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Reports on the official Facebook blog claim that it now serves more more than 300 million people around the world.

What does this mean?

To put this into context, the entire US population is just over 304 million and more than 12 times the population of Australia.

Not only that, it is also collecting more revenue than it is currently spending on maintaining the site. Mark Zuckerberg said in a post on the official company Facebook blog:

“We’re also succeeding at building Facebook in a sustainable way. Earlier this year, we said we expected to be cash flow positive sometime in 2010, and I’m pleased to share that we achieved this milestone last quarter. This is important to us because it sets Facebook up to be a strong independent service for the long term.”

This means that Facebook will be able to develop and test out more features and products. Just like Google labs, it is allowing users to test out these prototypes by activating or downloading any of the prototypes listed.

From a marketing point of view, this may allow people or organisations’ more ways to connect to their followers. The future of Facebook looks quite rosy and will definitely be something keep an eye on.

One reason why I love online marketing is that the tools, techniques and content are constantly evolving. Online marketing is more of an art rather than a science, and your visitors and customers reward this creativity by responding to your online efforts. But as you all know, the web moves very quickly, once you get your head around that blogging thing, along comes something else, podcasting and twitter. However if you’re browsing the web and reading new articles you can be the first in your industry to try something new. By being proactive and willing to try something new you communicate to your buyers through edgy and forward thinking tools.

“Some of the very first blogs are still the most popular in their niches; the authors are rewarded for their foresight with popularity”

David Scott, author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR.

Although social media is not currently viewed by many as a form of advertising, it can still be used as a portal to lead people into your buying process. For example Volkswagen links to their auto makers sites and other related purchasing sites. Online marketing and social networking can support each others function and go hand in hand.

Here are some of Davis Scott’s ideas on how to get the most out of using networking sites for marketing:

• Be a thought leader: Provide valuable and interesting information that people want to check out. It is better to show your expertise in a market to a buyer’s problem than to blather on about your products.
• Encourage people to contact you: Make it easy for people to reach you online, and be sure to follow up personally on all your fan mail.
• Participate: Create groups and participate in online discussion. Become an online leader and organiser.
• Make it easy for others to find you: Tag your page and add your page into the subject directories. Encourage others to bookmark your page with delicious and DIGG.
• Experiment: These sites are great because you can try new things. If it isn’t working, tweak it or try something new. There is no such thing as an expert in social networking, were all learning as we go!

Does the following scenario sound familiar to you?
You are in the middle of another 50 hour week, your boss breathing down your neck and you have more deadlines looming than you can remember! You decide to take a quick break by logging into your Facebook account to have a look at the latest photos you have been tagged in.

You inconspicuously turn your computer screen out of your bosses view and head over to the Facebook website.
Your happy mood quickly deteriorates as you realise you can’t access your account. You then remember the awful truth – your workplace has banned your access to Facebook!

Well like 55% of Australian employees the above scenario is all too familiar. A recent study has determined that Australian bosses are among the toughest in the world when it comes to denying access to social networking websites for their employees. This is further to the recent news that Australians work the longest hours in the developed world.

So, what’s an Aussie workaholic (who has been banned from using Facebook at work) to do?
Well perhaps now is the perfect time to make a move to Italy - where only 6% of employers have banned their employees access to social network websites.

U.S. President Barack Obama’s historic electoral win can, in many ways, be attributed to his use of social media marketing and the influence these tools had in converting online friends into votes. US President Barack Obama was able to successfuly leverage social media marketing tools to remain relevant and convey his message to the American people. Now, the US President enters the White House with a legion of 13 million advocates at his fingertips.

According to the NY times“All the Obama supporters who traded their personal information for a ticket to a rally…or opted in on Facebook or MyBarackObama, can now be mass e-mailed at a cost close to zero. Instead of the constant polling that has been a motor of presidential governance, an Obama White House can use the web to measure voter attitudes.”

Through the power of social media marketing, the White House can now harness their 13 million strong database to continue Obama’s message throughout his term. Essentially, this database can now be harnessed to promote Obama’s legislative initiatives, engage supporters to campaign for like-minded candidates and essentially lead to his re-election in four years time.

Pepsi are the latest big brand name to engage in viral/social online marketing. Instead of creating the usual channels in the likes of Facebook and MySpace, Pepsi have gone a step further and created a social portal of their very own.

The creation of this portal is still in beta testing, but can be found at maxed.com.au.

This move is most likely to engage the crucial demographic of cola drinkers between the age of 16-30 years old, but states openly on the first page that it’s intended for 18+. Pepsi have longed for the ability to be part of this demographic, whether it be for an impulse social purchase or that of using pepsi as a mixed beverage with alcohol.

Expect to see more big brands such as Pepsi to create social media portals in the coming year as people catch on to the fact that these methods of demographic interaction engage customers on a social level to influence external purchases.

Following on from the last article I recommended for reading over on Dosh Dosh is the second in an ongoing series that aims to teach people the ins and outs of Social Media Marketing and Social Media Optimisation. Last time they talked about the importance of SMM and this article now begins to dive into what it is, how it works and the principles behind it.

Social media is made up of user-driven websites that are usually centered around a specific focus (Digg = news) or feature (del.icio.us = bookmarking). Sometimes, the community itself is the main attraction (Facebook and Myspace = networking).

The article goes on to discuss how different scenarios and opportunities that social media presents can be applied to your business and the benefits you can gain - with a few examples. Social Media Marketing in a Nutshell is - again - well worth a read!