I wrote this email in reponse to a friend, and fellow podcaster, who announced he is giving up on Facebook. It seems relevant to re-post it here as it encapsulates a few ideas I have been mulling over lately.

(Putting on my new media consultant hat…)

I think you might be cutting off your nose to spite your face on this one. I think that there is no more important place to be, right now, than Facebook.

It’s got the juice right now and there are hordes of people there that you need to be engaging in conversation.

This doesn’t mean that you need to accept every invitation, or even check in more than once a week, but you do need to be be there.

Remember, serendipity is an important part of new media. You need to give folks every opportunity to stumble across you and you need to meet them on their own ground to do that. It is all about the AND, not the OR. You do this AND that, not this OR that. You need to be on Facebook for the same reason that video podcasts should also be placed on YouTube and other video sites. They are all vectors of interest for your work.

Sure, something bigger/better/faster will come along, but for the foreseeable future Facebook has a place in every project I am doing. Thereare simply too many people there to ignore it.