"Facebook believes 2010 will be a watershed year for mobile - The service is now actively used by more than 400 million people - They want to make Facebook even more ubiquitous and reach billions of users - 100 million users (25% of total number of users) actively uses Facebook's mobile products at least once a month - 200 million people have interacted with Facebook on mobile at least once- Over the next 5 to 10 years, Facebook aims to invest heavily in expanding mobile experiences for their users; they expect a lot more growth in this area - Facebook now works together with some 200 mobile operators and they are striving to convince more about the added value of such partnerships."

Robin Wauters
TechCrunch.com

Hey business professionals! Did you know that an ever more effective way to reach your target audience and one overlooked by many in the corporate world is a presence on social networking sites like Twitter, Linkedin, YouTube and Facebook? You need be where the people are and they are online socializing.

Members 18 to 24 are still the reigning demographic, at about 40 percent. But Hitwise, Comscore, the Pew Internet and American Life Project and other Internet tracking services say baby boomers -- the 77 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964 -- are deluging Facebook with memberships and becoming one of its fastest-growing contingents.

Facebook memberships among 45- to 65-year-olds have grown 89 percent since January, from 4.3 million to 8.2 million. The 45- to 55-year-old contingent grew by 165 percent from September to February, according to InsideFacebook .com, the site's own tracking of membership trends.

Also, the number of women age 55 and older on Facebook grew by 175 percent between September and February, and the number of men age 55 and older grew by 137 percent.

Why are Fan Pages the best for businesses?

Creating a fan page is a great way to present your business on Facebook and it is the most viral of the three types of Facebook pages (Profile or personal, Group, and Fan). When someone becomes a fan of your business, that information is posted on their wall, which is a friendly introduction of your business to their friends too. Moreover, when fans interact with the Fan Page, news and events that are linked to your page are passed on to their friends via News Feed. One of the most valuable features is that businesses can send "updates" about new offerings (products and services) and content to fans and the brand becomes even more visible.

Fan Pages also engender more SEO credit because the pages are public. Logins are not required to view Fan Pages, so search engines can index the page. Your page will include your website's address so you can receive facebook.com link credit. When social networking platforms, like Facebook, are linked to a company's web page, the Fan Pages can channel more prospects throughout the network.

Lastly, Facebook Fan Pages are easy to set up and manage. Facebook Fan Pages also give you access to data that can be used to target and monitor your prospects online. This information is extremely valuable in courting potential customers.

5 Tips for Designing an Effective Fan Page:

1. Be Authentic: Don't simply try to push your products and services on people. Concentrate on providing professional advice and valuable tips. Start by establishig a trusted relationship with 'fans'.
2. Provide interesting content: Frequently update content so updates constantly appear on walls of members.
3. Tell your story: Share how the business started, what made/makes it successful, how it is unique, what is going on now, etc.
4. Special Offers: Freebies and giveawys are viral. Offering fans the chance to win a prize or giveaway, regardless of size or value, will keep them coming back and will tempt their friends to visit as well.
5. Get a vanity URL: Once you have amassed 25 fans, you are eligible to register for a vanity URL ( http://www.facebook.com/YOURVANITYURL ). This helps with branding by putting your business name right in the web address.