Is facebook eating your lunch?

Social networks and text messaging have changed the way people interact with each other… and now it’s changed the way bars and clubs promote their events.  Gone are the days of the promotional flyer as your principle communication device. 

A long time friend living in Ottawa reports that his promotional printing business has dropped to almost nothing over the last 7 months. Having been in the business for over 10 years, he’s seen his share of ups and downs…but nothing like this before. The reason? He reports that promoters have moved to social networking platforms (primarily facebook) and text messaging for all their outreach work.  By now we are all aware of the popularity of facebook (Toronto is currently the second largest network within facebook in the world), but did you know that we are on pace to send over 8 billion text messages this year in Canada? Last year Canadians sent 4.3 billion messages - which was three times more then the previous year!  

Besides the continued adoption of SMS and the creation of niche social networking sites or micro-sites within existing platforms, what’s next? One candidate is the eventual adoption of MMS or multimedia messaging service. Going from SMS (or text messaging) to MMS is like going from radio to TV. SMS is still the killer application for mobile marketing, but MMS is coming and could change the way we promote our events, brands, or services. Again.

Instead of sending a message with a link to a site where you can register for an event… imagine sending a VIP ticket via MMS that can be used as entry into your event, meeting, or conference? Or imagine sending coupons to mobile devices that are redeemable at your favorite retailer?

The technological barriers in sending MMS betwen carriers has been resolved. As soon as carriers introduce pricing that makes MMS affordable (much like they did a few years ago with all you can eat SMS plans), we will see another paradigm shift in how people and marketers interact with each other. This should be interesting.