If I was to launch my own “solar blog” paper or coin currency, would it make sense in these modern times? Each time a user would comment or do something else to earn “funds/credits/money”, by doing things this antiquated way, I’d have to wire or mail them a payment, or using a slightly more modern version like Paypal. But then why would I want to look back in time and do things the way they were done before, just because that’s the way they were? The status quo is never justifiable other than on its current merits.
In a new twist, Facebook today announced the launch of a test coupon program to compete with Groupon and Living Social’s daily deal offerings.
What is most intriguing to me in this article is the fact that Facebook credits will soon overtake (if it hasn’t already) some of the world’s currencies, in terms of usage. This begs the question, how will the International Monetary Fund regulate this currency? Can it? Not likely.
Once something of this nature is out of the bag, its hard to put back in. As with so many things in the corporate world, you can’t stop a train which is gathering steam because its merit is clear, simply because you are attached to old ways of doing things. The market today is a far greater democracy than it used to be, and people have latched onto that concept to the point that brand managers today are also beginning to understand that their brands are truly no longer in their own control, they are in the control of the market.
So the Facebook brand of currency brand will gather huge momentum when they launch their own coupon deals, simply due to the captive nature of the audience to which they will speak, and the ease with which it can be used or gathered. Facebook has understood that it is no longer a social networking company, it is a platform in and of itself, capable of creating its own “micro-nation” of over 500 million currency users.
So here is a question…how do you make your company’s offerings a platform? How do you create an environment and offering through which every piece of the puzzle is linked and part of an ecosystem? How do you reduce non-value added processes (aka paper, coins) in favor of waste reduction and value creation?
Now I have to go think of a symbol for my sunbits currency….hmmm…
Sass