“Social Network”, the movie about how Facebook started, has also been available in Japan since January 14, 2011. Many people who have seen the movie probably agree that it has many lessons in starting and growing business, such as importance in coming up with great ideas and/or identifying great ideas and implementing them quickly before your competitor, and quickly recognizing who to collaborate with and how.
It seems to the author that the KPS (Key Factors for Success) of Facebook’s start and growth can mostly be explained by The 11 Immutable Laws of Internet Branding by Al Ries and Laura Ries (2000).
1. What are The 11 Immutable Laws of Internet Branding?
According to Al Ries and Laura Ries, they are the following.
1) The Law of Either/Or : The Internet should be viewed as an entirely new business.
2) The Law of Interactivity : A website must be interactive in order to succeed.
3) The Law of the Common Name : Common names such as Art/com are poor brands.
4) The Law of Proper Name : Proper names are to be preferred to generic names, and best names follow most of the 8 principles (short, simple, suggestive of the category, unique, alliterative, speakable, shocking, personalized)
5) The Law of Singularity : Unlike the “real world” where there is room for a number two brand, there is room for only one.
6) The Law of Advertising : Advertising off the Net will be far larger than advertising on the Net.
7) The Law of Globalism : The Internet will demolish all barriers, boundaries and borders.
8) The Law of Time : The brand that is first into the prospect’s mind has the advantage, not necessarily the first into the marketplace.
9) The Law of Vanity : Many categories should not be included under a single brand.
10) The Law of Divergence : Technologies diverge into PCs, PDAs, laptops etc.
11) The Law of Transformation : The Internet will transform all aspects of our lives.
Frankly speaking, the author agrees more laws than others but she feels in general the 11 laws are useful in Internet branding and marketing.
She feels the law #2, #4, #5, #7 and #8 applies to the case of the startup of Facebook, leading to #10 and #11 as well.
2. How The Immutable Laws of Internet Branding Apply to the Success of Facebook Start up?
1) Business Model Based on The Law of Interactivity (#2)
Needless to say, Facebook is SNS, which is website leveraging on interactivity. This interactivity is not simply selecting from menu which is the interactivity of web 1.0 and/or typing in instructions and having the web site deliver the information in the form requested by the web user.
The interactivity of Facebook goes as far as interacting and sharing information with other web users in the online community in a real time. Such interactivity is something that distinguishes the Internet and social media from other offline media to create new business models.
2) First Mover Advantage to be the First Brand in the Prospect’s Mind in Niche Segment Base on The Law of Singularity and Time (#5, #8)
The two laws, of singularity and time, means that in the virtual world of the Internet, regardless of the size, industry etc. niche area needs to be defined by careful segmentation and the brand needs to be the first one in the prospect’s mind of that particular market segment.
This is how companies such as Amazon and Google succeeded. Amazon was the first brand for online book store and even the real world book store giant Barnes and Noble cannot deprive the number one position in the segment of online book store. Google, in entering online adverting market when Yahoo! already was number one in adverting mainly in banner ads, successfully created a more niche segmentation of online advertising based on search, leveraging its core business of search, which resulted in a great success.
In the case of Facebook, Foursquare was already a popular SNS and there was no way Facebook could be the number one brand in SNS in general; therefore, they first limited to Harvard students (and later expanded to some other top class university students) to create a niche segmentation of “SNS for top class university students”, and developed functions and contents meeting such targets such as friendship status. It was after Facebook had established number one brand in “SNS for top class university students” that the membership was made open to general public, which marked a turning point for Facebook to really grow.
3) The Great Name Based on The Law of Proper Name (#4)
The name “Facebook”, derived from the initial game of choosing the preference of the two photos of female student faces, is not a common name, and it does follow most of the eight principles of the best names. Also, to better follow the eight principles, “the” was dropped from the original name which was “The Facebook”, based on the advice from the Napster founder.
4) Expand Business Based on The Law of Globalism (#7)
After Facebook expanded to from Harvard only to some top caliber universities in the U.S., it immediately expanded to its counterparts in Europe (e.g. the U.K.) as the first step to global business expansion. This drove rapid growth of Facebook worldwide.
3. How The Immutable Laws of Internet Branding Apply to the Recent Success of Facebook?
1) Adapting to Mobile etc. as well as PC Based on The Law of Divergence (#10)
Facebook started with website for PC but it soon adapted to mobile. It was quick at rolling out mobile version website and applications. In addition to expanding business globally, successful and quick adaption to mobile led to rapid growth of Facebook because it allowed users to post updates and share information anywhere and anytime.
2) Making Facebook Part of People’s Lives Based on The Law of Transformation (#11)
As a result of anywhere and anytime use of Facebook, it became part of people’s lives and transformed how people find and share information. Today many Facebook users log in everyday and start and/or finish their day by checking the updates of their friends and posting their own updates; some even frequently check and post updates in a day.
In addition, as Facebook (and other social media) became popular, the people started to obtain information by social media instead of search which was the primary and only way of finding and accessing to relevant information. As it became common for the general public to share information by social media globally, many decisions are now made based on information obtained by social media hence viral marketing is now a hot topic among marketers.
4. The Author’s Final Thoughts
The above KFS based on The Immutable Laws of Internet Branding of Facebook give us a guidance of requirements to be successful in Internet business, marketing and branding. The requirements are more prominent the more the web evolves from web 1.0 of static website to web 2.0 of social media. This implies that they could well become even more prominent as the web further evolves to web 3.0, which might be semantic web or something more innovative.
References:-
Ries, Al and Laura, Ries (2000) The 11 Immutable Laws of Internet Branding, HarperBusiness
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