I came accross some future predictions around Facebook penetration a couple of days ago and is it truly staggering.

Discounting China (Facebook is restricted there) it looks like we will  be approaching 30% of the worlds active internet population will be regular Facebook users by the end of 2009.

In the article they also talked about future projections and the possibility the Facebook audience could possibly top 1 billion users, the digital universe would sure be a different place, for a start we have to play by Facebook's rules while on their platform.

As agencies and marketers what does this mean for us? Well I guess it certainly means no matter who you are at the moment you cannot ignore the big F. The most obvious way to tap in to this huge potential audience is through ads but until now they have been targeted in a fairly standard way. These ads have been more effective in my experience than standard units due to organic impressions generated, context and their non banner like appearance but the targeting has been at best unimaginative, certainly not taking advantage of the social platform.

There is a new option open to us though which seems subtle at first, you can simply target your ads at friends of your connections. These connections are defined by Facebook as: Fans of your page, users of your applications, members of your groups or attendees of your events. Looking in to it a little further this is a different method than the top ten targeting methods currently available. 

Why? Well the ads can have social context which is after all what Facebook is supposed to be about. So if I am working on a new film theatrical release and someone fans my new movie page I can target ads at their friends which will list below the ad that their friend is a fan of my film. If the person viewing the ad would also like to see the film and I am offering pre-release tickets or a competition, who are they going to ask to go with them I wonder.

It is a great step in the right direction I believe for Facebook, there is still much work to be done, I could rattle on for hours about the numerous ways I would like to use the platform but lets save that for another day and simply be happy they are thinking about us little agencies and marketers.

Yesterday the DDB WWF ad sparked a little debate round the office on the subject of shock ads, it was amazing how quickly and fiercly the fuse burnt once lit! THis section of the email trail literally flew around in under five minutes. Some interesting questions were raised, does the message get lost? Is any conversation good conversation? Do shock ads work? What I really would like to see is what impact the ad has on donations after this little storm. Anyone else have an opinion?

Read from the bottom up.

From: Wade

Ahhhh … but we are critiquing the ad from the perspective of “is that an inappropriate message in relation to 9/11?”

The WWF message is getting lost …….. we are debating the WRONG topic.

Well done Drew – you Sh*t starter …….. my turn now

Ok … so which religion is BETTER Christianity or Buddhism?

From: Chris

Can an ad’s success be measured by the conversation it produces or the opinions it polarises?

From: Phillip

Agree with all comments, Wade definitely agree comparing man made to nature is ridiculous. What we need to do with things like the tsunami is humanise them, they are seen as things that happen somewhere else and a number is just a number.

Having said this look at the email trail, definitely got the office talking about serious issues....

From: Kristina

Fair point, but surely  there is a better way to show the value of third world life than belittle that of the US?

Though I guess it may indirectly touch an element of human nature we might not like to admit – we only instill value on something by taking it away from something else.

If we are talking about minute silences, there isn’t actually anything official for 9/11 in the States that I’m aware of… or the Bali bombing for that matter which was in the same vicinity of the tsunami..

Lots of talking points here Drew, nice debate starter!!!!

From: Tom

Disagree.

I think it makes an important point (perhaps unwittingly) about the value of third world life in relation to US lives. Where is the one minute of silence for the Tsunami victims (which seems far more relevant to Australia than terrorism to me).

From: Nikk

I completely agree. Never would have thought an organization like the WWF would stoop this low and feel it necessary to compare with and almost belittle 9/11.

The hell?!!

From: Kristina

Agreed Wade.

I actually find that disgusting – the comparison holds no merit whatsoever, how can you compare the two?!?

And more importantly WHY should we compare the two?! They are two equally devastating events, the body count should absolutely not be used as a hook to “respect” one over the other..

Very powerful image and it will no doubt get people talking but I think it’s a really poor way of getting this message across.

From: Wade

FAIL

I get that they tapped into the destruction of 911 because of the global impact that story had to get cut through, but it feels a little icky because the comparison is made to a man made act of terrorism which takes it off brief in my opinion.

I look at the ad more like -  “imagine if terrorism escalated” rather than going “isn’t mother nature a powerful thing that should be respected.”

From: Drew

http://blog.stephengates.com/2009/09/03/ddb-wwf-tsunami-twin-towers-ad-powerful-or-despicable/

Well Game two snuck up on us, still no training session! The team was in high spirits though as most of us have been personal training twice a week for the last five odd weeks.

So whether it was the exercise endorphins or just the promise of a run around we took the field with a bit of a laugh and plenty of enthusiasm!

Early on in the game Brooke Blakeslee a new FARM recuit overcame his American sensibilities and crossed the line for a try.

This was soon followed by tries from the design department in Hugo and the Dev boys in Aaron. We let one in but went to the break up on the scoreboard.

Now here is where we fell asleep int he last game, fatigue took over, legs got heavy and we slowed down, but not this time! Everyone in the team shared their tactical genius in a round the circle half time fire up speach and on we ran, more charged than kick off!

And thats how it continued a few more tries to the boys and one spectacular cross in the corner by Designer Nikki, it was magic. 

Final score 8-3, a good solid win for TheFARMERS. As this was our goal for the season (to win one game) we now must turn to the secondary goal, win the whole thing!

So here I sign off but I will ntoe that the win has energised the team, there is even a training session scheduled for  Sunday this week, followed by a few cheeky beers int he sun though I suspect :)

Hi there, as I am nearing the end of week six here at TheFARM I figured it was high time I said hello!

I became a FARMER in late September and ever since it has been quite a unique, satisfying, at times perplexing but always prodigious experience.

One of my first orders of business was to start a company Oztag team. Interest from the start was strong with dare I say, too many players looking to sign up! After a little jigging about we finally had our team of 13, next on the to do list was a logo which Nikki & Hugo in the design team created. Next was a little practice run after work and we were ready to tackle the first game!

It was agreed a strong start is what was required so we ran on to the pitch at Centennial with great gusto and not a small amount of cheering. Rewards came immediately with Hugo scoring the opener which was quickly followed up by Brooke (he is American  but managed to throw the ball the correct way) and Aaron all crossing for sensational tries!

Heading to the sheds (otherwise known as the sideline) at halftime we were 3/1 up, this was going swimmingly, surely it was in the bag! Unfortunately we were playing a much younger team who had a sub and without any (only 8 of us could play as the rest were working hard for our clients) ourselves we started to tire. One try was let in, followed by another, TheFARMERS rallied with a gazelle like run down the sideline from one player resulting in a tag right on the line and another player crossing for a try only to realise one of his own teammates had somehow tagged him, this was not how the

In the end we were defeated 6/3 but there was plenty of talent and ticker on that pitch. So next week we will be chasing that evocative mix of joy and triumph which will come with the first win, who knows coach Chrispi may even buy us some beers if we are successful!

I will keep you up to date as the season progresses inexorably towards the finals in January, in the mean time here are a few pictures of TheFARMERS, and you are all welcome to come cheer us to victory from the stands.