I attended the Web Community Forum’s “Community Building in the Age of Facebook” seminar in Seattle today. Obviously we’re asking questions about how Facebook might work for marketing. but mostly it reminds me--as a marketer--that it’s our job not just to stay current with what’s happening, but to stay ahead of it.

On the other hand, it’s also a reminder that you have to choose the right method for delivering your marketing message. We must be customer-centric not just in what we say but also how we say it. Even if it’s true that “Facebook fundamentally changes the way we communicate” as one speaker claims, you have to qualify that “we.” My mom’s not on Facebook. My son is. So Facebook’s only relevant in certain markets…and that’s true of every marketing medium. Just because something’s hot doesn’t mean it’s right.