Step up to the window, folks, time to place your bets. It's almost post time!
Facebook is expected to set its final price for a share of stock late Thursday, expected to be between $34 and $38 per share, maybe higher, according to some sources.
But, wait, amid all the ongoing and building ga-ga around the Facebook IPO, the media's amazing fascination with the shiny object came this news two days ago: General Motors will pull its $10 million Facebook advertising budget.
Wait...what? General Motors was spending $10 million on Facebook ads? Facebook ads? Really? Why?
Seriously, what possible benefit could General Motors derive from buying Facebook ads? (Aside, maybe, from a little brand building...but $10 million worth?)
See, here's a little problem with social media: we tend to get all excited over the new tools and forget how they might best be used. A brand new power drill comes along and we all go Tim Allen on its ass and, well, drill holes which leave us only with drilled holes.
We could understand a local or regional GM dealer buying some Facebook advertising, particularly if they offered through those ads some kind of special deal. But it makes little sense for a company like GM to spend millions on Facebook ads. It's just not the right fit, the best return nor smart use of social media.
GM would be far better off paying someone like Macy Corvette to post her often raucous and slightly salacious temptations and build brand loyalty to Corvette. (Because Corvette people, apparently, just love that type of stuff.)
NPR ran a nice little piece Wednesday, an experiment in Facebook advertising:
NPR ran a nice little piece yesterday, an experiment in Facebook advertising.
Final note: now that Facebook will be a (kind of) public company, can we all stop using the word, "friend," as a verb? The verb form is, "befriend." As in, "please befriend me on Facebook." Thank you, very much!
