The current issue of Wired magazine has a fascinating story about Facebook and how it plans to crush Google as the master of internet.

And actually, they just might get away with it.

I might have mentioned to some of you before that over the last six months, Facebook has become the number 1 referring site for our agency website. Bigger than the AAAA’s, than Google, than anything else.

The basic tenet behind Facebook’s domination plan is that people would rather get referrals from friends than go through an unscrubbed Google search to find something they need.
The company believes that people will begin to search on Facebook instead of google when they’re looking for something.
It works too.

Try putting “iPhone” in your Facebook search and you’ll see what I mean.
Or maybe it’s just MY friends?!

And Facebook has 40,000 servers filled with all our rich personal information; none of it accessible by Google’s spiders.

No one knows how this will shake out.
Could Twitter become the Edsel of the internet?
Will Google look like Yahoo in 2 years?
Hard to know–but clearly Social Media is beyond a transient trend.

I bring this to your attention today just to prepare you for the fact that executing a social media strategy effectively is going to be time consuming.

In essence we’re starting out micro-casting, building a foundation that will be a big asset for us as we move forward.
At least in the beginning, there’s going to be a lot of effort for not much tangible reward.

We’re going to show you how we can re-purpose and leverage every piece of content we produce to its maximum extent, but at the end of the day, this will require effort from you as an individual for it to be successful. Read the full article here.

Between 1995 and 2001, WebTV was a product heavily supported by Microsoft, a product that many believed would revolutionize the way we think about our TV sets and the internet. Unfortunately, the idea was too expensive, too far ahead of its time, and at 33.6kbit/s, way too slow.

Many believed that the internet would invade our TVs and that one day we would all be sitting on our sofas surfing the web while watching our favorite sitcoms. That’s not quite how it has worked out. Until late 2003, video content on the web was sparse. The majority of videos available were coming from major news and entertainment conglomerates, which showcased only the most interesting or exciting content. At 1-3 minutes in length, these videos were short, mainly due to the capabilities of the available hardware. In 2005 the video world was taken by storm when YouTube launched as site dedicated to user-submitted content. Originally, there were strict regulations on file sizes, which forced most videos to still sit in the 1-3 minute territory. Since then, the average YouTube video duration has grown to 3:17. YouTube, along with other sites that support large volumes of video content, have stirred speculation that users are being conditioned to have a shorter attention span when viewing online content. The latest traffic reports from Hulu are putting that idea into question and has started to blur the line between computer and TV set.

Hulu, a website dedicated to mainstream video content like TV shows, movies, music videos, and documentaries has reported an explosion in the number of streams from last year. With an increase of 490% over 2008, Hulu is now the fastest growing digital content provider having had 373.3 million streams since last year. It now second to YouTube in usage and has beaten out MTV, Fox, CNN, and Yahoo! in video usage.

So what does this mean? First, it appears that our TVs are not turning into computers, but that our computers are turning into TVs. While Hulu aggregates programming from major networks, many others have content directly available in on-demand format. Second, it appears that online video usage habits are changing. Hulu’s success may indicate that viewers are still more interested in professional content over user-submitted content. Third, viewers are now going to the web for their entertainment where they can determine the programming schedule and don’t have to wait for their DVRs or be constricted to just their living rooms to watch their favorite shows.

More importantly, this may be a great opportunity for brands to do something more refined than viral videos on YouTube. The door might be opening for brands to create a continuous online presence in the form of webisodes, podcasts, or short films. Chanel has been doing this with Chanel No. 5 in various short film formats. American Eagle Outfitters also tied its webisode series to TV spots, and fast-food chain Jack-in-the-Box has created an entire web presence tied to its Hang in There Jack campaign. Brands are no longer restricted to the 1 minute viral video, they now have the freedom to create entire stories. It’s clear that audiences are interested in more than just weird dance videos and mindless teenagers jumping from their parents balconies into the pool.

Great creative ad campaigns are important, but there is a little something more you can do to help build brand loyalty.

New media technologies are changing the way consumers learn about brands and products. Consumers are not as willing to believe what they hear on the radio or see on TV, they also want to know how other real people feel about brands and products.

The internet has become a place where virtual friendships can thrive. Of the top 10 most visited websites, five are for the purpose of connecting people. These sites include Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace. With these sites, users share more than just their vacation stories, they tell others about purchases they’ve made, movies they’ve seen, and restaurants they’ve eaten at.

What do all of these things mean for your brand? First, there are many low cost opportunities for you to take advantage of. Posting videos on Youtube and keeping in touch with your target on Twitter are free! More importantly, these sites create an opportunity for your brand to build more than just an economic relationship with your customers. Brands now have the ability to share opinions, funny or interesting stories, and a more personified side of the brand with their target in an casual and simple way. Get on Twitter and tell your customers what you are up to and what you are working on for the future. Tell them about new products or services you have available, or about the weekend discount you’ll be giving.

Naked Pizza in New Orleans, specializes in healthy pizzas and has used blogs, Facebook, and Twitter to not only build brand awareness, but have used it to let their target know about promotions, menu updates, and sharing a laugh with consumers by frequently posting jokes and sarcasm. In fact, the “for delivery” billboard above the pizza joint has now changed to a “follow us on Twitter” billboard. During a one-day promotion advertised on Twitter, Naked Pizza reported that sales increased by 15%.

Building a relationship takes time. The likelihood of consumers falling in love with you after one or two “tweets” is slim, but by being persistent and keeping a presence in front of your target, you’ll begin to plant a seed, one that will hopefully grow into a mutually beneficial relationship.