How to compete with Facebook

I resisted Facebook for a long time. When I finally joined, I was pleasantly surprised by how many old and new friends I connected with. But I was equally disappointed with the amount of spam and "noise" that clamors for my attention on the site, like being stung by 1,000 mosquitoes.

When I started the Texas Film Scene, it seemed like we were in direct competition with Facebook. In fact, I even started a "Facebook Group" for Texas Film Scene, in an effort to lure people to our Texas Film Scene site, which offers many more features and community engagement. I told folks, it's like "Facebook for Filmmakers, but without the noise."

Lots of other community sites are doing the same thing. Facebook is the Mother of All Social Networks, despite being Johnny-come-lately to MySpace. But that all things to all people ethos is what stops it from being really useful. It doesn't provide the tools that specific groups of people, like Texas filmmakers, need.

Philip Greenspun discovered this way back in 1992, and his predictions have been spot-on.