What to do with the Facebook Sushi page?

April 13, 2009 8:51 PM

I am the creator of the largest Facebook Sushi page (with 900,000+ fans); If you were me, what would you do with this power and responsibility? :)

Facebook is the largest and fastest-growing social networking site in the world. Millions of people use Facebook everyday to keep up with friends, upload photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet.

I am the creator of the largest and fastest-growing Facebook Sushi page

Since creating the page in August 2008, more than 900,000 Facebook users have become "fans" of my Sushi page, making it one of the top 50 most popular and fastest growing products on Facebook. (More than 10,000 fans add themselves each day.)

As the page owner, I can reach all these Sushi fans directly through the application. I can also manage targeted ads, develop integrated content, and engage a global fan base at a scale unavailable through any other medium.

* Here are the demographics:

Female/Male/Total
65% 35%
13-17 16% 8% 24%
18-24 26% 13% 40%
25-34 17% 10% 27%
35-44 5% 3% 7%
45+ 1% 1% 2%

Mar. 30 Mar. 29
Page Views 2,918 2,869

* Those page views are representative of visitation when I have no ads, no posts, and no solicitation emails to the group. Basically, ~3,000 people a day are ACTIVELY SEEKING the page, unprompted... unadvertised.

* As a test of membership response to posts, I posted a news link (about sushi being the "fast food of the future", from an Adelaide newspaper)... Within an hour, 1,000 people have taken the time to mark the article with "I Like This"... and over 150 took the time to comment on the article, again, within the first hour.

So, if you were me, what would you do with this power and responsibility? :)

posted by cdemay to technology (24 comments total)

Back when Facebook was much smaller, you could change the names of groups. We liked to switch things to NAMBLA. Do pages still have that power? (Because that is an awesome, awesome power.)
posted by phunniemee at 8:54 PM on April 13 [1 favorite has favorites]

@phunniemee: Sadly, no... from Facebook's help section: "It’s not currently possible to edit the name of a Page. If you would like to change your Page name, you will need to delete your Page and recreate it. The Facebook team isn't able to change Page names for you."
posted by cdemay at 9:00 PM on April 13

I would do very little as you have no real power and no real responsibility. Try to change anything and your members will either not care or leave the group. Try and present this "constituency" as a real group and you will be laughed at and ignored by the people and causes you are trying to influence.

At best you can start discussions within the group to encourage people to think about and take action about an issue. Trying to use your group to show popular support of any given issue will be as effective as an internet petition. Not effective at all.
posted by Science! at 9:01 PM on April 13

Duh, you post this obviously. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m80jt6bm6ZA
posted by jeanmari at 9:04 PM on April 13

Why don't you ask the fans of this page what they would like to see?

Sushi recipes? Sushi restaurant reviews? "I love Sushi" T-shirts?
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 9:06 PM on April 13 [1 favorite has favorites]

I take that back. This is WAY BETTER!!!! Fish Roll. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9JBxf_HG_Y
posted by jeanmari at 9:06 PM on April 13

@jeanmari: Posted the first one... will post the second one soon. ;)
posted by cdemay at 9:11 PM on April 13

You could keep an eye out for sushi-related legislation, and try to, y'know, influence politics.
posted by box at 9:19 PM on April 13 [3 favorites has favorites]

You could also try to get a bridge or spaceship or boat named Volcano Roll or Alaska Philly Roll or something.
posted by box at 9:21 PM on April 13

Whatever you do, don't send out messages (the kind that end up in people's inboxes, not their news feeds). It's obnoxious and people will drop you.
posted by grouse at 9:23 PM on April 13 [1 favorite has favorites]

Sushi recipes? Sushi restaurant reviews? "I love Sushi" T-shirts?

Sushi books?

(disclaimer: author is a friend of mine, I'm sure he would love the publicity)
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 9:26 PM on April 13

Seconding restaurant reviews. Sushi restaurant quality fluctuates greatly. It would be nice to know which ones other people think are good.
posted by hamandcheese at 9:42 PM on April 13

I would make a nifty T-shirt that explains how awesome sushi is. Then I would try to get those users to buy it.
posted by Happydaz at 9:56 PM on April 13 [1 favorite has favorites]

Post some stories about overfished stocks and responsible sushi eating. That and solicit reviews from your members.

For example there are some fairly new sushi places in SF that only serve sustainable sushi. This is an intriguing idea to me and I'd love to know how it's working in practice.
posted by fshgrl at 10:00 PM on April 13 [1 favorite has favorites]

How about a few links to sustainable seafood sites? You might reach people who aren't otherwise interested in "environmental issues".
posted by serazin at 10:20 PM on April 13

Oh! They even have a sushi guide now!
posted by serazin at 10:25 PM on April 13

Since you have that many people interested in fish, you can raise awareness about overfishing and the depletion of the oceans. Here's a good link, plus the ones already mentioned in this thread.

Seconding grouse: try not to send out too many messages, it's incredibly irritating. Post to the group and on the group's forum, the people who really care about sushi will see it (as opposed to the many people who occasionally go on group-joining frenzies and then forget about them).

Even if you end up not doing anything with this group, you should still watch the documentary I linked to. It is simply mind-blowing.
posted by lolichka at 11:26 PM on April 13

Before you begin thinking of yourself as the king of the court, remember you only got that way because of a common interest. Straying too far from that means you lose those visitors... You're providing a service here - keep up the good work, and don't be discouraged if / when the numbers tend to stop their exponential growth.

Keep going - and good job :)
posted by chrisinseoul at 2:29 AM on April 14

Rickroll them all
posted by fire&wings at 2:31 AM on April 14 [2 favorites has favorites]

I'm not sure if I'm typical, but I tend to join these things when I'm drunk and then the second they spam my newsfeed I drop them. It's hard to see the results of all my friends quizzes with that crap in the way, you know?

So I guess I'm saying, maybe you shouldn't do anything? I know some people join politically-oriented ones with the expectation of updates/useful information, but sushi strikes me more as one of those groups people on a narcissistic streak join so they can spam their friends with what great taste in food/music/movies/etc they have.

Or, not, I dunno.
posted by cj_ at 4:20 AM on April 14

I also hate it when whimsical groups I join suddenly become activist central or someone tries to monetize it. Just because I joined a star wars or whatever mailing list doesnt mean I want to see your wife's Etsy link or get the next popular chain email.
posted by damn dirty ape at 6:50 AM on April 14

I don't know what to recommend but I was just thinking of removing that from my profile as it's showed up in my timeline too much already.
posted by thilmony at 7:30 AM on April 14 [1 favorite has favorites]

I like that you posted: even sushi needs to sleep.
posted by psylosyren at 10:49 AM on April 14

There is clearly only one thing to do with that much power and resposibility: abdicate.

I'm chiming in that nothing would get me out of your group faster than politics or sales. It's just cool to be a fan of sushi or steak or ninjas and leave it at that.
posted by Barry B. Palindromer at 11:56 AM on April 15