This Actually IS Your Mama’s Facebook

by Sarah Engel on 03/27/2009 at 10:15 am in Commentary, Market Research & Data, Performance Marketing, Social Media

I had an industry epiphany of sorts a few weeks ago. One of my Facebook friends, a mother of two who has been a stay-at-home mom, is starting her own jewelry line. Her husband’s job has been affected by the economy, and she is turning her passion into a career. Suddenly, the photos “of me” in my own profile included one of her pieces of jewelry. She had tagged the photo of the beautiful charm with a selection of her friends that she saw as influencers – as if they were in the picture. So, each one of my friends, in turn, saw the photo appear as if it were a photo of me. And, when the comments started rolling in, the effect was exponential – appearing on the profile pages of each of her tagged friends – including a celebrity or two that she happens to know in LA.

I had to sit back and laugh as I watched the momentum of her “marketing plan.” Working in this industry, you assume that you and your peers are the innovators of marketing efforts… that you are uniquely qualified to create new ways to connect and new ways to shamelessly promote. Social networking has turned that assumption on its head. This marketing revolution is not just being led by teenagers and early adopters, it is being led by fathers, business women and… believe it or not… your Mom.

According to ComScore Media Metrix, more than 65% of unique Facebook visitors in February of this year have children and more than 71% of users are over the age of 25. The Chief Household Officer (a.k.a. stay-at-home mom) down the street is using Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, as well as her own blog and friends’ blogs, to keep in touch with the world outside of diapers and playdates. More so, she is promoting her own passions and building her personal identity online.

Anecdotally, in my own Facebook “friend group,” it is not my industry peers driving the conversation. The most updates, innovations and comments are coming from a handful of women – stay-at-home and working mothers. In fact, when I called a friend recently (gasp!) on the telephone, she seemed downright irritated that I was unaware that her child was sick – based on her Facebook status updates.

A year ago, I remember telling friends that I would stay on MySpace because I was “too old for Facebook.” Well, I have had a baby since that declaration, and I have to tell you… I haven’t logged into my MySpace account in months. And I rarely sit at a computer and log in to my Facebook account. In fact, if not for Facebook’s iPhone app, which allows me to check my friends’ updates in mere seconds, all of my friends would think I had fallen off the face of the planet.

So my point is two-fold:

1. The Mom Brigade is driving the evolution of social networks. They are innovative, they are active, they are vocal, and they trust their peers.
2. Please, folks… be careful with what you post in your status updates. Your friends might think what color underwear you have on or the newest addition to your tattoo collection is quite fascinating, but your Mom is… quite literally… watching!