A number of times in the past few years, I've been asked the following question in one form or another: "We want to get involved with the social networking scene [web 2.
0] - should we start our own social network revolving around our brand?" The answer is an invariable and resounding "No.
" Bad idea for a few reasons.
First, your target is generally folks who are computer savvy and are already involved in at least one social network (Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, Amazon, eBay, Yelp, LinkedIn, etc.
), and adding more social networks to their mix only convolutes things.
Additionally, all of those above mentioned social networks revolve around an action.
For Facebook and MySpace, it's connecting with friends.
YouTube and Flickr are for sharing videos and photos, respectively.
Amazon and eBay are for buying and selling things.
Yelp is for reviewing services.
LinkedIn is for developing your professional network.
All action words.
Never attempt to duplicate these social network services without a similarly simple and effective action that online consumers desire to take.
Services like Ning, allow you to create your own social network, but revolve around interests - essentially a group on Facebook - without offering any real value to its members.
Why re-invent the wheel? With that said, establishing your firm within each of those social networks (or any network that makes sense for your brand) is a fantastic idea for developing your web presence - especially because it costs so little.
And it's also, ahem, something that SociaLight Media is rather good at.
However, in the case of Group M, creating a social network may not be such a bad idea.
Well, sort of.
It's not really a social network; just posing as one.
Mspace (a play on MySpace) is actually a "training program that mimics social networks to build digital skills" for their 3,600 employees.
The interactive media company has many different shops with separate digital experience and talent and wanted to tie everyone together to disseminate that knowledge and experience.
They positioned 10 fake people as experts, behind each of which was a real person at Group M, to give online lessons in fields including digital media processes, strategy, planning and buying, ad serving, and search and analytics, all delivered via video, audio, and games like crossword puzzles (which can be downloaded as podcasts).
Seems to be working quite well - Mspace was launched earlier this month, and at the time of the article, 500 employees had used the program.
I tend to agree with John Montgomery, the COO of Group M Interaction, when he says, "this is the way we'll be training in the future in most disciplines.
" Thoughts? Feelings? Stories? Anecdotes?  What do you think about companies misusing social networks to build brand awareness?  How do you feel about Group M's leveraging of the social networking concept for employee training?  Inquiring minds want to know!