Meanwhile Back at the Ranch

Nice interview with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in Monday’s L.A. Times about how the 23-year-old wunderkind is helping change the world.

As I’ve noted previously, the mission of Nation Ranch is to help our clients connect their people to other people (customers) in a manner that begets a mutually beneficial business relationship with a measurable return on investment.

It seems Mr. Zuckerberg may make human-to-human contact obsolete.

As he explains to writer Fred Vogelstein, “…the interactions among friends, neighbors and colleages—a.k.a. word of mouth—is still analog.

You go to a cocktail party and a friend tells you about this incredible pediatrician he’s found. You ask a few other friends to confirm the data and eventually two things happen: You switch doctors and the physician becomes a favorite in town. 

Now imagine that information automatically is pushed out to all your friends, tested, verified and returned to you in 24 hours, and you have Zuckerberg’s vision for Facebook.

“We’re not trying to help you make new friends online,” Zuckerberg is quoted as saying.  “We’re just trying to help you digitally map out the relationships you already have.”

Interestingly, when I talk to younger colleagues these days especially (although it’s interesting to note that the biggest group of new Facebook members these days is over age 35), it’s amazing how many of them engage friends and family through gadgets or the internet, rather than face-to-face.

I guess that makes for a great world if you dislike seeing or touching other people, assuming you already have all the friends and family you need.  But unless you’re content to sit alone in the dark experiencing life through virtual relationships (and it would seem some are based on the success of SecondLife), sooner or later you’re going to have to interact with another human being.  Face to face. Voice to voice.  Heck, you may even have to shake somebody’s hand for crying out loud.

Technology is a fantastic thing.  But never forget, your customers are living breathing souls who value a personal touch. Even if they’re buying a widget on eBay or downloading a song from iTunes.

Sooner or later, technology breaks down. Networks crash. Computers get hacked. HAL develops a mind of his own.

The goal of technology, and I think Zuckerberg agrees, is to connect people with people. It’s a means, but not the end.