Recently I got into a slight argument with a radio producer from a major national radio station. I shot off on this guy something like “why do you guys and other radio stations promote Facebook so much instead of your own websites”. I pretty much said what I wanted to say in that sentence. Said producer wasn’t impressed with my tone, shot back something like “why are you so foolish as to say that I promote Facebook when I’ve only ever mentioned twice on my show”. Well, I tried to explain to this guy that as I said, it wasn’t him personally I was referring to, it was his DJs and his radio station as a whole. And other radio stations’ DJs and on-air presenters. Day in and out when I tune in I hear words like “we had such a great time at that do last night, if you log on to Facebook you can check out our pictures there. We’ll post them up as soon as the show is over”. Saying this to what are usually millions of listeners.
Most radio stations in Mzansi have their own websites, virtual homes where information like DJ profiles and schedules are posted. Other stuff like who runs the station, how they can be contacted and so on is also found on these sites. Such stations include metrofm.co.za, 702.co.za, yworld.co.za and gagasi995.co.za. Where individual DJs/ presenters have their own space, a biography of the said personality may appear next to their picture. Isn’t this sort of where these pictures of last night’s bash should be posted then? The point of a website is not just to promote the station but to promote the personalities involved. And if fans of the station can be entertained daily by logging into this website, its listenership could grow, thereby growing its advertising revenues. This is why radio stations are in business. You know Facebook is the 7th busiest website in the world? There’s over 100 million users on Facebook and growing at a rapid rate. The top five Facebook users come from the US, UK, Canada, Turkey and Mzansi. In that order. The site doesn’t need any more marketing, especially at the expense of Mzansi-based websites.
And no, I’m not anti-Facebook, although I’m not on it and never will be. It could have been any other website, it could have been Youtube or MySpace. Point is, these guys could certainly spend those marketing budgets much better by beefing up and promoting their own sites, instead of actively promoting other people’s on air. If there’s a feature you like about Facebook then “borrow” that features and use it on your website. Don’t send people off to another place when they could be spending time at yours.
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