The Case Against Facebook (And what you can learn from it)

Here's a simple mantra- Never let the measurement become your motivation.

It's a great thing to remember when you are leading with "why" and working for a cause, not just a paycheck.

Unfortunately, as the folks over at Facebook have found out, once you IPO, the measurement is inescapable.

(For the sake of disclosure, let me quick say this- I've never liked Facebook.  I didn't start using it until it became a mobile app and I only keep it to stay in-touch with some long-distance friends.  There's a reason you don't see a Facebook page on my profile here and you never would.  I've simply never been a fan.  So perhaps I'm not the target demographic and thus my critiques here are invalid.  Fine.  But the broader points will still hold.)

When Facebook started out, it wasn't about Ad dollars, or "Eyeballs", or any of that.  It started out as connections.  As friends.  As a way to know what was going on with each other.  And that "why" satisfited that need we all have to be connected to the people we know and love.  It drew a lot of attention.  Even some of the early add-ons, games, fan pages, etc, were all about knowledge and connection.  And then a funny thing happened.

Someone came along and said, "Hey, that's quite a crowd you have there.  Mind if we sell to them?  Here's a big pile of money if you say yes."

Now, don't mis-understand, I'm not against profit or capitalism or any of that.  But someone should have said "sure, but only if we can maintain our "why" and keep it about connections."  But no one did.  Instead, Facebook started changing from being about connections to products and promotions.  Highly customized, sure, but the "why" changed.

And then it got worse.  To the point that now my phone's notifications are going off constantly letting me know that businesses- not friends or family- but games and ads are awaiting me on Facebook.

I'm over it.  I shut down all my notifications.  And if my feed keeps being clogged up, I'm going to shut off the app too.  Because that wasn't the deal.  I didn't sign up for marketing; I signed up for connections.  But Facebook changed the "why" and now they're going to lose me.  And I'm sure I'm not the only one.

The lesson is this- you need to know your "why" and you need to protect it.  You need to keep others from taking you away from it and changing it.  You cannot let the measurement (whether money or "eyeballs" or anything else) become what motivates you.  Because it will not motivate your tribe.  They follow a "why"- they won't show up just so you can make your numbers.

Facebook isn't unique here either.  Plenty of noble companies have lost their way and fallen.  MySpace did.  Twitter's on the way now.  Facebook won't be far behind.  But the question for you and your company is- will you be next?