photos is littered with drunken debauchery. Red cups appear in many pictures and there are even dozens of groups dedicated to this college signature. This trend undoubtedly arose from Facebook's background as a college-exclusive social network. College kids don't go on many trips or have families. We study (hardly picture worthy) and party. It seemed funny to me that Molson did not realize that when asking for photos of people partying, they were going to get photos of such drunken mayhem.

Working on PhotoGraph has exposed me to a lot of Facebook photos. They are very fun to browse and laugh at, but nothing to build your brand around.

While social networks have drawn great interest from large corporations looking for new avenues to spread their brand, it is important to understand the cultures of these networks. Social networks are still in their infancy. With the faces of MySpace and Facebook changing rapidly, larger, more mature business are not in a competitive position to venture onto social networks on their own. That is why I think there is room for smaller players that know this arena. As shown by the Dylan app, the smaller consultants who understand the users of Facebook and MySpace can very successfully bridge the gap between big brands and the needs of social network users.

-Mark

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