I’m sure if you have a Tumblr account, you have a Facebook account. And it’s not crazy to assume that if you have a Fb account, you fan at least one page. Right?

Well I was thinking about these fan pages run by businesses and thought about two things: (1) What makes Facebook so successful & why it might hurt biz fan pages and (2) What Facebook could do with their product to strengthen their business model.

(1) Facebook is successful because it is a happy place that drowns reality.  If you look at these business fan pages, you see options to either: like comment and share. But where’s the rating scale that’s ubiquitous to all other Web 2.0 sites (i.e. YouTube, Yelp!, etc.

The reason being is that it leaves room for mediocre-negative impressions. But that’s not what Facebook is about. It’s about being happy—away from the stress of regular life. But from the businesses’ standpoint, all they see is 153 “likes” and 400 comments. Great right?

Wrong. If a big business updates their status what are you—as a fan—to do? You can leave a negative comment, but it’ll be drowned within a matter of minutes (seconds even).  All the while, this update is supplemented with hundreds of “likes” with a thumbs-up icon. But what about the people who feel so-so or dislike this update completely? Give them a chance to put give you some real input.

My proposal: Facebook, give businesses a real picture of what your fans think by implementing a rating scale (1-5). Add basic analytics to see what type of people do/don’t like your new product or new process. Then, charge these companies for the detailed analytics to provide market research that could be both more relevant and cost-effective than traditional market research methods.

On another note, I was thinking of a strategic area of opportunity for Facebook (inspired by a conversation with a colleague at work)…

(2) Add a supplementary revenue model by selling your software to big businesses who want to use social media to push their businesses forward. There are tons of huge business who are using the wielding power of social media for communication purposes. I mean, if you’re a company of huge stature, employing thousands of employees—use internal social media to unite your sales force, marketing, technical, HR (etc) departments. Chances are, you are separated by country, state, building, dept, and cubicle. Why not break these physical and hierarchical boundaries and share the same platform online? It only makes sense.

If you look at the other players in this area, they are taking your great idea and running with it by selling their version of your product to untapped market segments.

Facebook, why not own that market too? Your product is better and highly intuitive (sup with that new layout tho). It also currently has 400 million active users, people who are already familiar with your product. Plus, your brand is at the tip of everyones’ tongue nowadays.

My Proposal: Facebook—when you are ready—sell your software to other businesses and sync it with project management tools (Word, Excel, Outlook, etc). Set up a new product platform to keep it seperate from the general user category. You are a highly energized brand and are trusted by millions accross the globe. Now that you have that presence established, it’s time to look for more opportunities.