I love when I get to promote something that has popped out of the UW’s Foster School of Business.

Check out Frames for Facebook, a slick little iPhone app that lets you customize those 5 little pictures at the top of your Facebook profile that everyone gets to see.

All you do is choose a pic from your phone, manipulate its position across the 5 frames, and hit publish.  I played with a few things (some which worked better than others) and agree with the people who have told me they think it has great entertainment possibilities. For example, if the light was right, this Kid Rock photo would be pretty cool. 

I just don’t understand when people my age tell me, “Facebook is just for kids.”  I will argue that the best part about Facebook is in fact lost on these newbies, and us more mature folks are getting the best it has to offer.

To wit: My friend’s daughter is 15.  She has something like 700 friends.  Basically every person she has ever met is on her Facebook page.  There has never been a time in her life in which she was not keenly aware of what her people were up to.

No consider the 30-something year old who is tip-toeing into Facebook for the first time.  First he finds some work friends and maybe some folks he plays soccer with.  Then a few folks from his last job.  Then a few people from the town he used to live in, then college guys and then back to high school and elementary school.  People he hasn’t talked to or heard from in 20 years are now available.

I mention this because this has happened to me twice now in the last few weeks.  An old friend from college disappeared off the planet, reappeared on Facebook and it allowed us to have lunch and catch up.  Meanwhile, the next time I’m in New York in June, I will be able to meet up with a friend I last saw in New Orleans circa 1986.  

Now, today’s 15 year olds won’t get to enjoy this type of reunion.  So I’m sticking with my story – Lil’ Green Patches and SuperPokes may be fun and all, but it’s the reconnecting with long lost friends that makes Facebook as powerful as it is.

So Twitter doesn’t make a dime of revenue.  But there must be value there, since it’s extremely popular and nature abhors a vacuum.  So maybe I’m the one who should generate the revenue from it.  

For example, suppose Pepsi called me and wanted me to tell all my Twitter friends that Double Caffeinated Clear Blueberry Diet-Pepsi was a one calorie blow pop of hyperactive goodness.  How much would I charge them?

Well lucky for me, I can go to TweetValue.com and get an estimate.  Turns out all my 60 or so Twitter friends are worth a measley $18.  Which actually sounds like a lot of money to me because it’s around to a $300 CPM.  Pepsi media buyer, call in the next 48 hours and I’ll give you a special deal price of $10 for each January tweet, and we’ll see how it goes.  

Maybe one day I can get as valuable as Shaquille O’Neal’s Twitter feed, which is a reachable $302. Barack Obama’s value of $41,000 seems a little unattainable.

But, I do wonder what would I get to message my Facebook friends?

If you read this blog, you know this space is all for positive thoughts.  Warm, happy musings and expressions (well, most of the time.)

So, why would I join a hate group, which is what “I Hate the Oklahoma City Thunder” Facebook Group essentially is.  I mean, it’s in the title for crimminy’s sake.  I certainly don’t hate all the players on the Thunder.  I even like some of them.  I have simply chosen to ignore the NBA until the wounds heal.

But, there’s a challenge here.  The Facebook group, “1,000,000 Ok City Thunder Fans” has about 1,300 fans.  The “I Hate the Oklahoma City Thunder” has about 360.  It would be great if more people were in the group that hated the Thunder, not for personal reasons, but for what it represents – a team ripped from a solid fan base.

So join the group.  Why not?

So Valleywag reports that you cannot be Facebook friends with Michael Phelps, because has more Facebook “fans”
than Will Smith, Miley Cyrus, and the Jonas Brothers — 767,885 at last
count! Phelps tells Bob Costas that besides the fans, he’s got about 7,600
pending Facebook friend requests, too. “I can’t accept any more.”

But that makes me curious.  I wonder how many of the thousands of other Olympic athletes you could be friends with.  Sure, the guy who won 8 gold metals is off limits, but how about a 24 year old track and field guy who didn’t qualify for the finals?  What percent of these competitors are happy to communicate with new fans, and what percent think it’s creepy.

I think if I was some obscure archery or triple jump Olympian and got a few requests, I’d think it was cool.  Maybe less so if I was a 14 year old female gymnast.  (that’s 16 in Chinese years).

Let me know if you make Facebook friends with anyone.